If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
AGE OLD WISDOM
There is an old adage that every solution breeds new problems. For example, electricity brought us lights and appliances along with electrocution hazards. We accept those hazards because we like those electric lights and appliances. This is not an essay about those new problems that come with new solutions. This is about old problems that were solved but were brought back with new solutions that don't solve anything except satisfying some company's desire to make a buck.
A great example of the problem of new solutions is this article from Fortune about the cognitive decline among the young relative to their parents as a consequence of technology in the classrooms:
The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
Our society already had solutions. These solutions were physical textbooks, paper, pencils, and the blackboard. Those things worked for generations. When something works, you don't need to replace it. And whatever replaces it must be as good or better than what it replaced. This is common sense. Yet, those computers were forced into classrooms to solve one problem. This is the problem of lazy teachers who didn't want to do the hard work of teaching anymore. The consequence is that good parents have taken to homeschooling their kids with the old methods while bad parents allow their delinquents to go to the state supported babysitting service with the new technology. The computers, tablets, and smartphones keep the brats entertained. The problem is that entertainment is not education.
AI promises to take the lunacy to a new level. What is the problem that AI is trying to solve? This would be the problem of human beings. AI never calls out sick. It never asks for a raise. It never asks for a vacation. It doesn't need to take a random drug test. AI is always clean and sober. You can see why businesses want AI and robots now. This will certainly breed new problems, but that is the topic for another essay.
It is easy to castigate the culture, but I prefer to bring it down to the personal level. What can you do as an individual to stick with the old solutions that work in opposition to the new solutions that don't work? What can you do as a human being to resist the stupidity of a technophilic culture?
The first and most basic thing you can do is to read old fashioned books. When the codex replaced the scroll as the preferred physical form of the book, it became one of the killer apps of human history. It still works today and will always work. The new solution is the electronic scroll of the smartphone and the tablet. People doom scroll themselves into a stupor and wonder what they have to show for it. More time is spent looking for stuff than actually consuming stuff. Books don't have this problem. Books require deep focus and is very rewarding for those who do that deep reading.
The second and most basic thing you can do is pick up a pencil or a pen and write something. It is even better if the writing is in cursive. I like using a keyboard, but that is the end of my writing process. These posts begin with writing by hand the notes that form the backbone of what I write about here. Writing by hand helps you think.
The third and most basic thing you can do is get a dumbphone or dumb down your smartphone. The phone is a communication device. The computer is an information device. The smartphone is an entertainment device. We would laugh if schools handed out Nintendo videogames to the kids, but this is essentially what they did with the iPads and smartphones. Entertainment has replaced education, and kids are now stupid. That generation has now been lost.
Technology has conditioned our culture to seek the new solutions. This is why they want to sell you kitchen appliances connected to the internet. Everything has to be a "smart" thing with the smartwatch being one of the dumbest examples that I see on a daily basis. They tell time until it is time to recharge the things. They tell you other things like your heart rate and step count. But if you forget to charge it, what then? I just use a dumb watch that tells the time. If I need to know my heart rate, I will put two fingers on my neck and count.
The simple fact is that we have solved many of our problems. It is only now that we see the old solutions as problematic. Their only problem is that they are old. The tech revolution amounts to digital euthanasia of old solutions as we are forced to adapt and upgrade and ignore the decline of our culture and civilization. We are losing our minds over this crap along with our dignity and freedom. Today, the answer is to not keep pressing forward because the way forward is headed over a cliff. We need to turn 180 degrees and go backward. That is the answer. Return to the things that weren't broken and don't need fixing.
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Parents say: Bring back pencil and paper
Back to textbooks: Denmark rolls back digital learning • FRANCE 24 English
A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator
SURPRISE: Study shows break from smartphone improves cognitive functioning (the internet has thoughts)
