Terribilis Este Locus Iste

I’m With You in Rockland: Losing Nostalgia

aaronwhite:

I’m calling out the techno-nostalgics: you people are luddites, counter-productive, and blind to this reality, and the coming-reality.

Get constructive, or get lost.

What is a techno-nostalgic? Here are a few ‘warning’ phrases:

• “the Kindle can’t work, it can never replicate the smell and feel of real books”.
• “The death of the Newspaper is a horrible thing”
• “The Internet is making our generation ADD, and removing wonder”

All these quips have some insight, but does anyone honestly believe we won’t replace paper with something digital? That real-time web-content untrammeled by production and distribution constraints won’t win? That the Internet is an incredible and lasting tool, obvious even during its fuzzy infancy?

I reject that even then techno-nostalgics are this short-sighted.

These and many more ‘scary’ new institutions will come to pass as the old ones die for very real reasons.

Here’s the take-away:

Drop the nostalgia, leverage yourself to first identify what we gain and lose with each change, and then get creative in suggesting even the smallest improvements to the new ways.

Or go away.

I read this and was immediately insulted.  The fact that I’m responding here means that I got over that and now I’m just disappointed.  Maybe if I presented my response in Kindle form you might have taken the time to read it, but as it is I’ll just leave it at this:

I never said, nor would I ever say, that technology is bad.  I’m sorry if you mis-read or mis-understood what I wrote; I’m sorry if I offend you when I ask you to stop and think that perhaps the way we’re using technology is leading us in a harmful direction as a species.

Accepting something just “because it exists” or even “because it’s easy” is absolutely short sighted.  Instead of blindly following the money in building massive social networks (and upcoming “lifestyle networks” if I read your web3.0 post right), could we please stop for a minute and ask how to make technology work to increase personal happiness?

Perhaps the disconnect here is that you’re OK with a future that de-emphasizes individuality.  Perhaps you’re OK with fulfillment from World of Warcraft XVII and Fifth Life.  Perhaps you’re OK with our sons learning how to be a gentlemen from some website.

Fact is, I’m not.  I wouldn’t trade learning how to be a gentleman from my father and grandfather for the world.  Once I almost traded real life for a video game — actually I did for a while — and I dearly hope that that isn’t the face of the future.  I really hope that schools backs away from the trend of teaching how to learn instead of think.  I really hope that we can organize ourselves into a culture that molds technology around itself instead of a culture that molds itself around technology.  It would be nice if society enabled the individual who works hard to stand out instead of serving as an equalizer helping everyone be generic.

I really do hope that if your view of the future comes true that you are happy in it.  That being said, I really hope your view never comes to pass.

If it does? You win.  I will go away.  I promise you that.  I’ll be out there hiking and climbing mountains, growing a little garden if the rain isn’t too acidic, and trying to watch the sunset for everyone that is too busy to see it.  I can also promise you I will go away defeated; not because my ideals didn’t win, but because my efforts won’t have been enough to save humanity from it’s own shortsightedness and stupidity.

But before you die, come visit me.  I’ll pour you a cup of tea and you can tell me about all successes and points you’ve gained on all your user accounts (or will it be Parallel-Life-Avatars by then?).  I’ll be curious on how you look back on your life - well lived or lacking.

And if you still don’t understand my concern, go substitute at a local middle or highschool.  Or go talk to Donald Knuth about it, I’m pretty sure he understands where I’m coming from.  I’d say send him an email, but he got rid of that a while ago.

“If we capitulate to superstition, or greed, or stupidty we can plunge our world into a darkness deeper than time between the collapse of classical civilization and the Italian Renaissaince. But, we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth, to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet. To enhance enormously our understanding of the Universe, and to carry us to the stars.” ~RIP Carl Sagan