When Socrates complained that reading was going to make people dumb and forgetful, this is probably the sort of reaction he had. And maybe like you, it inspired him to be physically and mentally stronger than his peers. He could meditate standing up for 24 hours straight, for example.
All of us now, though, compared to early humans, are pretty dumb and forgetful. Chinless and big-eye'd domestic cousins of our ancestors who memorized thousands of songs, stories, poison plants, dangerous landscapes, knots, and also kill a lion. Now I can't get to the grocery store without a supercomputer.
Vision (and the like) brings that to a new extreme. How far down this path can we go? I mean, pretty soon we're just the Wall-E people, right? Is there a forcing function here?
I went though a similar process of de-teching my world. It started with putting a cover on my webcam, then disabling Siri and unplugging Alexa. Then I got rid of all of 'smart-home-gaping-security-hole' devices. And now my phone goes into a lockbox for 8hrs/day. The only way I can tell the time is typically my analogue wind-up watch with no digits. It was my own little butlerian jihad. I suspect this will be a common occurrence, because you are not alone.
Interesting position. So then, why use the internet? And what makes clocks so bad? I’m curious what are the values the guide your decisions on which technologies to use and which to discard
Really love your Dean’s List format. It’s such a good overview of where your curiosity has led you in a month. Also it effectively becomes the meeting agenda for when we catch up, as each item prompts follow up questions and reflections of my own. Truly a rotating sushi conveyor belt of delights 🍣
Three thoughts I'll share here ahead of our next convo:
1. Why is the Apple Vision Pro all or nothing? Why can't it be something you use for 30-90min, then take off?
2 (Part 1): Is there a way within Substack to demo the first 2-3 sentences from Typewriter essays to unpaid subscribers, similar to what you do with Craft Essays. I think more people would be likely to upgrade if there was a hook to whet their nose of the fragrances it's missing. If not, even just leaning into more descriptive titles for them --- "Batman" --- gives me absolutely no reason to read it. I'm sure you have a unique take, but the barebones keyword title is giving me none of it.
2 (Part 2): Dunno how wedding DJ you wanna go, but if there was some kind of request function to hear you typewriter riff on a given topic, I could see that being a cool experiment. Exact format might take tweaks, but a thought to consider.
3. Truly beautiful to see you in the momentum of full blitzkrieg creator mode of such a generative state, projecting from your own voice. Was thinking how the difficulty you'd have recording audio for one of your posts is a great indicator for how much it tests the medium massage limits of 'essay'. The more it HAS to be read to be experienced, vs. listened or watched. One measure of a creator is how fast their new work jumps to the top of my queue. Another is how much of it I continue through to finale. I read Dean's List #3 in a single continuous grin. Fav one yet :)
Chanced upon your post via Notes and appreciated your changing perspective on digital technology. My husband Peco and I have been writing along these lines and you might find some resonance with other readers and writers in this piece "Sowing Anachronism: How to be Weird in Public, and Private" https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/sowing-anachronism-how-to-be-weird
I loved this, Michael. Got a fantastic chuckle reading about your Cambodian lock screen and other anti-tech strategies but I also deeply relate to the thesis in regards to "an unspoken religion of tyrannical convenience."
I've been on a tear the last few weeks trying to cut down on tech time, or at least unproductive tech time because I still fritter away at my laptop for 8+ hours per day. Yet some of the most enjoyable moments of my days are when I'm journaling in candlelight with pen on paper or walking without the weight of my phone. I feel the gravitational pull of that little black box from when I wake to when I crawl into bed. Sometimes for no reason, or to use its calculator to do mental math I'm capable of doing, or to look for directions I could probably figure out on my own...
The human-tech relationship is complicated and will likely only become more so, but I think a good rule is to move slowly and with caution before becoming any more dependent on technology than we already so desperately are.
Do you keep any analog habits that are hard to justify to others?
... i got a couple of crystal meditations done once, does that count? I DJ so I think having a massive record collection counts, but then again maybe it is just a time and space sucker (or succulent?)...i have no studies or datas beyond my mind to prove it true, but abandoning tech for even an hour does incredible things to my brain space...there is a freedom to using the greatest analog tech we have...our five senses and shoes...that said sometimes i look at pictures i take on a hike and feel like hey that is cool...not once, not ever have i ever thought, hey that is cooler than the real thing or memory...we are collectors of silicon garbage...
Thoughts and feelings on emerging technology in 2024?
---
...the dumbening has begun...an ai blog i hate read was just celebrating that AI can now copy anyone's voice, even yours!...the excitement to not even have to do the hard work of being ourselves is such a let down...i keep reading ai is an enhancement tool, but work more why? work faster why? build more why? if the end result is just bored ape metaverses haven't we wasted enough of what good there is to be done...give me a live action remake of the goonies 2 video game before i have to see another crypto meme coin sell me fake land on my eye couch...
Which logs stand out? What should I bake into an essay?
---
...The sex life of plato?...would be way into a deep dive on not only how you score essays, but also what have you been gaining from so much information of various qualities entering your mind...is there a value to the worst stuff?...is it equivalent to the best?...is there a place in the essay world for the equivalent of B-Movies? I want (to write) the essay equivalent of They Live or Mac & Me...how would one approach making an A+ be minus...
When Socrates complained that reading was going to make people dumb and forgetful, this is probably the sort of reaction he had. And maybe like you, it inspired him to be physically and mentally stronger than his peers. He could meditate standing up for 24 hours straight, for example.
All of us now, though, compared to early humans, are pretty dumb and forgetful. Chinless and big-eye'd domestic cousins of our ancestors who memorized thousands of songs, stories, poison plants, dangerous landscapes, knots, and also kill a lion. Now I can't get to the grocery store without a supercomputer.
Vision (and the like) brings that to a new extreme. How far down this path can we go? I mean, pretty soon we're just the Wall-E people, right? Is there a forcing function here?
I went though a similar process of de-teching my world. It started with putting a cover on my webcam, then disabling Siri and unplugging Alexa. Then I got rid of all of 'smart-home-gaping-security-hole' devices. And now my phone goes into a lockbox for 8hrs/day. The only way I can tell the time is typically my analogue wind-up watch with no digits. It was my own little butlerian jihad. I suspect this will be a common occurrence, because you are not alone.
“Frictionless sensorium” 🙌🏻 Dude your phrases are killer!
Not gonna lie tho, after reading this, I only wanna try vision pro more
Interesting position. So then, why use the internet? And what makes clocks so bad? I’m curious what are the values the guide your decisions on which technologies to use and which to discard
Really love your Dean’s List format. It’s such a good overview of where your curiosity has led you in a month. Also it effectively becomes the meeting agenda for when we catch up, as each item prompts follow up questions and reflections of my own. Truly a rotating sushi conveyor belt of delights 🍣
Three thoughts I'll share here ahead of our next convo:
1. Why is the Apple Vision Pro all or nothing? Why can't it be something you use for 30-90min, then take off?
2 (Part 1): Is there a way within Substack to demo the first 2-3 sentences from Typewriter essays to unpaid subscribers, similar to what you do with Craft Essays. I think more people would be likely to upgrade if there was a hook to whet their nose of the fragrances it's missing. If not, even just leaning into more descriptive titles for them --- "Batman" --- gives me absolutely no reason to read it. I'm sure you have a unique take, but the barebones keyword title is giving me none of it.
2 (Part 2): Dunno how wedding DJ you wanna go, but if there was some kind of request function to hear you typewriter riff on a given topic, I could see that being a cool experiment. Exact format might take tweaks, but a thought to consider.
3. Truly beautiful to see you in the momentum of full blitzkrieg creator mode of such a generative state, projecting from your own voice. Was thinking how the difficulty you'd have recording audio for one of your posts is a great indicator for how much it tests the medium massage limits of 'essay'. The more it HAS to be read to be experienced, vs. listened or watched. One measure of a creator is how fast their new work jumps to the top of my queue. Another is how much of it I continue through to finale. I read Dean's List #3 in a single continuous grin. Fav one yet :)
i… need to hear more about this time (timeless?) experiment
Chanced upon your post via Notes and appreciated your changing perspective on digital technology. My husband Peco and I have been writing along these lines and you might find some resonance with other readers and writers in this piece "Sowing Anachronism: How to be Weird in Public, and Private" https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/sowing-anachronism-how-to-be-weird
I loved this, Michael. Got a fantastic chuckle reading about your Cambodian lock screen and other anti-tech strategies but I also deeply relate to the thesis in regards to "an unspoken religion of tyrannical convenience."
I've been on a tear the last few weeks trying to cut down on tech time, or at least unproductive tech time because I still fritter away at my laptop for 8+ hours per day. Yet some of the most enjoyable moments of my days are when I'm journaling in candlelight with pen on paper or walking without the weight of my phone. I feel the gravitational pull of that little black box from when I wake to when I crawl into bed. Sometimes for no reason, or to use its calculator to do mental math I'm capable of doing, or to look for directions I could probably figure out on my own...
The human-tech relationship is complicated and will likely only become more so, but I think a good rule is to move slowly and with caution before becoming any more dependent on technology than we already so desperately are.
...do the doohickey...
---
Do you keep any analog habits that are hard to justify to others?
... i got a couple of crystal meditations done once, does that count? I DJ so I think having a massive record collection counts, but then again maybe it is just a time and space sucker (or succulent?)...i have no studies or datas beyond my mind to prove it true, but abandoning tech for even an hour does incredible things to my brain space...there is a freedom to using the greatest analog tech we have...our five senses and shoes...that said sometimes i look at pictures i take on a hike and feel like hey that is cool...not once, not ever have i ever thought, hey that is cooler than the real thing or memory...we are collectors of silicon garbage...
Thoughts and feelings on emerging technology in 2024?
---
...the dumbening has begun...an ai blog i hate read was just celebrating that AI can now copy anyone's voice, even yours!...the excitement to not even have to do the hard work of being ourselves is such a let down...i keep reading ai is an enhancement tool, but work more why? work faster why? build more why? if the end result is just bored ape metaverses haven't we wasted enough of what good there is to be done...give me a live action remake of the goonies 2 video game before i have to see another crypto meme coin sell me fake land on my eye couch...
Which logs stand out? What should I bake into an essay?
---
...The sex life of plato?...would be way into a deep dive on not only how you score essays, but also what have you been gaining from so much information of various qualities entering your mind...is there a value to the worst stuff?...is it equivalent to the best?...is there a place in the essay world for the equivalent of B-Movies? I want (to write) the essay equivalent of They Live or Mac & Me...how would one approach making an A+ be minus...