Algorithm and Blues: The Tyranny of the Coming Smart-Tech Utopia
I think the point at the end of the article is reasonable. But the argument in the middle is a tad silly.<p>The idea that modern annoyances (sitting in traffic, waiting in checkout lines, searching&#x2F;browsing for information) are somehow essential to the human experience is super weird given that most of these things have only been around for 50ish years in their current form and less than 1,000 years in any form.<p>If I didn&#x27;t have house chores or a commute, then I could spend a lot more time learning new pieces of Mathematics. Or work through the rest of the half-finished anatomy textbook on my bookshelf. Or finally get around to building a digital simulation of a human heart. Or start a garden. Or just hang out with a coffee at the hackerspace or coffee shop or church basement.<p>There are a lot of opportunities for serendipity, many ways to build grit, and infinite opportunities to socialize.<p>Sitting on a 1950&#x27;s style cement highway for 30 minutes to go to a mall where I stand in the 1960&#x27;s style Macy&#x27;s checkout line is not the end-all and be-all of what it means to be human. That lifestyle an odd cultural aberration unique to the 20th and early 21st century.<p>The idea that doing dishes or vacuuming or driving a car in rush hour traffic are necessary to experience serendipity or frustration or boredom is a truly tyrannical vision of what it means to be human.<p>It&#x27;s certainly true that we&#x27;re not headed for a tech utopia (or dystopia), and that new technologies will have unintended and probably negative consequences (in addition to positive consequences).<p>But I&#x27;m not worried about ending commutes or killing the modern grocery shopping experience. Those things are inessential to the human experience and a net drag on society.