Stupid people are easier to manipulate and control. Fascists, other authoritarians and the oligarchy consolidate their power when people behave like sheep.
Short answer is not at all. I use my devices all the time but I am almost always reading very interesting long form smart content on sites like Substack, flexing my creative muscle in suno, playing chess, or doing my high level white collar work.
Exactly. We went from Plato’s Academy, where people spent years wrestling with ideas, to “this video is 47 seconds long and I’m already bored.” We haven’t just lost our ability to think critically. We’ve trained ourselves out of the sustained attention required to think deeply.
A similar Theodore Roosevelt quote is:”Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.” There is growth in the struggle. If there is no struggle, is there growth?
The line about the silence inside is the one worth staying with. Distraction gets described as something done to us, and it is, but it also does a job we've quietly asked it to do. A scroll fills the gap where an uncomfortable thought was about to arrive. Twenty years in the therapy room and almost nobody came in saying they couldn't concentrate. They came in exhausted, and it turned out they'd been running a small machine all day to avoid being alone with something. Silence is hard because it hands you back to yourself.
I would argue that many people, especially in today's world, are looking for excuses and justification as to why it's okay to be dumb, as to why they want to outsource the thing to AI, as to why it's okay not to think critically. Everyone just gets offended. Nobody can have their own opinion, and opinions are easy to mould. That's what you call stupidity.
This article raises good points, but it’s exaggerating the decline of society ? Or is this just nostalgia for a past that wasn’t actually wiser ? The author talks about manipulation but isn’t this article trying to shape how we think ?
The biggest challenge we face today is coming to terms with the fact that, in most cases, we will never know the full truth. Every layer of perspective and nuance is stripped away in the process, making Nietzsche's work on truth more relevant than ever.
This problem can be summarized as whether each generation is getting worse than the last. Each age has its challenges, I agree that the most important thing is what you do and choose.
After reading this now I am questioning why is this article been written and what's the motive behind this article thanks.
To encourage thinking.
This is a brilliant piece of writing. Thank you for sharing this.
Stupid people are easier to manipulate and control. Fascists, other authoritarians and the oligarchy consolidate their power when people behave like sheep.
Short answer is not at all. I use my devices all the time but I am almost always reading very interesting long form smart content on sites like Substack, flexing my creative muscle in suno, playing chess, or doing my high level white collar work.
It's not about the device. It is the use case!!!
Excellent piece, thank you.
Exactly. We went from Plato’s Academy, where people spent years wrestling with ideas, to “this video is 47 seconds long and I’m already bored.” We haven’t just lost our ability to think critically. We’ve trained ourselves out of the sustained attention required to think deeply.
A similar Theodore Roosevelt quote is:”Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.” There is growth in the struggle. If there is no struggle, is there growth?
The line about the silence inside is the one worth staying with. Distraction gets described as something done to us, and it is, but it also does a job we've quietly asked it to do. A scroll fills the gap where an uncomfortable thought was about to arrive. Twenty years in the therapy room and almost nobody came in saying they couldn't concentrate. They came in exhausted, and it turned out they'd been running a small machine all day to avoid being alone with something. Silence is hard because it hands you back to yourself.
I would argue that many people, especially in today's world, are looking for excuses and justification as to why it's okay to be dumb, as to why they want to outsource the thing to AI, as to why it's okay not to think critically. Everyone just gets offended. Nobody can have their own opinion, and opinions are easy to mould. That's what you call stupidity.
excellent 👌
This article raises good points, but it’s exaggerating the decline of society ? Or is this just nostalgia for a past that wasn’t actually wiser ? The author talks about manipulation but isn’t this article trying to shape how we think ?
Magnificent piece. Mind blowing. Thought provoking.
Excellent! For mainstream consumption could you please condense this into three or four short snappy sentences with a catchy headline? Thanks 😉
reading this after having read 1984 was mind blowing, thank you
The biggest challenge we face today is coming to terms with the fact that, in most cases, we will never know the full truth. Every layer of perspective and nuance is stripped away in the process, making Nietzsche's work on truth more relevant than ever.
Ok ok I give you that. Very interesting
This problem can be summarized as whether each generation is getting worse than the last. Each age has its challenges, I agree that the most important thing is what you do and choose.