Jeff Tucker, formerly of the Mises Institute and now running the venerable Laissez-Faire Books, writes of how he learned to stop worrying and love techno-modernity. Tucker (the man who taught me that shaving cream is a lie--that alone has saved me nearly $15 in Barbasol over the past half-decade) has a stirring take on the benefits of this wired world, and how evading it is often just hurting yourself.
Some highlights, including a mea culpa over a negative review of former Reason editor Virginia Postrel's dynamism-defending The Future and Its Enemies:
those people who bemoan the pace of technological development are not really longing for the state of nature. They are just sick of being hounded, badgered, hectored and pushed — as they see it — constantly to learn new things, acquire new gizmos, keep up-to-date and buy the latest thing….
I get this all the time when I talk to people about new stuff. Their first response is often: "No thanks. I've had it with all this techno wizardry and digital age mania. Whatever happened to a world in which people had authentic human contact, admired the beauty of God's creations and developed genuine relationships, instead of virtual ones?"….
I talked to a person the other day whose aging sister absolutely refuses to get a computer, an email address or a cellphone. Yes, such people do exist. When siblings want to contact her, they call or write a letter with a stamp. There is no sharing of photos, no video Skype, no keeping up with daily events. Everyone in the family is very close in the way that only digital technology allows, but this one person is the outlier, cut off from what everyone else experiences on a daily basis. ??
I asked if she feels cut off. The answer: Yes, and she is very unhappy about it. She complains that people don't travel long distances to see her enough. They don't call enough. She is losing track of what is happening with the grandkids. She has a constant sense that she is just out of it, and this depresses her.
Exactly. She is not actually happy with her choice. It's just that making this choice seems easier than learning new things and buying new stuff. So she rationalizes her decisions as a principled stand against the digitization of the world.
My experience is that these people have no idea the extent to which they inconvenience others. In fact, I would say that it comes close to being rude. It is not immoral, but it sure is annoying. Instead of dropping an email or posting on a Facebook wall or clicking a button on Skype, family members have to write out up their communications and stick them in an envelope and find a stamp and walk to a mailbox and wait a week or two or three to get an answer back.
It's all kind of crazy. People do it for a while, but then eventually find themselves annoyed and give up. Then the person on the other end gets angry and upset and feels ignored or cut off…..
True confession: I was once among the late adopters. I freely put down the techno enthusiasts. I wrote a highly negative review to Virginia Postrel's provocative book The Future and Its Enemies, which turns out to have seen what I did not see. After the digital revolution advanced more and more, I began to notice something. By being a late adopter, I gained no advantage whatsoever. All it meant was that I paid a high price in the form of foregone opportunities. If something is highly useful tomorrow, chances are that it is highly useful today, too. It took me a long time to learn this lesson.
Finally, I did, and my fears, excuses, rationalizations and strange anti-tech snobbery melted away.
To really engage life to its fullest today means being willing to embrace the new without fear. It means realizing that we have more mental and emotional resources to take on new challenges. If we can marshal those and face these challenges with courage and conviction, we nearly always find that our lives become more fulfilling and happy.
Reason.tv video on Why the Future is Better Than You Think:
