Hyperautomation is necessary to human survival
As a result of digitization (converting analogue to digital information) and digitalization (deploying processes that make use of digital information) congnitive load has INCREASED, not decreased. The speed that information travels today means that just being able to keep up is a competitive advantage. But … Continue reading Hyperautomation is necessary to human survival
‘Faking it’ is passé
The idea of ‘faking it till you make it’ is passé. A fad of the past decade that has seen devastating results at the same time as it has seen growing numbers of immatators. Fakers may grow fast, but they don’t last. And they leave … Continue reading ‘Faking it’ is passé
Where does the heretic belong? Notes on Philosophical friendship
People want to go out on a branch, but they don’t want to go out on a limb. Belief systems are always based in an appeal to authority. There is always a heretical founder and a canonical set of teachings (usually written) that are imbued … Continue reading Where does the heretic belong? Notes on Philosophical friendship
Metaphysics and happiness: What you think you know can hurt you and others
In his On Free Choice of the Will, Augustine says (paraphrasing) that the root of all evil is not money or anything else. The root of all evil is simply desiring after things over which you have no control. Augustine was obviously influenced by Stoicism. … Continue reading Metaphysics and happiness: What you think you know can hurt you and others
You don’t deserve to be happy
I feel like the language of deserving is fraught. To deserve something implies that you have earned that thing, and that the thing that has been earned is still not yours. It’s kind of like viewing the world as a series of IOUs, except there … Continue reading You don’t deserve to be happy
Freedom from time, and the compulsion to get things done
We all fall into the trap of what Giambattisa Vico called ‘the conceit of scholars,’ which is the false belief that our understanding of the world is as old as the world itself. Very few of us Moderns recognize that those foundational concepts that drive … Continue reading Freedom from time, and the compulsion to get things done
Is the denial of pain the denial of potential? A response to Mark Manson
Mark Manson tweeted something recently that’s been nagging at me. The sign of a good tweet. To deny pain is to deny our own potential @IAmMarkManson Aphorisms like this have a lot of power on social media because, by virtue of how ambiguous they are, … Continue reading Is the denial of pain the denial of potential? A response to Mark Manson
To find yourself, you need to stop looking
As long as I can remember, I have felt anxiety about my self. I know that I’m not alone. That cliché about ‘searching for the meaning of life’ is one that I feel deeply. I was raised to think that I was special, and that … Continue reading To find yourself, you need to stop looking
Are robots slaves? On the contemporary relevance of Čapek’s R.U.R.
In reading R.U.R. we are forced to acknowledge that human-centered technology can’t mean freeing humans from work, because there’s something about work itself that is an inextricably part of what it means to be human. Čapek asks us to be more nuanced in how we view the relationship between human beings and technology, and to carefully consider how technology might complement work rather than replace it entirely. And it is here, in this call for nuance in support of a truly human vision of technology that R.U.R. is as relevant today as it was when it was first performed in 1921.
Timothy Harfield 