A world of knowledge without understanding becomes a world without discernible cause and effect, in which we grow dependent on our digital concierges to tell us what to do and when.
We should be cautious about our over-reliance on "AI" that solve problems without us understanding how they reached their conclusions. There's a risk of ever-increasing intellectual debt.
Nearly every media story concerning the current heatwave and climate breakdown is illustrated by photos of people playing in fountains or on beaches like it's some kind of fun holiday. Pictures of dead crops, forest fires or old people suffering would be closer to reality and might help give a few more readers a nice big kick in the ass about our future. It's irresponsible.
First he was never for a moment, in all 27 years, bored. He was never lonely. He said that he felt almost the opposite of that. He said he felt utterly and intricately connected to everything else in the world. It was difficult for him to tell where his body ended, and the woods began. He said he felt this utter communion with nature and with the outside world.
In a world where people start thumbing phones in queues, trains and anywhere else they fear being alone with their thoughts, this would probably be torture. I'm not ready to head into the woods for 27 years but I increasingly enjoy being untethered from the grid.
Even the simple emoji has been infiltrated by corporate interests. It's depressing.
This is deeply representative of our times and of “influencer” culture.
Another excerpt from the Underland book. This one tells the story of a tomb for radioactive waste being built in Finland. There's something really ominous about the whole concept of burying our radioactive slop and hoping a future civilisation doesn't get curious and dig it up.
