People. They’re the worst. Or, possibly, technology. It’s a close runner up, at least. Of course, on some level, it’s all one shitstorm. Humans are the technological animal, and technology facilitates the making of comfort junkies who avoid deep thought at all costs. (Which is at the core of my beef.)
What technology would you be better off without, why?
That’s a tough question. While not a Luddite, I do think there are a number of technologies that are out of control, figuratively (or may – literally – become so.) But that doesn’t mean I think they should be gone altogether (it just makes me wishful that people can find a way to moderate their use.)
I’ll go with nuclear weapons, the one technology whose only use lies in not being used. I choose them because they result in low-level existential dread and inflated tax bills. [There is the argument that they may have staved off a colossal Third World War, but one can also argue that two really shitty wars in rapid succession led to institutions (e.g. UN agencies & permanent alliances) and approaches (e.g. low-intensity proxy wars) to avert such a war as well (Those things also being extremely expensive, but not so much with the existential dread.)]
Men say they know many things;
But lo! they have taken wings, --
The arts and sciences,
And a thousand appliances;
The wind that blows
Is all that any body knows.
When do you feel most productive?
When the internet is down.
If “most important” means having both a broad and profound societal impact, then the answer would have to be the internet. [Though I learned through said internet that Arpanet was already operating before I was born. So, if you consider the internet to be a simple progression of Arpanet, then my answer would be a lie.]
If “most important” means having the greatest benefit to mankind in terms of improved quality of life or lifespan, then it’s probably some medicine. Which one? I have no idea. [Maybe that breakthrough that both won the Nobel and made it much easier and quicker to get the COVID vaccines out (mRNA translation, or whatever it was called.)]
My first computer was my brain interfaced with a No. 2 pencil. Yes, I date that far back in the technology stream.
If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
Being acquainted with the Law of Unintended Consequences, there isn’t a thing I’d un-invent. You start arrogantly messing in the natural progression of things, and you never know what kind of monster you’ll birth.
Once upon a time, I might have said nuclear weapons (still a strong contender for ender of our species.) Then again, who knows what kind of horrific World War III we might have had, had we not been forced to sober up a little.
Less productive but more peaceful… Except, perhaps, for the cursing every time I chiseled a typo into the granite.
So many historic figures
whose look we think we know.
Did Jesus of Nazareth sport
hippie hair & a halo?
Perhaps, he did have quite long hair
but not the tawny blonde
of which so many "portraitists"
seemed to be quite fond.
The Shakespeare that we recognize
is drawn from memory.
Kings oft declared true depiction
a form of treachery.
Past commoners' appearances
are lost in bygone days.
We know Van Gogh from a mad mind,
and know him thirty ways.
Do you know whose look we do know?
Every teen now alive.
There're pics from every angle
stored on redundant drives.
How would you design the city of the future?
For the robots to rest comfortably over our cold, dead bones.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 