Every generation loses something the last one had.

Skills your grandparents took for granted poof into thin air.

The lost knowledge of the human world.

Calculator replaces long division replaces rote math skills.

iMaps replaces State Farm Atlas replaces remembering directions.

Cell phone replaces phone book replaces remembering phone #s.

Voice-to-text replaces dictionary replaces knowing how to spell.

Infinite vertical scroll replaces boredom replaces focus.

Clickbait replaces journalism replaces productive civil discourse.

Instagram replaces reminiscing replaces real memories.

Tinder swipe right replaces meet-cute replaces charisma.

Prompting replaces coding replaces real problem solving.

And on and on and on.

Its sad… but not all bad.

With each new tool we free up space for something else.

New skills your grandparents never dreamed of.

How to mass communicate.

How to learn anything from anywhere.

How to spot a deepfake.

How to launch a $1M one man business.

Old muscles atrophy and new ones grow in their place.

The question is are we getting dumber or smarter.

The answer is both, in meaningfully different directions.

We’re trading up and down.

Some are choosing to take back some of the oldies but goodies.

Some embrace tomorrow, some cling to yesterday.

Which way Western man?

Peace,
Ramsey