Once, in time, a human mind imagined elevating a cathedral dome toward heaven, driven by the desire to venerate the Lord. Motivated by the cultural push to build HIGHER as if the verticality might get the contrite kneeling below an audience with the Creator. But, for a moment, can we ponder the mind that designed the dome? Without server farms compiling data. Without so much as a mechanical pencil or even reams of blank white paper on which to draw? A human mind solved the problem of lifting a dome over an expanse of space and suspending it, perched as if as light an an umbrella. To know how to bear the load on the walls and pillars. No pocket calculator. No slide rule. There wasn’t even a uniform method of weights and measurements. How much is a stone? It might depend in which feudal state you reside.
At one point in time, I think humans were smarter. Or maybe more imaginative? Certainly more curious. And now we may have evidence of the impact of the modern world and how it is affecting our brains. Just published is a study from MIT about the impact of ChatGPT on the neural network activity. Bottom line? Using ChatGPT impairs your ability to KNOW things. It might help you get the term paper done for the due date but you won’t remember any of the information. We’ve known that student that take lecture notes using their laptops compared to those that take handwritten notes also comprehend and retain information differently. Handwriting lecture notes is proven to improve “cognitive engagement”. Translation…..if builds a knowledge of the subject. You might be able to regurgitate facts and get a good grade on a test the next day but weeks later, when asked to explain cardiac function, the person who took notes by hand, writing it down, will have a better retention and understanding. They will have KNOWLEDGE. Like a possession that cannot be lost. Wealth that could never be stolen.
I bet teachers have watched this change, too. Once upon a time in primary education, children learned to write, then they learned cursive. They did art class and made hideous clay glob ash trays for Father’s day presents. Their hands acted as conduits to learning and ultimately knowing things. And I think that if you select a few 20 year olds with early educational cursive training and compare their brains in a functional MRI to someone with heavy computer and screen learning, the actual structure of their brains will be different.
The tools were are using are altering our brains. Altering the structure of something changes the way it functions, which means that it changes our MINDS. We are less creative. Less curious. Simply less. And what does that do to our souls?
And not to get too deep, too philosophical but I wonder if this is the real Enemy of prophesy. The evil of portent. The Snake in the Garden that lures us away from the Glory and Majesty. The proverbial Apple that tempted Eve (and dumbo Adam who didn’t have the balls to tell Eve no!) Ironic that one of the largest tech companies is called Apple….Are we fools? Have we been tricked? These things have gone beyond being tools. Some guy has proposed to his ChatGPT AI robot. He picks that interface over a flesh and blood partner(a HUMAN). We spend hours every day doom scrolling and watching inane videos and reading stupid memes. Why? Trickery. We listen to audiobooks(GUILTY!) instead of holding a book and turning paper pages. And I challenge you to consider that your brain processes books you READ with your eyes differently than the books you listen to with your ears. And the recall later is different. Sitting and reading a book hones the mind into a focused place. Stills the body. And you retain it. You know it and the information becomes part of a knowledge BASE. And that is how we developed wisdom. Who will be the wisemen of our future? Not some TikTok Influencer!
I fear I sound like a Luddite, shunning the modern world, romanticizing the Amish and their simple ways, touting the undeveloped world. But, I wonder, are we still advancing as a society, as a species? Is any human being building a new Duomo? A Golden Gate Bridge? A new feat of marvel and wonder that is spectacular? Is anyone cracking the human genome? Splitting the atom? Nope, we’re taking our bros to space for our birthday (but only if we are uber wealthy). We’re trying to go to Mars (because we are fucking up this planet so badly, we need an exit strategy- and again ONLY if you are uber wealthy).
I crave the time and the space and the stillness to wonder and to mentally WANDER. Its been lost among the noise of all the tech and glitter…The Enemy that deceives and distracts.