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#4) Do things the hard way. It's hard for me to agree with this. In principle, I want to bemoan the decline of my ability to spell as a result of auto-correct.

#4) Do things the hard way. It's hard for me to agree with this. In principle, I want to bemoan the decline of my ability to spell as a result of auto-correct. But I think that casts an unfair negative light on the idea of doing things "the easy way". Think about math. There is no question that the Arabic numbering system makes doing math easier. Why should I to go back to scratching out base-60 cuneiform? I can challenge myself just as easily by pushing on to more powerful and abstract mathematical concepts made possible by timesavers like the Arabic numbering system. I'm sure that having access to high-level languages limits my understanding of the bits and bytes. But I can use these new tools of abstraction to do things that I would have found impossible if I were writing machine code. I'm not sure I see the value in doing things the hard way, when my brain will be challenged enough probing the depths of what these new innovations have made possible. I think the author misses one crucial part of intelligence - intelligence, insofar as it is about abstract thought, is positively correlated with the sorts of things I can do without thinking about them.

melvinmt 15y ago
"Any fool can make things bigger and more complex. But it takes a genius to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein Solving things in the easiest way, is often the hardest challenge there is.
- sophacles 15y ago
  Simple and easy are not the same thing. Please stop being lazy and bother to learn the words you are using. It is simple to do, just read the dictionary. This really isn't easy tho, you have to cross reference other words, take time to do so, bother to remember, and so on - lots of effort.
bluedanieru 15y ago
Doing math in base-60 would have a number of benefits over base-10. 60 is highly factor-able, after all (this is probably why it was chosen as base for some numbering systems, e.g. time). Had you compared Roman numerals with Arabic numerals, I'd agree with you.
qjz 15y ago
The author of the article is actually promoting the concept of "use it or lose it" with this point. Labor-saving can become excessive if it robs you of any opportunity to exercise your body or mind. She's really suggesting that you don't always reach for the calculator for simple math problems or hop in the car for short trips.
Egregore 15y ago
My ability to spell actually improved with auto-spell checkers. In school I was very bad at languages, after writing few years with instant feedback of spell checkers I make less errors now and I think it's because of instant feedback of spell checkers. So while I think that the article is good it has some points I don't agree with.

melvinmt 15y ago

"Any fool can make things bigger and more complex. But it takes a genius to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein Solving things in the easiest way, is often the hardest challenge there is.

sophacles 15y ago
Simple and easy are not the same thing. Please stop being lazy and bother to learn the words you are using. It is simple to do, just read the dictionary. This really isn't easy tho, you have to cross reference other words, take time to do so, bother to remember, and so on - lots of effort.

bluedanieru 15y ago

Doing math in base-60 would have a number of benefits over base-10. 60 is highly factor-able, after all (this is probably why it was chosen as base for some numbering systems, e.g. time). Had you compared Roman numerals with Arabic numerals, I'd agree with you.

qjz 15y ago

The author of the article is actually promoting the concept of "use it or lose it" with this point. Labor-saving can become excessive if it robs you of any opportunity to exercise your body or mind. She's really suggesting that you don't always reach for the calculator for simple math problems or hop in the car for short trips.

Egregore 15y ago

My ability to spell actually improved with auto-spell checkers. In school I was very bad at languages, after writing few years with instant feedback of spell checkers I make less errors now and I think it's because of instant feedback of spell checkers. So while I think that the article is good it has some points I don't agree with.