We live in a brave new world of technology, not to be
mistaken for a brave nude world, which would be much more preferable if I was
in the position to have my druthers, which seems increasingly more difficult
these days as the price of druthers is
sky high. But it’s really the shroud of technology that has descended
over this culture that gives one pause and none so much as that carnivorous
cunt of convenience Auto Correct or as I like to call it “the Band-aid of
devolution.”
For
my money Auto Correct is a great inconvenience and the harbinger of a decline
in human progress. It is the writer’s version of shoes with Velcro clasps.
Learning to tie one’s shoes was a childhood passage that made even the most
sullen youngster rush into the house with glee to show his mother how he had
managed to master the over, under, around and through moves required to gain
entry into the next phase of childhood. Velcro technology usurped this rite and
deprived the child of an early form of self-reliance.
Learning
to spell was the next hurdle as any 2nd grade kid who had difficulty
explaining the difference between synonyms, antonyms and homonyms could easily
attest. Spelling was a man’s game in the grade school sense. If you could
somehow have dominion you were regarded as a go to guy, someone with great
intelligence and cachet
Auto Correct has eliminated a considerable amount of the
Sturm und Drang related to writing. It admonishes you for taking creative
liberties in spelling and syntax. It is a scold and a martinet designed to
codify and smooth out all bumps in the human genome. If you do not have to know
how to spell or where to place punctuation or are continually dissuaded from
going down a different creative path how is it any good for the progress of
humanity?
Perhaps
I exaggerate to make my point, but wouldn’t it be a little more propitious to
let mankind have at it, make his human bones like all of his predecessors who
sculpted great literary works out of the pure clay of infinite possibility
without a classroom monitor always looking over your shoulder? Auto Correct
narrows down experience, eliminates the need for reference books, cools the
natural inclination for playing and ultimately squelches the need for opposing
points of view.
As
good as a lot of technology has been, (the breakthroughs in medicine and
science have been enormous) it has a propensity for reducing the quality and
depth of experience. This phenomenon has no greater example than in the realm
of recorded music. Vinyl records are still regarded as the acme of a listener’s
experience. Thirty years ago CDs came to the fore and the listener was willing
to sacrifice fidelity for the convenience of size and durability. Today MP3s
are the consumer standard.
Convenience has officially trumped fidelity as the most important
feature.
Photography,
especially, has gone through a horrible pillaging as the earliest technology of
light tight box with a lens on one end and light sensitive plate on the other
end is still the best technology and will render an image that still surpasses
anything digital can attain.
Instead
of trying to find a cure for existence we spend our days reinventing things
that have already been invented for the sake of making a few bucks, but that is
another conversation. For right now you can take your Auto Correct and shove it
up your token…?
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