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Technology Changes, The World Changes, And Humans?
We cannot evolve at the same rate as technology does. That is why we develop technology: to change how we relate to the world.
When I was born, my parents invested in an encyclopaedia. A collection of about thirty tall, thick, hardcover volumes and an additional atlas. Every year or two, the encyclopaedia would be updated with the latest findings and events in an additional number, as thick as the others, which we could purchase to ensure we were up-to-date. I remember my cousin — older than me and already immersed in essay writing — coming over to use our humble library. However, by the time I had to hand in essays, most of the information I needed was only a couple of clicks away, infinitely faster to access than flipping and skimming through those tomes across the living room.
Our teachers expressed their doubts over the veracity and quality of the information one could find on the internet. Who checked it? How could you know it was genuine or wouldn’t say a completely different thing the next day? Wikipedia could never replace a real encyclopaedia! Some content would always be the domain of university libraries!
Of course, the reality is those sources didn’t so much replace the old ones but revolutionised how we consume…