#75: Magic vs. Technology

The Story Behind Magic vs. Technology

There was a time, long before smartphones, when knowledge wasn’t so accessible. It was harder to come by. It was earned. I remember having to go to the library to learn things, not just going to Google (remember AltaVista?). You had to work for knowledge back in the day. Now you just need to swipe through your phone to find an answer. Wikipedia and Google, while both massively important, have replaced the time-tested, age-old process that was handed down to us by our forefathers: either you knew something or you didn’t. Tough cookies. Want to figure out who the fattest president was? Back in the day, you’d need to take a trip to the library to figure that out. Now you just need an internet connection.

(It was Howard Taft, by the way)

Easy access to wisdom is obviously good. It enhances society and makes us all more aware and intelligent and that’s never a bad thing. In fact, it is mostly a great thing. But it does take some of the fun out of being a know-it-all. It’s hard to be the smartest guy on the block when everyone has a personal computer in their pocket.

Plain Text Description of Magic vs. Technology

A magician on stage, "The Amazing Gregory" has just completed sawing a person in half. One member of the audience is looking at their phone mumbling, "lame" while another looks on exasperated, "You did not just look up how to some someone in half on your phone."