The future doesn’t have to be scary after all: chill out, we’ll all be fine. A special edition of contributions from my readers

(©The New Yorker, 2019)

‘For all of your life, whenever you’ve had a question you have been able to type that question out on a keyboard, watch it appear in a rectangular space bordered by a corporate logo, and within seconds revel in the flood of potential answers. But I still remember when typewriters were useful, the dawn of the Commodore 64, and days when a song you loved would have its moment on the radio and then disappear into the nothing. For a young man like me, the invention of the Internet was the invention of space travel.’
(Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates)

Early in May I wrote yet another one of my doom-laden, fear of the future, technophobia screeds, and asked for reader submissions. Well, here they are.

A big thanks to those of my devoted followers who kindly took the time to indulge me and share their thoughts. I am delighted that here I am able to present a mix of views from all over the age spectrum.

When I realised that I don’t have any readers under the age of 18, I forced my 13-16 year old students to submit their views. They actually seemed happy to oblige (it was either that, or they preferred it to the other option: writing an academic essay). 

First, you must, absolutely must, go back and read (or re-read) that post from early May. If you don’t, then most of what you are about to read here will make little sense. It’s totally out of context. Do yourself a favour, and at the very least skim that post: 

Is there a ’best age’ to be in today’s world? How scary, really, does the future have to be? Life lessons with Yuval Noah Harari

A super succinct 36-word summary: the future is kinda scary, I’m glad I’m the age I am because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to handle all this new tech shit, and be careful of AI and algorithms and all that stuff.

And now, it’s time for my readers to have their say. 

[editor’s note: small portions of these have been very lightly edited in order to clarify some points, but for the most part, they have been left intact.]


Nearing 40 (but 40 is the new 30, right?)

In your last article, you are asking about the best age. I think the best age is the age we have now. I feel happier than ever and I don’t want to go back to my past or be in my 20s. When I was younger, I had a big lack of self-confidence and always worked like hell. Now I create my life as I like. But [in] my opinion we have to make big efforts to be happy, I mean do some sports, do things we like, surround ourselves with people we love, self-development, etc. What really helps me is learning how to appreciate things and focus on positive moments. I’ve started a diary of gratitude a year ago and still fill it every day. Now I realize that I don’t need many things to be happy and I’m sure this diary prepared me for the present situation and the quarantine somehow. When I think about being older I find some big perk: that I will never be followed by men again during my solo trips.
K------ (38)

[editor’s note: I was shocked, absolutely flabbergasted when K------ revealed her age to me. I know people like to bullshit each other, but I swear on my life I thought she was late 20s, maybe right around 30.]

Oh, these naïve youngsters, those who know so little, who have yet to be tarnished and disappointed by the cruel evils and pitfalls of life! Damn them, I say! 

Some teenage snippets 

‘I think we are more fortunate than people who were born before us we have more opportunity yes maybe you need to distract yourself many people skip their lives sitting on the phones it all depends on the person; if he wants to be on a par with youth, he will understand and learn something new in technology.’

‘All of us said she has a healthy relationship with technology, dealing with something new is needed in our modern world. There isn`t anything people can`t learn to deal with.’

‘In sum, all technologies should help people, but sometimes they just destroy our lives. Although a lot of people have work that is connected to computer, we should have more time outdoors! Because our health is more necessary than anything else! I think technology [is] good for us. Nowadays, we have many gadgets. And every year we have new and new gadgets. I can’t imagine that many years ago, people didn’t have so many items that we have. New gadgets are fantastic for old people. I think that every year we will have more and more new platforms, gadgets etc. Everything will be okay, but it harms for our health.’

‘As a new high-tech modern generation we use gadgets a lot. Technologies are developing really fast so it is impossible to keep up with them even for us. So you have to just give up trying and no one actually will judge you. People are evolving so technologies do. Each technology is important and someone will definitely find the way to use it. We can not say a thing about healthy relationship with phones because we have nothing to compare with (we don’t count older generation’s opinion) Also we think that elderlies are too harsh about the modern world because it’s hard for them to deal with it.’

[editor’s note: you’re damn right it is!]

‘It’s cool because we have a lot of technologies which are a good entertainment but there [is] a lot of work to do at school. Also my parents are expecting too much from me and they depreciate all my problems because I’m 13. Please do not devalue someone’s problems only because of their age.  It is very easy, you just need to find time for it. People have needs and they can choose what they want.’

‘Advice from young fart to old fart. Being my age is impeccable and amazing! Because it’s a time to explore «brave new worlds». Isn’t it a nice reference? Haha. In our times we have to deal with filtrating all that information that we are receiving and it’s the hardest part with technologies.’


In the prime of life (oh, what a joyous age to be!)

"Age is no barrier. It's a limitation you put on your mind."    
(Jackie Joyner-Kersee)

”That doesn't make any sense! Who on Earth would agree that there is some perfectly fitting age for this crazy time?” That was my early feelings while I was reading your post. However, I've been thinking about it for a while and decided to share some of my age-acquired insights. Let me make you guess my age, relying on what I've written! 

I'm in my (guess after reading) now and delighted to enjoy every moment. I feel self-efficient enough to live on my own and do whatever I want. I'm definitely much wiser if compared to me in my early 20s. I was relieved to get most of the traditionally imposed background which you are expected to have when you grow up (education/work/ marriage). I feel free to make my own decisions now. I’m quite observant to learn from others to prevent some of the silliest mistakes. Prudently I forgave myself for those of them, made before I got the "enlightenment", for not to suffer from guilt for the rest of my life. 
I accepted myself with my warts and all, realising that there wouldn't be another me; so why should I strive to look like someone else or try to please people, sometimes sacrificing my own desires?  
Although I’ve outgrown my childish credulity, I still trust people and often rely on them. I'm not entirely frustrated with the brutality of the world yet; although, I don't wear any of roses glasses. I'm fair with my expectations and usually blame my own indolence for my faults, not others. Am I still romantic and believe in immense love? Definitely! Meantime I realise that everything has its ending. I used to enjoy the current minute and not regret the past. Furthermore, there are so many things to explore in this life, so many periods to be fascinated by! 
Honestly, at this fragile moment, I'm looking forward to seeing a better future for all of us. I want to believe we still have the chance to overcome these COVID hardships. I'm convinced that our age isn't a barrier to make our nearest society more conscious and helpful. 
So, does the age really matter? I bet you might have had similar thoughts at any period of your life! 
In brief, I can add that I agree entirely with Mark Twain, that ”Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.”
A reader (27)


My idea about ‘the best’ age for doing anything is very unoriginal – the best age is the age you (general ‘you’) are now. I`ve thought about it for some time, mainly with relief ‘At least I don’t have to take exams like high school graduates and students’, ‘At least I don’t have a child to worry about’, etc. So I could have said ‘Yeah, self-isolation is easy when you`re my age (26)’, but the thing is that lots of people have these things to deal with when they are 26 – they also take exams, have babies, change jobs and other stuff and it`s not easy for anyone, but we deal with it in one way or another. Don`t know if it makes any sense. I`ve been thinking about age a lot, to be honest, even before I read your post. The whole concept just started to lose meaning to me. In the same way as the concept of time, I guess. My [teenage class] had this article about insomnia and the author told an interesting thing that caught my attention ‘It felt strange to be awake while everyone else was asleep. The world seemed so quiet, in fact, it was a little bit spooky. When you go to sleep, it feels like one day ends and another begins. But if you stay up late, you realise that day and night are just a gentle transition, a cycle which has no end and no beginning.’ So I thought about age in the same way – without these reference points, like birthdays, New Year celebrations etc, what is age, really? Don`t know…Anyway, I don`t feel older than 14 most of the time.
O---- (26)


My fellow technophobe peer: thank goodness I’m not alone

I'm rewatching Her where nobody types anything, and it is all spoken messages and AI junk, but I am a visual guy so I need to see things like faces or written words in nice typefaces (would be nice). But I also don't want the company that makes it to have good privacy controls. What is good? Will someone please tell this introverted, socially dysfunctional, mental midget how to converse in this digital epoch? My mind is still stuck in the 1990s with email, and a decade ago I learned that SMS was the way to go, now is it Facebook Messenger or is it Instagram, or is it some other Defense Department approved app that Verizon shares with Amazon.com for targeted ads?

Does anyone have thoughts on this? I feel like while CoViD is effective at killing off older folks, technology does a similar thing at killing people from social health, because it keeps mutating. WhatsApp, Snapchat, Signal, iMessage, Messenger, blah, I can't keep up. And each group of people uses a different thing. I mean, FaceTime for my parents, GChat or Hangouts for [my wife’s] family, Zoom or GoToMeeting for work. Not that it should coalesce, but I suppose I miss less disruption. Feh.
Fellow old-fart (44)


And the final word, from one of my teenage superstars, and a kindred spirit: wise beyond her years?

I’m quite bad at technologies for my age and my generation, moreover, I use them relatively rarely, obviously by choice. It would be hypocritical from my part to deny the fact that I use it, but still. Per example, yesterday a person asked me for my phone number (it appeared that we had similar tastes in music) but I gave my gmail, because my phone has [been in] a coma for like already 4 months. I doubt that the person will even write me after my tirade about phones and social media, haha. The main reasons I sometimes use internet are music, books, and amazing lectures you can find on youtube and other platforms. Although I try to get paper books and cds of my favorite bands, when I have the luck to find them, because it’s so much more pleasant for me. And yet, in my opinion, I still use internet too much, even if I’m not spending my life on instagram. Also, the overwhelm of information I get every time I start reading an article is obnoxious. Clicking on different links and finding yourself reading an article at a website of a religious propaganda organization, when you started your way by watching an interview with [Carl] Jung. My point is, our brains are naturally not “designed” for all of this. Those trustworthy authorities who make your opinions, the post-truth, the simulacrums and the simulation. I think there’s nothing wrong with living without replacing reality by a phone, even though maybe books are also somehow replacing reality? Talking about books, [the Kyiv bookmarket] Petrovka is perfect. Firstly, the anxiety of not letting a pick pocketer take my purse, because I look naive and more interested in observing people’s faces, searching for a protagonist for my novella. Secondly, all the useless but amazing objects that I rarely buy, because “A---, I can't handle the riot on your table anymore”. Thirdly, the incredible variety of books and the sellers that don't really know the real prices for such treasures. I bought once Ambrose BIerce’s short stories, a French occult book of 20 century, Aleister Crowley’s works and a catalog of incunabula that can be found in Ukrainian libraries. Oh, and two tomes of Sherlock published during Doyle’s life. Returning to technologies, I think that it may be a problem for me in the future, at least I’m worried a bit. For now, everything is okay, but for the future. I guess I should learn to like them. My opinion won’t surely be considered as a right one, and I understand it. My friends say I have a mentality of a 50 year old with an existential crisis, so…

---

‘There is grandeur in this view of life … having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved…

[T]he whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can.’
(On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin. Closing words)


‘The bells which toll for mankind are … like the bells on Alpine cattle; they are attached to our own necks, and it must be our fault if they do not make a cheerful and melodious sound.’
(BBC Reith Lectures, 1959: The Future of Man, Peter Medawar)

(©The New Yorker, 2019)