Slowly but surely, our humanity is being drained by smartphones, apps, digital devices, intelligent appliances, and artificially “intelligent” agents pretending to provide us with support.
Once upon a time, I was given the nickname Nature Boy. At the time, I was mortified because the troglodytes who gave me that name thought it was an insult. Close to sixty years later, I hold that nickname — and my connection to the natural world — close to my heart. I still scuba dive and enjoy photographing, painting, drawing, and writing about the natural world. It’s a great defense against losing our sense of who we are.
Don’t get me wrong: I am not rejecting the digital world entirely. Since I was one of those bastards who spent his career implementing this pan-Gaian digital monstrosity that we now have to live in, I feel somewhat responsible for the inhuman state of our world.
The best thing I think one can now do is keep one foot in the digital world — as a necessity for the everyday business of life — and one foot in the natural world — to make life worth living.