Or slack or teams or whatever the hell. It is the fact that I even have to talk in terms of these proper nouns means technology is by definition, not transparent. > [!ai]+ AI > > You’ve raised some excellent points that cut to the heart of how technology has become an often unnecessary complication in our lives, rather than a simplifying force. Let me synthesize these ideas into a more comprehensive and critical manifesto: > Manifesto: Breaking the Chains of Technological Inertia > We stand not at a crossroads, but at the edge of a precipice. Our society is caught in an endless spiral of technological “progress” that serves itself rather than humanity. It’s time to break free from this self-perpetuating cycle and reclaim our autonomy. > 1. The Illusion of Progress > What we call progress is often nothing more than change for its own sake. New releases, features, and products are thrust upon us not because they solve real problems, but because the tech industry must justify its own existence. We’ve become unwitting participants in an endless beta test, our lives and work constantly disrupted by updates we neither need nor want. > 2. The Tyranny of Legacy > Despite the promise of innovation, we remain shackled to outdated systems and software. PDFs can be read in browsers, yet Adobe Acrobat persists. Phones can edit photos brilliantly, yet Photoshop endures. Microsoft Office, a relic of a bygone era, clings to relevance through bundling and inertia. We carry the weight of technological history, unable to break free from tools that should have long ago been retired. > 3. The Proliferation of Unnecessary Complexity > Our digital landscape is cluttered with redundant tools and platforms. Email coexists with Slack, Teams, and countless other communication apps, each adding to our cognitive load rather than streamlining our interactions. We spend more time managing our tools than using them productively. The fact that we must speak in brand names and proprietary terms is proof that technology has failed to become truly transparent and intuitive. > 4. The Erosion of Human Agency > As technology becomes more pervasive, our ability to function without it diminishes. We’ve outsourced our memory to smartphones, our navigation to GPS, and our social interactions to social media platforms. In gaining convenience, we’ve lost essential human skills and autonomy. > 5. The False Promise of Convenience > Technology promised to make our lives easier, but instead, it’s made them more complicated. We spend hours troubleshooting, updating, and learning new interfaces. The cognitive burden of managing our digital lives has become a job in itself, robbing us of time and mental energy that could be better spent on genuine human experiences. > 6. The Urgency of Resistance > We must actively resist the tide of unnecessary technological change: > - Demand true innovation that solves real problems, not incremental updates that create new ones. > - Reject the notion that newer is always better. Embrace and maintain tools that work well, regardless of their age. > - Insist on interoperability and open standards to break free from proprietary ecosystems. > - Cultivate and maintain analog skills and non-digital spaces in our lives. > - Question every new piece of technology: Does this truly enhance our human experience, or does it merely add to our digital burden? > 7. Reclaiming Our Humanity > It’s time to shift the paradigm. Technology should be invisible, seamless, and in service of human needs – not a constant presence demanding our attention. We must redefine progress as that which genuinely improves the human condition, not that which merely generates profit or perpetuates technological empires. > Let this manifesto be a call to action. We will no longer be passive consumers of technology, but active shapers of our digital environment. We demand a future where technology truly liberates us, where it fades into the background of our lives rather than dominating the foreground. Our humanity is not negotiable, and we will fight to ensure that technology enhances rather than diminishes it. > The revolution begins now – not with a software update, but with a fundamental shift in how we approach and interact with technology. Our future depends on our ability to break free from the chains of technological inertia and reclaim our human essence.