From http://www.theodoregray.com/BrainRot/index.html
“The most profound engine of civilization is the inability of a larger and larger fraction of the population to do the basic things needed to survive. Many people fail to realize this.”
“Technology’s greatest contribution is to permit people to be incompetent at a larger and larger range of things. Only by embracing such incompetence is the human race able to progress.”
It’s a good read, with important thoughts on civilization and education. It is part of the introduction to a book about Mathematica, a truly amazing piece of software. (Mathematica, was amazing when I used it in the 1990s, I can scarcely imagine what it does now.)