Timeless Content Versus New Content

Three Point Essay #22 | Sad Stories, Technological Slavery, and the Human Library of Knowledge

Here’s a three-pointer to open your mind.

Read the online version here

The mission of “Three Pointers” & about the author here

Some Sad Stories

You ever see a hamster running on a wheel and think it’s sort of sad? Sprinting and sprinting, but getting nowhere. 

Why doesn’t it think to get off the wheel? And doesn’t it realize that it’s locked in a cage?

What’s really sad, though, is that this is humans now.

This is the modern mind. 

You’re the hamster stuck running on the wheel of compulsive social media consumption. And you have to wake up and break out of the prison you’ve constructed around your mind. 

This idea comes from the great writer David Perell. He says most young people are stuck in a never-ending now.

He describes what he means by this with a story:

I once attended a comedy show with a group of friends. Since the venue was across town, we split an SUV. I sat in the back. You know… all the way in the rear, where the seats get so narrow that you have to do gymnastics just to get back there.

From the moment the driver hit the gas pedal, everybody was on their phones. From the back row, I watched my friends scroll their social media feeds with ferocious intensity. One thing stuck out: the people in front of me only consumed content created within the last 24 hours.

He continues by explaining: 

Even though on the Internet, we’re just a click away from the greatest authors of all time, from Plato to Tolstoy, we default to novelty instead of timelessness. 

Why is this the case? Other than the obvious—that social media is designed to be addictive—why are we so obsessed with novel information, for no reason other than 'it just came out'?

Why do we neglect the wisdom of generations of humans that came before us?

Waking Up

Nassim Taleb is a smart man. He’s written five widely-acclaimed books, and is a much respected mathematical statistician & financial analyst.

He was once quoted as saying “the difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free”. 

Because of the powerful technology we have, our obsession with novelty becomes destructive. The worst part? We may not even realize it. The algorithms have been so entertaining, what’s the problem?

The problem is that this addiction stops you from ever stepping off the wheel of new content. You end up missing some of the best ideas humanity has to offer. Principles that are often hidden away in old books.

The older a book is, the higher likelihood it has an element of greatness in it. If it has stood the test of time, the message of the book is likely to still be relevant and applicable today.

Overcoming the constant desire for the shiny new stuff is difficult. It’s a desire that is part human nature, from men tending to crave sexual novelty to the urge to see the newest episode of a show.

Technology manipulates this innate aspect of humans. And breaking the chains created through this manipulation is not easy.

Breaking Free

Italian statesman Niccolo Machiavelli is much more than just a dude cool enough to get shoutouts in rap songs. He also had some unforgettable insights, once writing that “men desire novelty to such an extent that those who are doing well wish for a change as much as those who are doing badly”.

Think about that. Even people who by all measures are successful, are still always craving something new. Current this. Newest that. Recent post. Fresh location.

A simple awareness of this aspect of human nature can help you use technology more intelligently. It can help you become much more conscious of your own impulses. Impulses that increasingly pull you to social media.

Get off the hamster wheel of only consuming new content. Break out of the technology cage. See what the great library of thousands of years of human knowledge has to offer.

The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free.

—Nassim Taleb