as i briefly mentioned in my last article, ipad babies are a thing. i was thinking about how LLMs are changing the way people interact with technology and i wanted to elaborate on it a bit more in writing.

in the past, interacting with computers required a steep learning curve to take full advantage of them. initially it was more electronics/circuitry based, then it was deep (and early) operating system knowledge, followed by coding languages and the command line, the early GUIs, and then the internet, when shit got really crazy. the dawn of the internet added an additional slope to the computing learning curve mountain that really didnt start blending till the iphone came out.

ipad babies.

the difference between people who learned how to interface with technology pre iphone and post iphone is becoming more apparent every day. looking back, this shift in understanding really does happen in every evolution of the interface. the abacus, then the calculator, then programming, then the command line, then the mouse, then the touch screen. i think the internet, followed by the current rise of the chatbot in conjunction with the touch screen is where the convergence of tech and humanity actually begins to happen in a way that was only science fiction not long ago.

the found generation.

the birth of the ipad babies marked the end of a generation that had to use un-human centered methods to interact with the digital world. many will have to unlearn former fundamental understandings of technology, even things we take for granted like googling, using word processors, coding, and more. how will some cope with the cognitive dissonance of having to be more in tune with their own humanity in order to interact with technology more effectively? do we actually want to be more intimate with the digital realm? do we have a choice?

senses.

community. touch. language. 3 factors that are some of the most core parts of humanity, are now digital, and find themselves combined in the devices we use every day. the true importance/utility of technology is found in how close to the core factors of humanity they can get.

will the convergence of tech and humanity make us closer to who we truly are, or separate us further?