Everything is the Simple Thing

I find myself chasing simple things. Going to the library A conversation at a coffee shop. Church. Gregorian chant. A long walk along the lake. Wind. The lilac bushes on the sidewalk. Cooking. Sitting in the garden reading a book. Playing a ukulele while my granddaughter makes her dolls dance.

Years in the video game industry and the demands of technology in the media industry sucked me into a bottomless digi-vortex. Endless social lectures on the metaverse, AI, productivity pipelines, engagement, reach, content. Endless manuals, support chats, YouTubing to make things work.

But the simple things mean so much more. I mean it’s not even close. For twenty years we’ve been Digital Don Quixote on an AI horse chasing FOMO windmills in an A/R dream. And it all means nothing.

The entire billionaire elite techno-feudal culture could delete tomorrow and life would go on. We could sit in a park and play a game of chess and be happy. No. Happier.

That’s the weird thing. Our technology serves to drive us apart. Our technology has become a leech on our humanity. Our technology promises and promises and delivers in such abundance we are drowning in things we didn’t ask for and didn’t need while the real things are overlooked.

Like learning to draw with a stub of charcoal. Mastering finger-picking on a banjo. Growing tomatoes. Magic tricks.

Those kind of things are fundamental. They help the mind meet the heart. They make us human.