# Doing More While Understanding Less By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-02-03 Technology drives a wedge between doing and understanding. In terms of productivity, technology is fantastic. It enables an individual to do the work of many. Calculations that would have taken hours or days now can be solved in fractions of a second. Intractable problems are now resolvable. There is much to celebrate here. At the same time, technology obfuscates. Increasingly, things that require knowledge can now be done by pressing a button. We are doing more while understanding less. There is much to be concerned about here. As the common phrase suggests, knowledge is power. Understanding is central to knowledge. And whereas knowledge is power; following Foucault, it is essential to appreciate that, to a significant extent, power is knowledge. Regimes of power can establish regimes of truth. Those in power can provide funding for research and propagation. Only those who understand can combat knowledge claims that are propaganda. Those who can do but don’t understand are only of value in terms of production, not critique. Whether by design or accident, the most recent telecommunications and computational advancements make humans docile consumers and mindless performers. The superficiality of instant entertainment has dulled our senses and has made thinking more challenging. The proliferation of information has masked the erosion in the ability to process information critically. A simultaneously literate, educated, and ignorant society is easy to manipulate. Playing on vanity, information can be presented to confirm our basest instincts and prejudices while stoking fear, resentment, and anger. The antidote will not be found in technology. The only hope is to slow down, read actual books, think, and form authentic relationships with our fellow citizens. Especially those with whom one disagrees. People can prioritize shared values differently. This does not make them enemies. Currently, where we are doing more while understanding less, we need to do less while understanding more. Disconnect to engage! #### Related Items [[Technology]] [[Society]] [[Knowledge]] [[Power]] [[Manipulation]] [[Understanding]] [[Action]] [[Disengage]] [[Engagement]]