Render Unto the Machine

our machines often work only to the degree that we learn to conform to their patterns. Their magic depends upon the willing suspension of full humanity.

This is a book about how to be a human in a world that is increasingly arranged by and for machines. It’s an attempt to persuade you that the key to living a happy, rewarding life in the age of AI and automation is not competing with machines head-on—learning to code, optimizing your life, eliminating all forms of personal inefficiency and waste—bu... See more

Implicit in the promise of outsourcing and automation and time-saving devices is a freedom to be something other than what we ought to be. The liberation we are offered is a liberation from the very care-driven involvement in the world and in our communities that would render our lives meaningful and satisfying. In other words, the promise of liber... See more

These struggles are not against other people. The line between ego and soul runs down the middle of every person. Most of us, from time to time, buy into a workaholic ethos that leaves us with little time for relationship. Most of us, from time to time, hew to a code of privacy that prevents us from actually knowing the people who live right nearby

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If affection is kindled by time and attention, the default settings of our techno-economic order undermine our capacity to give either. We are instead encouraged to live as machines rather than creatures, optimizing for all the wrong metrics.

When we step into the conversational paradigm, our job is no longer to be an Expert, monologuing in a way that conveys our Unimpeachable Authority. It's not to Create Content that competes for mindshare in the attention marketplace. Our job is to notice what stirs our spirit a little bit, piques our curiosity, and then breathe life into it through ... See more

Consider, by way of example, something as prosaic as an encounter with another person. Such an encounter will be resonant only when we offer ourselves to the encounter in such a way that we can be affected or moved by the other person and when we, in turn, can respond in kind to this call. As Illich might say, it is a willingness to be surprised by... See more