"Yes, we want simplicity, but we don’t want to give up any of those cool features. Simplicity is highly overrated."
Things That Make Us Smart
The power of the unaided mind is greatly exaggerated. It is "things" that make us smart, the cognitive artifacts that allow human beings to overcome the limitations of human memory and conscious reasoning.
And of all the artifacts that have aided cognition, the most important is the development of writing, or more properly, of notational systems: number systems, writing, calendars, notational systems for mathematics, engineering, music and dance. So when I was asked by Forbes to help them "rank the 20 tools which have had the biggest impact on human civilization," I was ready.
"Writing," I proclaimed. "The invention of writing is probably the most important tool for human advancement, making it possible for each new generation to build upon the work of the previous, to transmit knowledge from person to person, across cultures and time."
"Sorry," came back the response. "We decided early on to try to limit the list to handheld objects..."
See also his webpage: In Praise of Good Design
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