Micro-post #86: An article about ditching the self-help industry

"Against Self-Optimization" by David Zahl (Plough)

Photo by Shiromani Kant (Unsplash)

"There’s nothing wrong with conserving our time and resources or with wanting our lives to run more smoothly. What’s wrong, [Jacques] Ellul argues, is that technique doesn’t accomplish these goals. Technique promises to make life more convenient, affordable, and seamless but in practice makes it more draining, expensive, and complicated. Each new technique we adopt for the sake of greater control creates problems for which we instinctively look for another technique to allay, and so on. If you want to view your child’s grade on the homework, you’ll need to set up an account with Drumblekick. You get the idea. The first reason I’d be tempted to write my screed against optimization, then, is that it doesn’t optimize. Optimization promises to cure headaches, but then it gives them." - David Zahl

Reminder: I'm currently taking a blogging sabbatical and this was a pre-planned scheduled post. If there's typos or mishaps, I'll take care of them once I'm back. Thanks for understanding! - AB