[Originally written in 2007 for a campus publication while I was in medical school; it has remained disquietingly relevant.]
We have become impatient, unfulfilled, and perpetually fixated on the future. We have filled our lives with so much hardware and noise that it makes us wonder if we too will waste away into a dull obsolescence.
I had never been to a Black Friday shopping spree before. The thought of camping out for hours in the chilling pre-​​dawn night always seemed perverse to me . . . but that was before I started browsing the Black Friday ads and listening to stories of stunning deals and bargains.
I thought I had conquered technolust a long time ago. In high school I was often caught up in buying the latest gadget or computer upgrade. A fascination with the cutting edge of technology later compelled me to major in electrical engineering, but by the time I graduated from Princeton I had become jaded with technology. The whole industry seemed perverse: laboring over a piece of silicon whose sole function was to glue children to computer screens; developing incredible technologies that were only available to the richest of the rich; seeing this year’s hottest items become next year’s trash. As much as I admired the creative and hard-​​working spirit of modern engineers, I couldn’t bring myself to love the things they made anymore. At least, not enough to buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff.
Until Thanksgiving Day. [Read more…] about On Technology, Thanksgiving, and Patience