Why are we in such a rush to automate the things that give people the most joy?

Let’s look past the obvious answer: money. 

Yeah, I am not so naive as to miss the clearly corporate motivational imperative to turn everything and everyone into a subscription-paying, automated, consumption machine. I get that. I see it. I loathe it. I wish we could resist—and that last part: why don’t we?

Why do we lean into the algorithms?

There are notable movements out there pushing back. Heck, you’re reading one of them.

But most of the world seems to have given a collective shrug: the next phase of entertainment is here and, voila, it’s all the things we used to enjoy doing for ourselves done like magic by machines: driving, art, music… thought. 

What gives, humanity?

What makes surrendering our humanity such a tantalizing prospect?

What makes handing our joy over to machines the preference of so many?

Forget jobs for a moment. Forget automation of workplaces and the threat of an algorithm taking your place at work: I get that. It’s a real concern, yes, but also it’s a tale as old as time: technology replaces human. 

What I struggle to wrap my head around, even as I write about it on the daily, is the willingness to automate the fun stuff. I can explain the traps. I can see the incentives. I can feel the tug on my own life to lean into it: I just don’t understand why so few are resisting the tumble into creative oblivion.