Shape Your Tools, Don't Let Your Tools Shape You
FleetingLet’s assume that we shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us, meaning there is a co-evolution between human thinking and tool creation.
If we just let the evolution go without giving it a direction, I believe that indeed our tools shape us. But if we keep in mind that the tools are the result of how we shaped them and they are not meant to be a constraint to our thinking, I also believe that we can mitigate the fact that they shape us.
Tools are actually nudging us. In general, they don’t directly lie to us, but they show us only specific choices in a specific manner that influence our way of thinking. And like all the uses of nudge, I think it is our responsibility to realize their impact. Once we have realized that they have the potential to shape us, to me, it is our responsibility to make a conscious choice whether we want to be shaped or whether we want to struggle against it. In the later case, it takes time and energy, but in my mind, it is the good thing to do.