The half-life of magic | Seth’s Blog

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke

Try to imagine the you of twenty years ago holding a Rabbit R1, or using a cell phone or being able to listen to every song, ever recorded, for just a few dollars a month.

We don’t just take these once magic items for granted, now we express frustration that they’re not better or cheaper or faster. The fade is real and the half-life continues to get shorter.

It’s a sort of hedonic treadmill of tech, where we not only take a breakthrough for granted in just a short time, but we also raise the bar for what counts as magic next time.

If we depend on outside forces to find wonder and awe, we’re going to end up disappointed.

We don’t have to wait for a new technology to feel the magic. Instead, we have the chance to erase our expectations and simply notice it wherever we look.

May 7, 2024