Jonathan Franzen: what's wrong with the modern world:
The techno-boosters, of course, see nothing wrong here. They point out that human beings have always outsourced memory – to poets, historians, spouses, books. But I'm enough of a child of the 60s to see a difference between letting your spouse remember your nieces' birthdays and handing over basic memory function to a global corporate system of control.
Mixed feelings about the overall theme. Seems spot-on in places, veers towards (and then away from) conservative bleating about progress destroying humanity. Suspect we'll all agree it's a well-written piece. If nothing else it makes me want to read Karl Kraus.
