Click bait, click bait.... yes I have to admit. And I stole the word from the excellent blog of KE9V, sorry Jeff. The main reason is that you cannot directly comment on Jeff's blog and I wanted to bring this topic up as well. Read the original article here: https://ke9v.net/2026/09/17/friction-maxxing.html.
“Friction-maxxing is the practice of intentionally choosing less convenient options in daily life to build tolerance for discomfort and reduce reliance on technology-driven ease. It’s often described as adding small bits of effort back into your routines to help you stop autopilot and improve focus.”
It's my opinion humanity needs friction-maxxing. All this new technology makes life easier, too easy in some ways... there is just too much tech. Sometimes technology is a good thing but these days with the development of AI everyone can make and program anything. You just need an idea and AI makes the photo, video, story, essay, program, software, firmware etc. etc.. Not only for the good but also for the bad things. Look what is happening in several wars around the world. I'm sure drones are already made with AI since a few years. Personally I'm involved in installing robot lawnmowers. And I can tell the development including AI technology in these mowers is developing fast. We are not far away from mowers that you put on a field and just tell them to mow the grass without even really installing them. This same tech is used in drones, cars and other machines not only for peaceful intentions.
Yes, above might be a bad example. But in our hobby you see AI doing the work. Lately websites and software for hamradio use are growing like mushrooms. Anyone noticed they all look the same? Even if they are for different applications you already see that sites and software are made with AI. Not that it is directly a bad thing, it makes life and the hobby easier. Too easy...
Too easy is not always a good thing, although because of technology some things are getting unnecessary complicated. Jeff already gave an example in this post. No wonder people get mentally ill because of this. Not everyone can keep up with the rapid changes of technology. Young people might keep up faster as old people.
I know people think different about this topic. But personally I'm sometimes thinking about downgrading my station. Not that I have the most tech advanced station but I just have too much digital mode software I use for making contacts. It is so easy to let the computer do the work, you just click your screen and the radio goes to the right frequency and the digimode does the work. When was the last time you just listened to radio without switching on your computer? For me it was not long ago, when on vacation in Denmark. I really enjoyed the simple setup I had. Just a (tr)uSDX, an homemade endfed antenna and a simple small plastic paddle. Yes, I logged on my phone, but a paper log would do. I make thousands of contacts every year but I only remember the ones that took real effort. This is one of the reasons I finally am seriously learning CW and make CW QSOs. Yes, even AI can decode morse and you can all do it with a computer. But real people make mistakes, a computer does not. This evening I had a contact with HA7RJA Rob on CW, and yes we were making mistakes but we loved it. And we knew there were real people on both ends.
What is your opinion about the fast growing tech and your daily life?
I like gardening. Doing work with my bare hands. It's the small things in life you don't need technology for. It's the simple things that make you happy. It's the things you do and build without needing technology and take real effort. And yes sometimes we have to learn that the hard way. How about you?
2 comments:
Bas, I agree with a lot of what you say, though I am not sure that going backwards is the answer. What I do think is that we need to reject some things which are likely to make things worse.
I would not want to be aged 17 today.
I think that AI is likely to make great strides to improve life, but not in the way that the "tech bros" imagine. It reckon it will be applied in a more precise way simply because it will all prove too expensive in terms of money and resources. So it will only be available to big budget organisations, which brings its own problems.
There is a term from economics "enshittification". This is the trend where things and products start out as good ideas, and then pass through the business world into big corporations which turn the good idea into a mess which nobody wants. I think that there is a lot of this around. I think that WSJT-X is a good idea - I do moonbounce and stuff which would be impossible otherwise. But lately it has been bogged down with features which I don't want or need. I find that many of those feature do not work e.g. highlighting the stations worked today often fails to function properly. Why give me things I do not want and which do not work anyway? A good idea being spoiled by "cool" modernisation. There are plenty of examples of this.
I reckon that we are heading for an economic slowdown which will shake out the worst excesses of this madness. When that happens we will have to concentrate on the more important things in life.
I didn't vote for the world I now live in. Most of this comes from money grabbers who are based abroad (we all know who). I hope we can return to a more manageable world, but not an old-fashioned one. Maybe we can avoid a bloody revolution, or a war but that is the way things have changed in the past.
Sorry I cannot be more cheerful.
You have your garden, I make models. Making things is good.
73 Jim GM4FVM
Tnx for your comment Jim, from your writing I think in some way you would like a (tech) simplification as well. You're right basic like it was 100 years ago is not the basic we're looking for. We can use tech to our benefit for good things. But as long as money exists there will always people that want more. More tech, more money an endless loop. 73, Bas
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