All these modern gadgets

I have heard that some thinkers and inventors have adopted the slogan: automate the tools, not the work.  The idea is to make using a tool, such as a wood plane or a hammer, easier to work with instead of making a robot or a machine that creates precisely planned surfaces.  I imagine in many technical operations, the aim is to make something faster and better and cheaper by any means possible.  The slogan may apply better to popular projects rather than highly technical or professional ones.

It is still the case that doing the work, putting out the effort, may be the action that is actually sought and actually has the most value.  Posit Science says that studying a foreign language or learning a musical instrument may be good for my brain.  I doubt if buying a excellent cellphone-sized device that could "listen" to a speaker in one language and say out the same words in a different language -- I doubt if having and using such a tool would help my aging brain.

I enjoyed thinking back at the marvel of a simple spreadsheet on an Apple II computer when I first saw one in the mid 1980's.  The task of alphabetizing a list of names or sorting numerical data was done flawlessly and in a flash.  Making a list of words in alphabetical order from a list of, say, 100 names might be good for my brain but getting the work done quickly and accurately is best done by the machine. 

I suspect that people view modern technical possibilities in ways related to their age.  Some of my friends over 70 seem to sense danger and decadence in the use of modern technologies while some under 30 seem confident that newer tools are pure gifts to humankind.  In Socrates' day, writing was a new technology, suspected by some to lead to loss of memory power and honored by others as a magnificent tool.  I suspect that both the younger and the older groups are correct and as always, there are ups and downs, costs and benefits that need shifting through.

As with learning to live with fire, automobiles, telephones and electricity drawn from the wall of our house, we will over time find ways to adjust our tools and our usage of them to humanize them and integrate them into our lives where they are a benefit.