🔊 Thursday: How to Cut Out The Noise

Morning Change Makers,

We bring you two stories this morning. 

The first is a company trying to solve our addiction to screens, and the other is changing the way we interact and consume knowledge.

Read on,
Jack and Will

In 1517, a German monk was walking through Wittenberg in Germany. He carried a pamphlet, containing his major criticisms of the Catholic Church. Knowing his fate would likely be death, he marched toward the Castle Church. When he arrived he nailed the pamphlet to the church door.

Or at least this is how the legend goes.

Martin Luther’s 95 theses were the highest-selling pamphlet in Germany that year and he was the most published author in the country by 1519. He would go on to lead the Reformation which was one of the most culturally significant shifts of the last 1000 years.

At its heart, it was powered by a technological revolution, not an ideological one: the printing press - to distribute this quantity of pamphlets previously would have taken an army of scribes.

Today, just like in the 1500s, the ideas of knowledge and truth are changing and as Change Makers, we need to understand how. Today I want to scratch the surface.

The history of information

Knowledge was shared by our ancestors as stories. We think in narratives. Have you ever found yourself building an argument before you debated someone? How would you respond to something they would say? Our brains tell us stories about other people and ourselves as a way to consolidate information into one thread of thought.

We then began to write things down as a way to abridge stories between generations. Snapshots of information were captured about gods, conquerers, and miracles.

Finally, in the late 15th century, the printing press allowed a German monk to bring forward a cultural revolution that spread through Christendom. The 16th century saw witch trials, beheadings, and wars as a result of the democratization of information. Feel familiar?

Increased access to information and knowledge has been an axiom of human existence, but at what cost?

The future of knowledge

Will and I have committed to writing about ideas changing the world. This is one: How is consuming knowledge changing? And is it good?

In the early 2000s, Google gave us the search engine. In 2024, Perplexity gave us an answer engine. Social media is a firehose of information. The way we consume information and knowledge has changed more in the last 20 years than at any other time in human history.

This feels directionally positive but you are left looking at a world that is fractured and dislocated. Finding a signal in the noise is harder than ever. The 100 years after the printing press were some of Europe’s most violent.

We are entering a period where the fundamental way in which we consume information is changing. But knowledge and truth are messy and it seems the best way to combat this change is with questions rather than answers.

In a world where information is abundant, how do we filter for knowledge? How do we find the truth?

Google, Perplexity, and OpenAI are trying to pioneer the ways we interact with knowledge in this new world. In the same way, Luther didn’t know how his theses would ripple through the future, do these companies really know what they are dealing with?

In 1946 Alan Turing invented the computer, and over the years they have proliferated into all our lives. Fast forward 80 years and they’ve become a constant; the average screen time in the UK is just over 6 hours per day.

They’ve moved from complimenting our lives to dictating them.

However, a company called Daylight Computing think they might have found the answer to this. The founder, Anjan, describes their product as either a “middle finger” or a “love letter” to technology.

So what actually is it?

Anjam describes the DC-1 as a Kindle on steroids. Its screen is similar to E-Ink technology but has the ability to perform like an iPad. They call it a “Healthier, distraction-free, computer”.

I would encourage you to watch this launch video (you’ll rarely find a founder more enthusiastic and charismatic about their product than Anjam).

The theory is a simplified device that allows for a less “distracting, exhausting and addictive” experience, but maintaining the performance to carry out all your important tasks.

The benefit to humanity

Technology is a good thing, a great thing in many circumstances. But there is a price for this technological comfort.

Depression, suicide rates, loneliness, and eating conditions are all second-order effects of this bitter-sweet relationship. 

Daylight Computing’s mission is to allow us to interact with technology in the way we want, but not to the detriment of ourselves.

Our ability to avoid the negative effects of technology while still enjoying its benefits allows humanity to flourish with these technologies, not despite of them.

Imagine a world where we get all the tremendous benefits these devices have to offer - keeping up with friends, the world’s knowledge in your hand, and peace of mind for parents - but without the downsides of the addiction.

Most tech companies design their tools to be used as frequently as possible, yet Daylight wants you to use the tool only when it is truly to your benefit, rather than just to their bottom line.