Work harder, not smarter

I recently purchased a used paperback thesaurus. Before, when I wanted to look up a word, I’d consult the Dictionary app on my laptop. I do most of my writing longhand though, and tapping the web for a quick synonym too easily led to checking email or social media or the weather. So I embraced a fully analog workflow. Paging through a physical thesaurus slows me some, but that friction is worth the focus it affords. Comically, my copy has the headline FIND THE RIGHT WORD FAST! printed across the cover. This floppy codex was evidently considered a time-saving innovation in 1991 (at least by one cunning copywriter). It reminds me that every generation seeks to improve upon what it deems the redundancies of the past, from which, I concede, we all benefit. Efficiency drives capitalism and consumerism. Living and working in the 21st century, one could almost be forgiven for supposing that efficiency is a basic good—valuable as such, without qualification—and might therefore be sought by any means necessary.

Except, this is obviously false...