Thread by @wretchardthecat

Numeracy and literacy make the man.
technologyreview.com/s/613063/ai-et…

But some would prefer to accept the information products of civilization as magic; as black boxes. Both the value system and technology are taken as givens with no effort to understand them.

Maybe this is why the 10 Commandments has lasted so long. It "just works".

Years ago I met a lady from Panay Island who told me this story. On her way home to a dorm at a southern American university, where she was studying, she was jumped by two men. She said "Jesus help me" and one of the 2 men said to the other "let's not do this" and they left.

Something they learned in childhood had stood in the way of great evil even if they did not fully understand it. Sometimes magic does protect us though we can't explain it.