Sixty years ago, when an English professor required a class to read something like Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, what did many “busy” students do? They took a shortcut. They went to the bookstore and bought the CliffNotes for Wuthering Heights. CliffNotes were summaries of a wide array of books.
CliffNotes were a lazy student’s savior in several dimensions. Students didn’t need to read all 416 pages of the Penguin Classics edition, and it was cheaper than buying the book after discovering that classmates had checked out all the library copies.
In 2025, students will have even more ways to be lazy. I didn’t believe it until I checked, but CliffNotes still exists, except that students no longer need to go to the bookstore. CliffNotes are available online and can be downloaded with an account.
However, there are problems with CliffNotes. A lazy, but clever student should never copy directly from CliffNotes unless the professor assigned the book is a complete idiot. They are also static summaries. What if someone were to invent a technology that had better and more detailed summaries? What if there were a technology that would allow a student to ask questions about Wuthering Heights to an artificial intelligence? What if a student could interrogate several AIs that use different sources and writing styles? A smart student could pick and choose from the various AIs, and with a little careful editing, the assignment would be done, and the weekend could begin on Wednesday!
Sixty years ago, young people went to parties, bars, the student union, churches, and other places to meet friends and find dates. Today, many young people use the internet to make connections. They create an appealing profile, specify their requirements for potential dates, and hit the publish key.
Most of us do as little as possible, but there are so many options for laziness in 2025. Jonah Goldberg summarized it well while discussing how many of us use technology to acquire “friends” and “knowledge” as cheaply as possible: “People want the juice, but resent the effort of the squeeze.”
It should get interesting as Trump pulls America’s drawbridge up and the immigrants, who currently squeeze our juice, are gone. Do all native-born Americans remember how or have the energy to squeeze the juice?
