From Slide Rules To AI: Digital Disruption Can Be Positive
We were the last generation to learn slide rules—and the first with the power to fully embrace AI.
I don’t remember my high school math teacher’s name. What I do remember is that he was a fine teacher the basketball coach which — growing up in Bloomington, Indiana, during the reign of Bob Knight — was a very big deal. He taught all the usual things you’d expect in a math class: algebra, geometry, and the occasional existential crisis over word problems. But one day stands out in my memory, especially now, decades later.
He walked into class holding a strange plastic gadget, its surface covered in cryptic numbers and sliding parts. “Class,” he announced, “today we’re going to learn how to use slide rules. And you’ll be the last class ever taught how to use them.”
We spent the period fiddling with these odd contraptions, sliding the center piece back and forth, squinting at the tiny markings, and never quite figuring out what the point was. Calculators had been around for years by then, and despite some naysayers warning they’d make us all stupid, everyone had one and used it without a second thought. At the end of the day, we were told we could keep the slide rules if we wanted. I passed.
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That moment has stuck with me, not because of the slide rule itself, but because of what it represented: the end of an era. It was a relic, a tool that had been rendered obsolete by something faster, cheaper, and easier to use. And yet, it was also a bridge—a reminder that progress doesn’t happen all at once. It happens in fits and starts, with some clinging to the old ways while others leap headfirst into the new.
Calculators, of course, are still around. They’ve become much more powerful, though they’re no match for the pocket computers — what we dinosaurs call “phones” — that every student carries today. These devices are used for communication, gaming, and, occasionally, even calculating. They connect to vast networks of servers over radio waves floating invisibly in the air, and it’s there, in those servers, that the real power lies.
We’re now in the budding age of artificial intelligence, and the parallels to the calculator era are hard to ignore. Having spent time in higher education, I’ve seen a range of reactions to AI. Some teachers are forward-thinking, embracing the technology and integrating it into their classrooms and curriculum. Like their machine smashing forbearers, others decry it as “cheating,” echoing the same doom-and-gloom predictions that were once leveled at calculators and other technologies.
But here’s the thing: we didn’t get stupider because of calculators. If anything, they freed us from the drudgery of manual computation, allowing us to focus on higher-level thinking and problem-solving. The same will likely be true of AI. It’s not a replacement for human intelligence; it’s a tool that amplifies it.
The fear of new technology is nothing new. And yet, we live longer, healthier lives, work less (startup founders excepted), travel further, and have access to more knowledge than ever before.
The same pattern has repeated itself with every major technological shift. When cars replaced horses, people worried about the loss of jobs for blacksmiths and stable hands. When computers replaced typewriters, secretaries feared for their futures. And yet, each time, new industries emerged, creating opportunities that were unimaginable just a few years earlier.
AI is no different. Yes, it will disrupt certain industries and render some jobs obsolete. But it will also create new ones, just as the calculator did. The key is to adapt, to learn how to use the new tools rather than clinging to the old ones.
That’s the transformation in digital transformation; it’s not just a buzzword but a new way of thinking.
Slide rules are a fascinating artifact not just because of what they did but because of what they represent, the best way of doing something … until something better came along. It was a tool of its time, designed for a world where computation was slow and laborious. And while it’s still possible to use a slide rule today—just as it’s possible to cross the ocean in a sailboat—it’s not the most efficient way to get the job done.
Those who embraced calculators and computers—the technology of their day—often ended up doing substantially better in life than those who didn’t. A few people kept their slide rules and even learned to use them, but they did so in much the same way that people still ride horses: for fun, not transportation.
At VSTRAT.ai, we’re pushing for a new and better future. We believe our tools will help create and optimize businesses, which in turn will create products and services that lead the way to a better world. Could this have been done the old-fashioned way? Of course! In much the same way it’s still possible to cross an ocean in a sailboat.