You call out that they’re valuable learning tools and call them useless software.
I have a hard time accepting entirely cognitive items, even word processors are entirely cognitive objects, being seen as useless, full stop.
This smacks of a kind of cognitive functional fixedness. A thing without commonly accepted type of utility is valueless. Our minds must remain fixed on the concrete functionality.
Word processors are used to generate a lot of useless content too. Not every invention of high utility is limited to the cognitive use in that realm of utility.
Same with things commonly perceived to be of little utility.
In fact the willingness to spend money on them appears to be of immense utility.
The value of objects need not be left up to popular opinion.
I have a hard time accepting entirely cognitive items, even word processors are entirely cognitive objects, being seen as useless, full stop.
This smacks of a kind of cognitive functional fixedness. A thing without commonly accepted type of utility is valueless. Our minds must remain fixed on the concrete functionality.
Word processors are used to generate a lot of useless content too. Not every invention of high utility is limited to the cognitive use in that realm of utility.
Same with things commonly perceived to be of little utility.
In fact the willingness to spend money on them appears to be of immense utility.
The value of objects need not be left up to popular opinion.