Cris Alarcon
The phrases “Publish or Perish” and “Evolve or Die” may sound harsh, but they describe a recurring truth across human history: systems, professions, and institutions that fail to adapt to technological change eventually disappear. Not because they are evil or wrong—but because they become irrelevant.
This is not a new phenomenon. It is a pattern.
When Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press in the 15th century, it did not end reading. It democratized it. Monks who once painstakingly copied manuscripts by hand were not wrong or unskilled—but their method was eclipsed. The medium changed, and those who resisted the change were left behind. Literacy expanded, knowledge accelerated, and society moved forward.
What we are witnessing today—the shift from paper to digital—is no different in principle.
Medium Changes Do Not Mean Meaning Ends
A critical misunderstanding fuels much of the resistance to change: the belief that when a medium changes, the purpose disappears.
That has never been true.
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Reading did not end when paper gave way to screens.
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Journalism did not stop when newspapers went online.
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Writing did not die when typewriters replaced pens.
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Watches did not vanish when smartphones arrived—they became jewelry.
The function remains. The delivery evolves.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is simply the modern printing press. Information is no longer bound by ink, paper, and geography. It is immediate, searchable, shareable, and global. That is not cultural decay—it is technological progression.
Prediction, Validation, and Inevitability
The shift away from paper was predicted decades ago by futurists, technologists, and media scholars. What once sounded speculative has now been validated by time. Print circulation declines. Digital consumption rises. Attention migrates to where access is fastest and most convenient.
This does not mean paper had no value—it means its dominance was temporary, as all technologies are.
History does not punish tradition; it simply outpaces it.
Enter Artificial Intelligence: The Next Threshold
Now we stand at another inflection point.
Artificial intelligence is no longer theoretical. It is not “coming someday.” It is already here—quietly integrated into writing, research, design, data analysis, medicine, and journalism.
And just as before, the question is not whether AI will replace thinking, creativity, or reporting. The question is:
Will humans use AI as a tool—or be replaced by those who do?
The typesetter was not made obsolete by ignorance. He was made obsolete by refusing—or being unable—to transition when the machine arrived.
The Real Question
Every technological shift presents the same choice:
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Learn, adapt, and evolve, or
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Cling to the familiar and slowly fade into irrelevance
Progress does not wait for comfort. It rewards curiosity, flexibility, and courage.
So the question is not whether change is fair.
The question is simple—and unavoidable:
Will you strive to get ahead of the curve…
or be remembered as another skilled craft left behind by history?
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