Originally Posted by SiaSL
I don't see anything in the quote above, which stresses problem solving rather memorization (the lack of which a number of people have moaned about for at least a century -- yes, I have vivid memories of my grandfather critiquing the educational standards of 40 years ago, back then it was the fact that we did literary analysis rather than memorizing pages and pages of poetry, ideally in Greek and Latin) that would preclude future humans from learning routine mathematical computations (or master reading and writing). And if you want traditional, the expectation that everybody should be able to is a fairly new development in the history of humanity and civilization.

But your worries are not new: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power

My take on this: the ability of humans to extrapolate future from past and present has been (and remains) pretty poor.
Thank you for your post. Although your observation and experience may not include those dependent upon electronic aids, there is more than a decade of articles describing this phenomena. Here is one example:
Why Johnny Can't Add Without A Calculator
Konstantine Kakakes
June 25, 2012
Slate

Although I did *not* mention "traditional", I do believe that a society in which few if any are illiterate... and all are provided with opportunities to learn... is a more just society.