Why I Won't Be Wearing An Apple Watch

In 1984, Apple launched an ad that marketed the Macintosh computer as a device that would obliterate mindless conformity and usher in a new era of the office worker as an individual rather than a drone.

At the time, Joseph Weizenbaum, a computer science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The New York Times that Apple's TV spot -- lauded as one of the greatest commercials of all time -- was completely ridiculous.

''The notion that a personal computer will set you free is appalling," Weizenbaum said. "The ad seems to say the remedy to too much technology is more technology. It's like selling someone a pistol to defend himself in the event of nuclear war.''

His sharp critique is still relevant more than 30 years later, as our culture moves to embrace the Apple Watch and other wearable technology.

Weizenbaum, a great mind and self-described technology heretic, died in 2008, years before "smartwatch" became a buzzword. According to MIT's obituary, he once said of technology, "It helps [man] avoid the task of giving meaning to his life, of deciding and pursuing what is truly valuable." It's not hard to imagine how he might have felt about the Watch, which Apple positions as a device to enhance your relationships and everyday life.