trying for brevity
1. Cameron and I may not be far apart, even we even disagree I have a feeling that we are being forced apart by the rhetorical requirements of email. But even so, i do disagree with the rhetoric of his statements. Even so, a number of his statements require clarification and rebuttal.
2. Cameron says: "If I knock over sulfurized rubber onto a stove, I have not invented the car tire." If
Well, if I although I certainly have not invented the rubber tire I may have invented vulcanization -- if I am clever enough to benefit from the observation ("Chance favor the prepared mind," and all that.) Goodyear, of course, did not think he was inventing a car tire. (Sloppy writing there cameron — see, we are both guilty). Pneumatic tires existed long before vulcanization. Vulcanization was NOT a new concept for the use of rubber, it was an improvement over existing uses of rubber. So nice example, but irrelevant.
3. Yes, we should all be worried about the conversion of useless inventions into needs, but I have no regrets whatsoever that we converted the invention of indoor plumbing, electrification of the home, and the acceptance of such modern communication tools as the postal system, books, magazines, newspapers, radio, telephone, and the internet as fundamental needs.
4. It is often claimed that as designers (or inventors or technologists or humans) we should not release new ideas into the world until we have fully understood their implications on society, the environment, etc.
Although it is difficult to argue with the underlying concept, it is a naive notion. How could one have ever predicted that the telephone would lead to the development of remote sales offices and new methods of distribution, that the phone plus auto would lead to the breakup of the family unit and perhaps the destruction of cities? But then again cities are themselves a result of technological forces that were not understood when cities were founded and are barely understood today. And many did correctly predict that the education of women would lead to them becoming unruly upstarts, demanding al sorts of bad things, such as equality in treatment voice, vote, and pay. Perhaps it is a good thing we don’t listen to social critics.
I contend that the implications of technologies are not understood until decades after the implications have occurred.
Yes things are a mess. it is tempting to believe that had we only though things through, they would be les of a mess. Nope; I suspect that had we thought things through, we would today be in a different mess. maybe worse, maybe better. Listening to advice prematurely can be just as bad as ignoring advice.
Don
|