Putting technology back in its place
Posted: May 26th, 2010 | 1 Comment »The Fifth conference published a short piece on one of the theme I am thinking about a lot these days: the need to push back technology into it’s place of being useful and convenient, rather than invasive and interruptive.
As curator of the Lift Conferences you have a privileged view of some of the more interesting ideas and debates on technology. Thus, what in your opinion are the most interesting technology trends coming our way?
The main issue I’m grappling with is the increasing mismatch between the information coming at us and the way we’re able to manage or process that information; and I’m not only talking about information overload here. Overload is a recurring feeling, and a look at history puts things in perspective. In 1613, English author Barnaby Rich wrote “one of the diseases of this age is the multiplicity of books; they doth so overcharge the world that it is not able to digest the abundance of idle matter that is every day hatched and brought forth into the world“. Every time a new technology comes we feel overloaded by it, the internet is no exception.
What I am talking about is a broader issue. I am wondering whether technologies are really in line with the way we function, and if not what the consequences are.
Or maybe you are just showing your age. Reference points from your childhood are getting further and further away and you see the technological changes without the brain plasticity of a child. Maybe you just want to push technology back to the place it was when you first grasped it.
We build tools but tools also make us who we are.