The internet is so darn interesting!
We are connected to most of the world and new discoveries, problems made, problems solved, beauty, oddities… Trending will capture some of what’s interesting.
for example…
Biological transistor enables computing within living cells, study says
A team of Stanford University bioengineers has taken computing beyond mechanics and electronics into the living realm of biology… This could allows us to become more like computers. WOW!
For the last month the digital waves have been agog with Google Glass.
Glass has the potential to change society as many preceding technologies have, although with this one we’re getting very personal.
We hear a lot about technology becoming seamless in the future and adapting to our environments. Yet so far all that is seamless is our connection to all things digital with us having to adapt to the technology that connects us.
The adaptation in this case will address our primal instincts associated with being either predator or prey. There is an intimacy that occurs when looking people in the eyes. It implies trust or domination /submission.
How the wearer will respond to the attention they will surely get? They may not be lovingly received. Those on the other side of Glass may feel like prey putting the wearer in the spot light.
There will likely be a very uncomfortable period of adjustment for wearers who aren’t sociopaths. It’s one thing to flaunt the coolest new phone; it’s another to wear it on your face. With a phone you can avoid eye contact gracefully. With glasses your aversion will be clear.
I suppose on the flipside the wearer can visualize everyone in their underwear when confronted…
Does Glass have value? Yes, especially for business. Although beware of and prepare for the costs. An interesting read Thirty-five arguments against Google Glass outlines some potential costs.
My favorite argument is #35: It could attempt to erase people in need from existence, as well as serious problems that we cannot ignore.
When asked whether the Boy Scouts of America should rescind its ban on gay members and leaders, Bill Gates said “absolutely”. When asked why he said “Because it’s 2013”.
This week the Supreme Court heard arguments about the legitimacy of California Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.
This is a difficult issue for many who are passionate about their definition of marriage. The origins of marriage are arguable, with varied definitions between cultures and religions. That said all recognize marriage as a legal contract between people that establishes rights and obligations between them.
There was a time in American culture when our exposure to the broader world was limited. Culture was restricted by proximity and the rules of what was acceptable were often determined by religious affiliation. That was then, now we are a melting pot of cultures coexisting together and it’s the government’s responsibility to provide rules for its citizenry that are based on equity. Lest we forget the 14th amendment was added defining citizenship and states “no state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. Or that this country was formed by pilgrims seeking religious freedom.
We didn’t just wake up one day to find gay people in our communities; they’ve always been here. Gays have been oppressed because of perceived unacceptability. For most people that are gay it is not a choice, they just are. One could argue as nature or God intended. It’s taken a long time for the issue to come center stage. The repercussions of oppression run wide and deep, just ask any Native American, African American or Woman. In fact women used to be a man’s property under old definitions of marriage.
When passionate we tend to confuse historic beliefs and church with state. This keeps us in the past. Recently Senator Rob Portman reversed his position on same-sex marriage after his son told him he was gay. This is a beautiful example of choosing love over accepted behaviors within an archaic structure.
“Because it’s 2013” could be the answer to many issues of equality that keep resurfacing.
At 19 I had 2 different experiences involving ½ gallons of liquid; each was unusual and potentially dangerous, although they ended in my favor.
The first experience was after working at a summer camp as a counselor. A friend I’d made, another counselor my age, offered to drive me home after the camp. It was a 2 hour drive and on our way her car broke down in a billow of smoke. We limped to the side of the highway. It was a sweaty hot summer day in Pennsylvania. We knew nothing about cars, and stood on the side of the road not sure what to do.
In no time, a young couple traveling across the state pulled over to help us. The guy looked under the hood and said he thought it was a blown head gasket. Not to be fixed by the side of the road. They offered to take us to the nearest gas station. This was back when every gas station also did repairs. My friend and I squeezed into the front seat of their pickup truck. On our way to the station they offered us sandwiches and homemade iced tea. The tea was particularly delicious, black tea with lots of sugar and lemon. Like my mothers. I remember noting they had several half gallons of the tea leaning up against the back of the cab. I asked about them and the young woman replied they had made extra in case they came across people who needed help.
They dropped us at a gas station, gave us one of the half gallons and moved on. I was awe struck by their thoughtfulness, and the concept of preparing to be kind to strangers.
There is more to this story although keeping to the ½ gallon theme, I’ll move on to the next experience.
Several months later, on the other side of the country …
I found myself living in Seattle. My sister and I rented a little house just up the street from where I live now, although it was a lifetime ago.
I was going to a community college that had an exchange program; I immediately got a Swedish boyfriend, Matts. Matts and I decided to go up on the roof of the single story house to watch the sunset. We ascended up a lattice at the front of the house. To make the experience festive, we brought a ½ gallon of rum with us. Growing up in NY, the drinking age was 18 at the time and so I was accustomed to dipping in now and then.
As we all know NW sunsets can be stunning, and this one was just that. We also know drinking straight from the bottle at great heights is not a good idea. As we descended the roof, I held onto the gutter and stepped onto the lattice. As I was falling backward in that way that tends to expand time, I noticed how the world in my periphery vision was moving in slow motion. Of course that ended with a thud, and I found myself lying on the front lawn with the gutter in one hand and the ½ gallon in the other.
Then the people around me started making a fuss, hovering and such. I was fine. However when I stood up my foot wasn’t behaving the way it normally did. It wasn’t exactly dangling, but I didn’t have normal control. My sister dragged me into the house and made me sit as she put ice on it. It swelled to the size of a small melon, but I felt no pain; so no problem… Because I was persistent, we went on to a local bar and played pool. I drug my foot around the entire evening, musing at my dysfunction and its novelty.
As enjoyable times like these tend to pass, I woke to an unforgettable morning involving pain, puking, and a trip to the ER. Fortunately it was just a sprain; the novelty of the crutches lasted less than a day. My ankle stayed swollen for months and has never been the same.
I am very fortunate.
…
I have another story about rum and heights. Although instead of being on a roof it was a mountain top; and instead of getting down with a lattice, it was skis. Yet again lucky to be alive…
Great teams are a delicate balance, and depending upon the context the right mix will change.
When designing the future what should be considered when putting together a great team? With talent and creativity being a given, here are my top 3:
diversity { |
The right symmetry of disciplines, experience, thought, life stage… |
passion { |
Fire, drive, aspiration, positivity. Passion is infectious. |
respect { |
Respect infers maturity, regard, awareness and releases ego. |
If you have the right team blend can you create the next big thing? Maybe; setting out with the expectation of creating the next big is dangerous; it indicates arrogance and desperation which are never good. Of course “big” depends upon your scope.
Most teams stumble upon great ideas through passion and exploration.
—
Talent – ego = Worth
When I was 7, I realized for the first time that I was an individual entity. I just woke up one day and was different. It disturbed me. Prior, I felt a strong connection to my family especially my mother, as if we were one. I remember lying on her bedroom floor crying because I could no longer feel her. I tried to express how I felt like an island. She comforted me, but it was not the same comfort as before. It was the most alone I have ever been. All the days prior I had felt a part of a collective.
I was now my one self.
I have always been intrigued by and sought out connection; believing in the connection of all things. Spirit, soul, and consciousness all play a role.
I dip in and out of exploring and being more or less connected with my oneness and the greater collective matrix.
It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do explorations of our inner wisdom within some structure and with other people*. Tomorrow I start a 9 month program for Alchemy Mastery. Participants will meet monthly to explore our relationship to the metaphysical through universal patterns, numbers, ritual, and archetypes. We’ll begin our journey with “one”.
Yes, it’s unconventional, yes it’s woo-woo.
What we choose to believe is a very personal thing. My goal is to be continually open to the possibilities and to feel oneness with all things.
—
*I go to the church of flora goldthwaite, where there is a membership of one.
Over the last few years there has been a bunch of discussion around 3D printing and how everyone who has an inkjet in their homes today will have 3D printer in the future. I don’t buy it. It just feels too novel. I imagine though we will see them in businesses and every office supply/copy store.
My 2 primary reasons:
Yes it’s likely I’ve overcomplicated what you could get by with as far as materials. But it just seems like it’s the Suzy Bake Oven of the future. Not to say I won’t want to make a custom Christmas ornament of a tiny me with an elf hat, or have the ability to print a new handle for my broken bucket. I’ll do this by “preparing” the items at home and picking them up at the local Kinko’s.
3D printing will however change the face of manufacturing allowing many of the parts needed for products currently shipped from overseas to be made locally. And we’ll see more customization of things that used to be standard.
10 years ago we made a prototype 3D printer for the Microsoft Home. We used it in a scenario for the home hobbyist. We showed printing the back cover of a remote control. I still believe it’s the home hobbyist who will buy one as they become more readily available, not the average consumer.
—
p.s. – More plastic crap is not what this world needs, much less the thing to print the crap on.
In 1984 I graduated from an advertising art program to become a graphic designer. As we were leaving a teacher told the class that computers were going to be the next big thing in design. My classmates and I all looked at each other puzzled. Our experience with the single computer we all had access to was anything but pleasant, and we only used it for phototypesetting. Of course this was back in the paste-up days.
Back then design was something you had to explain to anyone who was not in the profession.
As digital technology advanced, like other platform evolutions the original focus was on infrastructure, and then came other software, networks, services and devices. Initially the primary goal was to just get things working… so in the early days of personal computing design was an afterthought, a Band-Aid. The expectation of design was limited to making things look pretty in post. This expectation limited the possibilities. We all suffered bad experiences as a result (and still do).
The good news today is that digital technology is pervasive. It’s changed the way we live, socialize, work… experience has become a fundamental theme with design at the center. While we still suffer bad experiences, there is often a choice. Choice creates competition, and it’s good to see competition around experience. It makes us try harder and think more about what’s important.
Tomorrow just about anything will be possible and so design will be the starting place.
…
MoMA’s senior curator Paola Antonelli made an appearance on the Colbert Report and spoke a bit about design today and tomorrow.
I remember arguing with my son when he was a small child telling him he needed to be careful in the parking lot, that cars might not see him because he was short. He said it didn’t matter he’d just jump out of the way. He didn’t understand his physical ability vs. the cars. He thought he was faster than the car; that he was invincible. This of course is true with all children, and why they need guidance.
Over the years I’ve noted that this kind of trait doesn’t go away as we age, it just changes with each life stage. We all hold strongly held beliefs, delusions, and denials that are at odds with other realities or concepts bigger than what we can developmentally grasp. Guidance is still necessary, although it shouldn’t be our excuse.
Emotional intelligence is the binding agent within infrastructures that produce positive human experience.
Before leaving dream my job I wrote 3 words on the edge of our lab’s whiteboard:
In a sense I left these as my proxy; considerations for designing the future. They are complicated and easily overlooked. Without them we risk apathy, irrelevance, and alienation… not the makings of a beautiful future.
—
Curiosity desires magic. To be curios is to be invested.
Curiosity leads to meaning and with meaning we belong.
We belong to each other, communities, ideas, science, music, TV shows…
Belonging is an aspect of love, the ultimate of needs.
—
I missed adding a very important word to the whiteboard.
Humor…
…lighten already
—
I sometimes wonder if the words are still there.