A Technology Manifesto
August 10th, 2005
Technology is everywhere. You can’t turn on the television or read the newspaper without hearing about some new innovation that is the greatest human innovation since the wheel and about how it’s going to revolutionize life as we know it. – But will it? Does every invention that springs from human ingenuity really move us forward? There is a quote from The Unfinished Revolution that puts current frustrations with technology in perspective.
Make our computers simpler to use! Make them talk to us, do things for us, get the information we want, help us work with other people, and adapt to our individual needs. Only then will computers make us productive and truly serve us, instead of the other way around. Michael L. Dertouzos in the Unfinished Revolution
Hooray for Technology?
As a human activity technology predates both science and engineering. It is the embodiment of our ability as humans to produce practical, reproducible results by designing tools, machines and procedures to simplify the problem solving process. Since the start of the information age technological innovations have happened daily, even hourly. Over time as technology has gotten better and better we have erroneously called these improvements - life improvements - but are they? From the wheel to the PC all technologies have had one thing in common – they were tools created to serve progressively changing human needs. This can only happen when technology adheres to the following rule:
Given enough technology all human problems are superficial. If technology is not the solution but a utility that supports the solution, all human problems can be solved quickly without enslaving people to technology.A rule for modern technology
To support this rule here are 5 beliefs I think every technologist should have in order to deliver truly great technologies.
Belief 1: Technology should be a utility.
To be good technology must be useful- meaning that it is a tool to the can be used to solve some problem. That’s not to say it can’t be complex – but even complex technologies should be practical.
Belief 2: Technology should be Simple.
The word simple has been clouded with saying like “user-friendly? or “so easy to use no wonder it’s? – never mind, you get the point. The simplest (no pun intended) way to define simple is free from extraneous elements. That means technology should do what it is supposed to do, when it is supposed to do it. Nothing more nothing less.
Belief 3: Technology should be ubiquitous.
Ubiquitous means being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time. Technology should 1) Always be on. 2) Always be available 3) Be available whenever, wherever you want on any device regardless of ability or disability – and shouldn’t require human intervention. Wow. That’s a mouthful, but it’s not a lot to ask for is it?
Belief 4: Technology should be most useful in context.
No one is the same person all the time. We all have different roles and responsibilities. From 9 to 5 you’re the studious project manager for a large software company…by night you go by the clubkid alias kutcr8or and you are the biggest P.I.M.P on the club scene. Wouldn’t it be great if technology could be molded to automatically fit your current context – delivering services and information that is the most relevant to you at the time?
Belief 5: Technology should integrate into our lives
Ironically to really be great every technology will eventually have to disappear. If you doubt me, you’re yourself this question: “When was the last time I thought about electricity?? I mean really gave it some hard thought. I bet it’s been a while – but I bet if your electricity went out tonight you’d think about it. Why? It’s because for the majority of Western civilization electricity is an integral part of our lives. Electricity has a profound effect on our everyday lives. We use it without thinking about it. It’s integrated. All technology should be this way.
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Ian Gordon
October 15th, 2005
Don’t you think, we should depend so much on technology that if it is taken away we breakdown as a society and people? Don’t you think most of us take simple things for granted, such as you said Electricity?
I mean how many people do you think could survive without eletricity, how many people could live out in the “wild”, depending upon their natural talent and instincts to survive? Makes you think, eh?
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Themoleskin
November 1st, 2006
[…] Andy passed on this video he saw on Get a New Browser and I thought it would be great to share. Really makes me want to take a look at whether I am sticking to my own manifesto. […]
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[…] Whenever I work with a company on social media inevitably someone asks ”So, what makes all this work? Is it blogging? Wikis? podcasting?” My answer to this question is almost always…it’s all those things, but what really drives social media is people like you and me. As I have said before most “technology revolutions” aren’t about technology at all, but rather these revolutions are the result of changes in human behavior or changes in technology that allow natural human tendencies to flourish. Social media is flourishing because of the natural human desire for “connection” and “participation”. Here are the 4 human activities that are driving social media. […]
Tim Martin
September 9th, 2007
You say:
“Given enough technology all human problems are superficial. If technology is not the solution but a utility that supports the solution, all human problems can be solved quickly without enslaving people to technology.”
Where is this thought process coming from? I do not understand your topic here. What I get out of this is: a) technology is superficial, b) technology must support human problems c) technology shouldn’t enslave its makers. Perhaps these are the ideas you want to convey, but the sentence you put them is absolutely cryptic. I constructively would recommend a rewrite of it. It seems to represent a central idea (perhaps your “thesis”) to the paper that would be crucial to clearly.
Sorry to start with that, but as far as I am concerned, you have some excellent ideas in the paper elsewhere. As a matter of fact, I will be using it as a source for a paper I’m writing for my english class. Of course I will cite you =).
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