Technology, Tools, and Progress

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Josh

Another great find by my friend Colin Pistell over at The Fifth Ape Blog got my wheels turning again…here’s my response to the TED talk Colin posted, which I’ve pasted below in this entry. Thanks for the inspiration Colin!

I like the first part…reminds me of a book I just put on my wishlist:

But his finale leaves me befuddled. The “cloud” or network-brain method of technology-making is also extremely fragile. Yes, it creates “innovation” (this question later). But it creates innovation that no one person can recreate if a part of that innovation gets lost.

We used to joke, when I worked at Apple, about what might happen if John Ive (the guy who designed the iMac, iPod, and about everything “i” since) dropped dead. Or worse still, if Steve Jobs did!

We got an inkling of what would happen if Steve Jobs left Apple back in the 90′s, when he was fired from the company. It tanked. And another inkling when he revealed that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. The stock tanked!

So, though the head may be good at running the company – the company that coordinates the “hive-brain” that makes the products – if the head dies, the body dies as well.

Question two is about “innovation.” People always tout “innovation,” and “creative solutions” to our “problems.”

However, most “innovation” only creates more problems. It is innovation built upon a problematic foundation.

That is, our “problems” are based on a dysfunctional relationship with ourselves and with ourselves-in-the-world. We feel the need to meddle in things all the time, when sensitive awareness would be much more effective at increasing efficiency, or effectiveness, or whatever it is we think we need to increase (which is also questionable).

Once we’ve created these “solutions,” we have to justify our efforts. When the “solutions” cause more problems (see our “petroleum solution”), we have to create “alternative fuels,” and chemicals that can clean up the messes we’ve made.

Do we really? Is that really helpful? Or should we instead question the path we’re on entirely? Should we question the depths of our consumption? Should we question the notion of “progress” and “innovation,” that has driven us (further and further from interconnection with the natural world that is our home) since the industrial revolution?

I don’t know. I know the Acheulean toolkit was supposedly our mainstay for 1.5 million years.

For how long will the iPhone be useful?

David Byrne – Architecture Shapes Music

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Josh

David Byrne’s recent TED Talk is definitely worth watching.

In it, he describes the way the architecture of playing-halls or venues (or listening/reproduction devices) shapes the way music is written and performed.

It’s a fascinating and humorous journey through time, and I highly recommend it.

Byrne also talks about birds, and how context, generally, shapes the way animals behave. Birds of the same species have different songs depending on the acoustic qualities of their environment.

What struck me towards the end of his talk, though, was a possible metaphor to the music and architecture relationship Byrne describes.

Specifically, I wonder if our lives aren’t something like a song, and the culture we live in the “architecture” of that song. Depending upon the larger sociocultural atmosphere, and our own family or “nuclear” dynamics, our song will express varying things in varying ways.

Each of those ways are uniquely human.

But, in the spirit of this blog, a piece Byrne misses, I think, is the possibility of experimenting with different spaces to see what types of music we make in those. We could start such a project by making already-known types of music in locations not associated with them, and then modify the music so it fits the location.

For instance, we could hold a rock show in a cathedral. Then experiment with our music-making until we reached some sort of balance.

Alternately, we could just go into a place and start making music, and see what sounds best.

In this same way, we can experiment with the song of our lives. How do we sing/live in a certain atmosphere, climate, or social setting? Does that setting allow our voice the greatest timbre, the greatest range and most expression?

What if we take our life into a different milieu?

The question I’m asking is – where is the setting in which you (or I, or any one individual) can most express themselves, now.

It will change, for sure. But for right now, where is it? And if we aren’t there, why not?

Adulthood vs. Childhood – Adora Svitak

Posted on April 3, 2010 by Josh

Just watched a recent TED posting on YouTube, of Adora Svitak’s talk, titled “What Adults Can Learn From Kids.”

Adora makes the compelling argument that kids have many of the qualities that adults have, with some added qualities that give kids an “edge” when it comes to learning new things and creating.

Her talk was great, and reminded me so much of my own thoughts on this idea (see my post “The Kid In You“).

Adults do need to pay more attention to, listen to, and learn from children more often, and in more diverse ways. Adora’s addition to that is that adults also need to provide more creation, leadership, and professional opportunities to children. I couldn’t agree more!