Does technology have a life of its own?

Natalya Goncharova Cyclist - 1913

It's not often that I highlight the journal Foreign Policy, but the current issue contains a cover story on futurism and technology from IdeaFestival 2011 presenter Parag Khanna, "Technology Will Take on a Life of Its Own." Khanna:

Predicting the future is not about locking yourself in a room, staring into a crystal ball. It is, in a sense, reporting -- getting to the people and ideas on the bleeding edge. Through persistent travel, site visits, interviews, and embedding themselves like journalists, the Tofflers used their imagination to piece together an elusive future. The Tofflers didn't make any scientific discoveries, invent a new technology, or launch a brand-name business, but they pioneered a new vocabulary to capture how such activities intersect.

A generation later, it is time to revive the Tofflers' methodology as we try to understand an incipient future in which technology has insinuated itself into every sphere and nook of human activity...

There is no adequate word in English to capture this complex entanglement of humans and technology. The German word Technik comes closest: It means not just technology, but the mastery of the methods and processes that shape and steer it. In today's emerging world, Technik can be something of a broad index of preparedness for the future Hybrid Age. It rejoins the scientific and mechanical dimensions of technology with a necessary concern for its effect on humans and society. So while today we talk about promoting democracy, tomorrow we will realize we should be promoting good Technik.

"Promoting good Technik?" I lingered over the sentence for a few moments. A concern about the relationship of technology to society has a particular resonance and history in America. Hosting European objectionists, for three hundred years it has offered refuge for distinct groups like the Shakers, Amish and Mennonites who, if they didn't (and don't) deliberately shun some technologies, thought (and think) at length about how they should be applied. Over time, Kentucky's sylvan and prairie roots lands have lent a certain resilience - some might say stubbornness - to its inhabitants, and our own Wendell Berry has written skeptically and at length on the subject of society and machine. Like him or not, we need his voice.

Similarly, part Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, part Main Street, Gary Shteyngart's dizzyingly profane (you've been warned) and touching novel Super Sad True Love Story amps up the trends and spins off a dystopian near future of "entangled humans and technology" that will make you cringe and nod knowingly at the same time.

I'm looking forward to hearing how Khanna would run the world at IdeaFestival 2011. I hope to see you there.

Wayne

Graduating to different

Saying that education is not about raising standards - "What? Are we going to lower them?" - and suggesting that an education system modeled on the industrial age fails children today, Sir Ken Robinson goes on to praise the virtues of "divergent thinking," or the ability to interpret and answer questions in many different ways.

He describes how Kindergarten children are geniuses at discovering how a paper clip should be used - why not make them 200 feet tall and out of foam? - but gradually lose this ability to think differently over time as they become "educated."

Yes, of course standards are needed, but in an age when information is so readily available, the premium is not on what we know - we know more than ever - but in our ability to put what we know together in unique and valuable ways, to imagine different outcomes, to ask better questions.

Divergent thinking is a necessary prelude to creative thinking, and that's what the IdeaFestival celebrates. I hope to see you there!

Wayne

Magic nightstand sends, receives email

Having read a @lifehacker tweet this morning mentioning the link between a physically fatter wallet and higher spending, and I thought again of this project that blends the physical and virtual in a beautiful and accessible way. The creator of this nightstand also has a "fat wallet" project, if I'm not mistaken.

As the information age wears on, my guess is that form will matter just as much as it has in the past. As humans, we're wired to appreciate the shapes of things. For woodworkers, like me, objects like this table offer another way to improve and add value to what we already do. Just add a little code and some imagination. Until then, watch this lovely and romantic idea in action.

Tableau: physical email from John Kestner on Vimeo.

Wayne

Live! From the Axis of Evil!

In cooperation with the Kentucky Center, "Axis of Evil" comedian Maz Jobrani will close out IF 2011. Check out his TED Global performance in 2010!

Wayne

Open to opportunity? Think. Do.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work – Thomas Edison

Thanks Jovian.

It seems to me that personal progress depends on a couple of things. First, think.

You may need to stop what you're already doing.

In an age when the "creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers" win, events like the IdeaFestival offer a place to make that new connection, whether it's with a handshake or because of that synaptic snap, crackle and pop when what you've just seen or heard finally registers. That's been true for me.

From Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I learned history will occasionally deliver overwhelming news from the clear blue. It just happens. I learned from Jane McGonigal that games can be used to make a better reality rather than as an escape from it. I learned from Teller that knowing the secrets behind the curtain didn't diminish the joy of staring slack-jawed at dancing golden spheres. I learned from Burt Rutan that with supreme imagination and damn-the-critics determination, we can trip to space in safety and return in comfort. Someday, I'll do that. The elfin and poised Daniel Tammet said last year that when we think in similes and puns, we're thinking not unlike a savant. I learned that his prodigious mathematical and language abilities are not so far removed from yours or mine. The IdeaFestival is about "this too."

Then do.

From Vova Galchenko, I learned that opportunity also depends a willingness to get our hands dirty in the business of trying and failing. Have a listen to his IF Conversation above, because as a world champion juggler, this bit of joyful self-expression takes years of work.

I hope to see you at IdeaFestival 2011! The lowest priced all-access passes of the year are on sale through the remainder of today. On Thursday, the price goes up. You can make your purchase here.

Wayne