The world is not yet finished, but everyone is behaving as if everything was known. This is not true. In fact, the computer world as we know it is based upon one tradition that has been waddling along for the last fifty years, growing in size and ungainliness, and is essentially defining the way we do everything. My view is that today’s computer world is based on techie misunderstandings of human thought and human life. And the imposition of inappropriate structures throughout the computer is the imposition of inappropriate structures on the things we want to do in the human world.
Now, I want to add something to that and especially to the brilliant article I found that quote in. Something that is becoming increasingly clear to me over time.
I don’t like technological change very much.
I don’t like technology in itself, for its own sake.
I don’t like to create things I don’t need, to solve problems I wouldn’t have if some other solution hadn’t shaped those problems in the past.
I’m not looking for problems, not searching for them.
The ones that already present themselves are enough, and the technological issues are not the ones that matter.
In technology, almost nobody ever stops, looks back and tries to put the past into context. Everyone is always breaking new ground before understanding where we stand.
The question seems to always be “What can I do with this?”, not “What problem does this solve?”.
Now, while adventuring step by step into opportunities that present themselves as they appear is a sure way to make progress, but you won’t be able to influence your direction very much. You run into danger of getting hopelessly lost or end up in a place you don’t actually want to be.
By creating and creating myriads of aimless possibilities we’re making the world unnecessarily more complex, losing ourselves in it at the same time.