“Disrupters don’t just play and experiment. They kill”

Disruption isn't always good and innovation doesn't always make the world better. I am a big fan of dystopian visions of future technology – currently typified by the wonderful "Black Mirror" series on Channel 4 in the UK. (If you had an implant that recorded every moment of your life for you to relive at your leisure, would that really be a good thing? Cf. Google Glass.) I think it's our role as technologists, strategists, architects, product designers, and so on to help steer us away from these kinds of dystopian scenarios. Just because something can be done does not mean it necessarily should be done, and just because someone poses an objection to or points out a risk of a new technology, that does not make that person a luddite.

The amazing image (http://www.businessinsider.com/vatican-square-2005-and-2013-2013-3) shared across social media of the difference between the crowd in front of the Papal conclave in 2005 vs 2013 (everyone in the 2013 shot is holding up a phone) is stunning and looks like it was ripped from a Black Mirror episode. Is it better that people are increasingly experiencing the world around them second hand, through a lens and a screen?

#blogthis

At the end of South By Southwest Interactive, after MakerBot had unveiled its desktop 3D scanner – after Google had demonstrated the power of Google Glass, after Leap Motion had shut down its demo ……

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