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Classical views

Thesis

Technology is not neutral but yet it doesn't decide the final usage that will be made out of it because of subversion/détournement. A tool is not limited by the initial intent of the original designer and very often radical innovation are realized precisely by mashing up usages and existing technology.

Examples

Schema

Classical path of a technology

(:pmgraphviz -- digraph { "need" -> "existing technologies" [label="search"]; "existing technologies" -> "need" [label="nothing appropriate"]; "need" -> "new technology" [label="design with intended usage"]; "new technology" -> "existing technologies" [label="integrating\nunpredictable mashups"]; "new technology" -> "intended usage" [label="early usage\nin classical circles",color=green]; "new technology" -> "unintended usage" [label="later usage\nin alternative circles",color=red,style=dashed]; } :)

Key concepts

Why this new technology will never give you a free lunch

"Quand cette technologie sera développée, on peut imaginer de nombreuses applications au quotidien, le rêve des fainéants... " (cf the inspirational article from Lactu à la loupe) according to the history of economy and technology the opposite sounds true. The Wikipedia:Red Queen principle even stipulate that for every compatitive advantage gained by a large enough population, the race starts to gain a new one.

Also it became a classical argument "technology X va rendre tlm heureux et riche" for every single technology advertised as revolutioanry while in fact a smart entrepreneur monitoring those trends while secure (thanks to barriers to entry, IP, ...) this technology in order to capture value

et en soit ca n'a rien de "mechant", c'est completement logique dans un systeme capitaliste.

Ceux qui auront pris le temps de se donner les compétences et les moyens d'en profiter qui pourront vraiment exploiter ce genre de chose (comme les hackers) je pense que dans quelques décennies, les mecs qui auront des corps pleinement "augmentés" et qui en feront bon usage auront lutté dès maintenant, et même avant en faisant des roadmap, en lisant, en pensant, en planifiant des stratégies entrepreneuriales en tissant des réseaux concrets type HackerSpaces il faut se preparer, on ne subit une revolution technologique, politique et economique que si on ne s'est pas prepare ca n'a rien d'elitiste de dire ca, c'est un simple constat

Inspired by

Discussion on irc://irc.freenode.net/hplusfrance with Kusanageek (02/04/2010) based on L’homme augmenté : quand la science-fiction devient réalité, Lactu à la loupe

See also

Resources

To do

Page last modified on May 15, 2011, at 10:58 AM