rawjeev's techposts

I learned a new concept

Umbrellas and automobiles are different. Not just because of size, function, and cost. But for a reason we seldom stop to consider. A person can use an umbrella without buying another product. An automobile, by contrast, is useless without fuel, oil, repair services, spare parts, not to mention streets and roads. The humble umbrella, therefore, is a rugged individual, so to speak, delivering value to its user irrespective of any other product. The mighty auto, by contrast, is a team player completely dependent on other products. So is a razor blade, a tape recorder, a refrigerator, and thousands of other products that work only when combined with others. The television set would stare blankly into the living room if someone somewhere were not transmitting images to it. Even the lowly closet hanger presupposes a rack or bar to hang it on. Each of these is part of a product system. It is precisely their systemic nature that is their main source of economic value. And just as "team players" must play by certain agreed-on rules, systemic products need standards to work. A three-pronged electrical plug doesn't help much if all the wall sockets have only two slots. This distinction between stand-alone and systemic products throws revealing light on an issue that is widening today's information wars all around the world. The French call it la guerre des normes—“the war over standards." Battles over standards are raging in industries as diverse as medical technology, industrial pressure vessels, and cameras.

“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”

"It seems plain and self-evident, yet it needs to be said: the isolated knowledge obtained by a group of specialists in a narrow field has in itself no value whatsoever, but only in its synthesis with all the rest of knowledge and only inasmuch as it really contributes in this synthesis toward answering the demand, Tívεç dè nuεîç; 'Who are we?' "

“New technology should aim to reevaluate entire systems, rather than the automation of individual tasks. If problems are only solved, rather than dissolved, future problems become baked in, and benefits decline. ChatGPT is a powerful tool, and the potential benefits of AI are as yet not fully understood. But there is a substantial risk that the legacy of such technology is not more unemployment – but a proliferation of bullshit.”

This image evokes thoughts in me that are reflective of our human condition — How tools, technologies that we might have playfully & imaginatively created for ourself stand unwieldy in front of us reshaping our society and us.

"More than 'technology will be in harmony with nature'. Technology will be natural. ...underlying the future technological economy will be principles of Interdependence, cyclicity, abundance, and the gift mentality."

“Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple.”