Walk this way--or your phone won't work

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Cliches come to life

It's funny: For the past several decades we've seen countless science-fiction stories in books, movies, and video games about technology gone wrong. What's funny is how hard people are trying to turn these tired cliches into reality.

Some of the negative effects of technology, like workers becoming obsolete and jobless, are things we can't do much about. But we're not just eliminating jobs when we replace people with machines; sometimes we also create disasters waiting to happen.

How many stories about technology have we seen where some safeguard that's supposed to "protect" people ends up preventing someone from doing something important that needs to be done? It's all too easy to visualize this development turning into just such a scenario. "Please help, I've been in a terrible accident! Call 911! My cell phone won't work because my legs are broken and now I can't walk the same way I usually do."

That might be a bit of an extreme example, but let's get real, everyone: People walk differently depending on what kind of shoes they're wearing, how they're feeling at that moment in time, and other factors. This sounds like one of those cute ideas that sounds neat but will only encumber technology in the end.

"We're so clever, we figured out a way to make technology more accessible by eliminating one more 5-second step the user has to go through! Progress!"

Posted by: LateBlt   Posted on: 10/13/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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