Thinking About Technology

Alan Kay defined technology some years ago as that which wasn’t around when you were born. Of course, he said it much better than that but the point stands. When you arrive in the world and become cognizant of your surroundings – including the technology that your parents use, you use, your friends use – you just think of all that ‘magic’ as normal.

Of course, we can project ourselves at many miles per hour or talk to family and friends across the globe; or see our favorite projected sights whenever we want (whether on television or YouTube or embedded in our social networking media); or text a message and expect an answer back instantaneously. We breathe, don’t we?

Those technologies are just part and parcel of our environment. They inform a baseline experience.

That baseline experience gets enhanced when the existing technologies are used in new and varied ways. That baseline experience gets enhanced when new technologies alter how we go about our daily life whether at work, play, or shopping.

Specifically the baseline moves up a notch or two or more when the application of current and emerging technologies alters  our interactions with other people, with how we conduct or affairs and, as importantly, with other technologies.

No company is an island onto itself. But you could be excused if you thought so because many companies behave as if they were impenetrable and highly fortified castles in their own right. You feel that when you ask yourself “how come I can do (fill in the blank) with that company but not with this company?”

The new baseline redefines your experience. The new baseline defines a new floor of your expectations. Companies that don’t meet those (new) expectations are competing on precarious ground.

What technologies or applications of technologies have heightened your baseline experience?