Sunday, May 02, 2004

I was thinking again tonight about the new soundwave-driven freezers that Ben & Jerry's is putting in place, and it dawned on me how emblematic that is of technology driving solutions, rather than needs driving appropriate technology applications. We may not have known when freezers were first developed using chemical techniques that soundwaves would work as well, but perhaps there should have been some sort of moratorium, at least for a few decades, while we thought about what the need was, what it represented (real progress, real need, want, or depravation, as in a depraved want), and determined, as a society, whether or not we wanted to implement it. While that sounds pie in the sky, especially back then, I think we're moving to the point where we could communicate as a globe and make sound design decisions. The other thing that immediately came to mind is cars. Transportation on the whole. If we really planned and viewed these decisions as an engaged culture, rather than a largely (presently) disenfranchised culture, we could decide that what we really want is a way to easily get from our homes to our food, as one need, and rank others so we can make a decision about what the best technology to meet those real, prioritized needs are. My feet and legs ache like I'm getting older tonight. I ran into Leroy, my old rugby coach, and just realized how old I am, hobbling around on my bad knee and sore foot. No way I could get back on that field today. 1:35:37 AM