Truthfully,
there are a lot of things that I both love and hate about technology, and some
things that engender both at once. However, the first two that came to mind
were the intuitive nature of technology, specifically the path that it is
progressing on, and the complexity and intensive need of technology to be cared
for carefully and exactly.
Some of the very first computers I ever used made use of the same basic interface that they do today, the mouse and keyboard. However, over my lifetime, the number of available input devices for computers has expanded incredibly. In elementary school I made use of a program that let you use a microphone to play music into your computer and have it rate your performance based on how often you hit the notes. This kind of input is now an extremely common feature, even in video games. As I am writing this, I have a program installed on my computer that controls it using speech commands. It would even write this for me as I spoke it, if I wished, although the technology is not quite accurate enough for that yet. It takes seconds for people, even those few left who have never seen one, to figure out how to use one of Apple’s portable devices. And this trend in technology will most likely continue. In a recent study by Latitude, children were asked what they envisioned for the future of technology. Thirty-six percent of children designed an interface where the computer or other technology was controlled by voice or touchscreen, or even interaction with a physical object (Latitude 7). Even the technologies that don’t seem to have changed much since their inception have become more intuitive. For example, cars have done away with hand cranks, manual sparkplugs, even the clutch, unless you specifically purchase a car with manual transmission. However, as John Dvorak states, “No two cars use the same oil. There are myriad tire sizes and choices. You can't even work on the engine any more because it's so complex” (Dvorak 1). The price of the intuitivity of a kind of technology is that they will require more and more specialization to care for, because the hardware needed to make something less complicated to operate will always be more complicated than the hardware required for a less sophisticated interface, which, while being one of the things I like least about technology, is, in my opinion, a small price to pay for computers that will eventually be able to respond to general commands, just like they do in Star Trek: TNG.
Some of the very first computers I ever used made use of the same basic interface that they do today, the mouse and keyboard. However, over my lifetime, the number of available input devices for computers has expanded incredibly. In elementary school I made use of a program that let you use a microphone to play music into your computer and have it rate your performance based on how often you hit the notes. This kind of input is now an extremely common feature, even in video games. As I am writing this, I have a program installed on my computer that controls it using speech commands. It would even write this for me as I spoke it, if I wished, although the technology is not quite accurate enough for that yet. It takes seconds for people, even those few left who have never seen one, to figure out how to use one of Apple’s portable devices. And this trend in technology will most likely continue. In a recent study by Latitude, children were asked what they envisioned for the future of technology. Thirty-six percent of children designed an interface where the computer or other technology was controlled by voice or touchscreen, or even interaction with a physical object (Latitude 7). Even the technologies that don’t seem to have changed much since their inception have become more intuitive. For example, cars have done away with hand cranks, manual sparkplugs, even the clutch, unless you specifically purchase a car with manual transmission. However, as John Dvorak states, “No two cars use the same oil. There are myriad tire sizes and choices. You can't even work on the engine any more because it's so complex” (Dvorak 1). The price of the intuitivity of a kind of technology is that they will require more and more specialization to care for, because the hardware needed to make something less complicated to operate will always be more complicated than the hardware required for a less sophisticated interface, which, while being one of the things I like least about technology, is, in my opinion, a small price to pay for computers that will eventually be able to respond to general commands, just like they do in Star Trek: TNG.
Works
Cited
Dvorak, John C. "There Is
No Such Thing As Intuitive Technology." PC Mag. 3 Mar. 2008. Web. 18 Jan. 2012. <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2272575,00.asp>.
Latitude. Children's Future Requests
for Computers and the Internet. Rep.
Latitude. Web. 18 Jan. 2012. <http://www.life-connected.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Latitude-Research-42-KidsTech-Study-Summary.pdf>.
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