Why does technology create new problems for each one it solves?
Why does technology create new problems for each one it solves?
www.theguardian.com
Why does technology create new problems for each problem it solves? | Mark Buchanan
10 comments
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There's an idea in marketing that if you create a solution, you also need to create new problems that you can market. For example, you buy a printer to allow you to print at home but now you need to buy overpriced proprietary ink. Or maybe you buy a phone, but now what can we do to make sure you come back to buy a new phone in 2 years? Truly solving a problem sells something once and that will not satisfy the infinite growth mindset.
It's a concept up there with Edward Bernays work in popularizing applying propaganda techniques to modern advertising as the idea that may have done the most to really push capitalism to its worst possible end.
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Technology doesn't have problems. People have problems.
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We don't notice technologies that quietly solve the problem they were intended to solve. I've never seen a rage post about light switches. Or wrenches. Or locks. Or pencils.
AI, and a lot of the technologies we complain about, are business models that prioritize value to the producer over value to the buyer or user. They aren't technology per se, so much as a shoddy product wrapped in unrealistic promises.
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And when they quietly solve a problem, we often expand their use until they start creating new problems. The automobile solved the problem of horses in cities (which were yes, a really terrible thing, between their excrement, their smell, the bodies of the ones driven to death, just horrible). But then we re-designed our whole metro-areas to put people at least 10km away from workplaces, groceries and services. The sprawl made the car necessary for parts of life that were never serviced by horses, and then you have terrible traffic and all the downsides that come with it. My point? The car did actually quietly solve a problem quite elegantly at first.
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If problems were actually solved, like fully remedied, how will billionaires ever afford that 6th superyacht? Jeez, think of other people for once.
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Because techbros never consider the downsides or misuses of the technologies they promote, only the profit potential.
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In any problem, every solution that works is a solution, but not every solution is of equal value. In math we use the word "Elegant : Characterised by minimalism and intuitiveness while preserving exactness and precision. " To describe solutions that work well, are concise, and don't add pain.
Jigsaw puzzle analogy: If you have a puzzle with one piece missing, there are at least a hundred things you can use that will fill that space .. sawdust, sand, play-doh, cement, but the most elegant solution, is the puzzle piece made to go there.
With tech, its just more complex- we don't create solutions in a vacuum ( a world by themselves ), they have to exist and mesh with a preexisting world. We call those limits constraints. And the problem with tech is that often the people who create the technology ignore (don't care much about) the constraints.
Inventor: Can we do xyz with cameras? Society: And not let them be used for evil? Inventor: Not my problem.
Its easy to solve problems: the cat is sick. kill the cat. people: No that's awful. inventor: but it did solve the cat problem.
Solving problems in a way that meshes well with the world is not easy. And our inventors are at the moment, shortsighted and greedy.
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Because every time you apply a solution, you increase the number of failure points.
Take something simple:
I want to walk to the mailbox and check my mail.
Well, I have medical conditions which put me at risk for foot injuries, where are my shoes?
Oh, and I need a key for the mailbox, better have that.
Feeling a little winded today because of the heart trouble, I should probably use the wheelchair for safety...
Which is still in the backseat of the car, so I need another key...
Hope it still has a charge on it, it should, but I didn't use it last...
Each solution is a failure point. The more solutions you add, the more failure points there are.
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There's a term in hardware design called Mean Time Before Failure or MTBF. Essentially it means that the more parts a system has in it, the quicker it will fail. I think the ever increasing complexity of software tends to follow the same pattern.
10 comments
Capitalism.