Everything you see around you was once perceived as impossible. Everything. Food containers, woven clothes, money, air travel. Or how about communicating with someone on the other side of the planet?
Innovation is the concept of impossible.
If we look at current changes in our society, what stands out most is the rapid speed at which technology is developing. This doesn’t just have to do with Moore’s Law, but also with the way we perceive and are breaking down the ‘impossible’. But the warp speed at which this is happening means we can barely keep up.
Do you already own a home-robot that knows you are working late and has food delivered the moment you arrive home? Or do you have an alarm clock that wakes you and simultaneously turns on the coffee machine? Technology is no longer just being developed for people either, but we are creating synergy by developing technology to support existing tech. An example is Jibo, a home-robot developed by amongst others Cynthia Breazeal, a robot pioneer and professor at MIT. Jibo is connected to your house, other technology and digital devices. Dubbed a ‘Family Robot’, it learns to recognize faces and emotions, and acts like a personal assistant that looks like Wall-E meets EVE.
Cisco is outlining a similar near-future with their video The Internet of Everything | Circle Story. They show an ordinary day where sensors in your home will know you are walking towards a door and open it for you. Your car will be outside waiting and knows where to take you because it is synced to your calendar. Your fridge is connected to your digital shopping list and your supermarket, so grocery shopping instantly becomes more effective. Everything will become smart and in-tune, reducing many of our current daily requirements. Boring? Perhaps, but the time we previously spent aimlessly strolling through the supermarket trying to remember what we needed could now be spent in a more creative way.
SMART LENSES
It’s not just our environment getting smarter and more connected; there are increasingly interesting developments when it comes to wearable technology. I’m not talking about smart watches, but instead things like the smart contact lens Google X and pharmaceutical company Novartis are collaborating on. Lenses that are equipped with sensors and microchips the wearer won’t even notice. Can you image the endless possibilities with tech this small? The time when the sky was the proverbial limit has long gone.
AUGMENTED HUMANS
A robot that knows me better than my own mom, or optical lenses that have more technology than the first mobile phones? What’s the next stop on this high-speed technology train? Cyborgism perhaps? I have been known to lose my phone quite often so it would be practical if I just had a chip in my head that could receive phone calls… Crazy thought? Well someone’s beat me to it. Neil Harbisson is the first person on planet Earth who has an antenna implemented in his head. The antenna has Bluetooth-connection and is able to receive phone calls directly into his head. Why? He was born completely colorblind seeing only grey tones. This can make life a bit complicated, imagine the London Metro Map? Instead of accepting his limitations Neil decided to turn his disadvantage into an advantage. He developed an antenna that can now translate 360 color shades into sound frequencies. He is the first human to be able to perceive infrared and ultraviolet light. Imagine hearing every color you see? Walking through the household cleaning section of a supermarket would sound like a noise nightclub or an orchestra on steroids. And what of the product design implications – would a brand change their product packaging if they knew what it sounded like?
BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY
Sometimes when I look at old sci-fi movies I’m astonished about how much more advanced we already are and how we are already living in the future. Recent movies like HER by Spike Jonze or books like The Circle by Dave Eggers give us a sneak peek into our (very near) future, but keep in mind that no matter how much tech you throw at consumers, people still react the same basic way. Maslows’ hierarchy of needs is just as true as it was 10 or 10,000 years ago.
Bottom line, innovation is great/amazing/fun/cool/exciting, but should never be the goal. It should be the best solution to a problem. Taking into consideration the thousands of distractions we are faced with every day, technology needs to fulfill a need. Why should something deserve my attention? Will it make my life better? Do I really need a home-robot?
To all who don’t want to be left behind in our ever-changing society, my only advice is to stay curious and eager to learn. Be like your 90-year old Grandma who uses Facebook. And, remember everything you see today was once impossible.
This is a translation of my article that was first published in Dutch magazine, Marketing Tribune #31.