Technology Is A Social Thing
All technologies have come into existence through human imagination. A human sees a problem and then imagines how it may be solved by a tool. Then off they go, tyring to figure out how to bring their idea to life. Sometimes they blow themselves up or electrocute themselves in the process. It’s often messy. But in the end, technologies evolve through social interactions.
One might think that the distant ancestor who invented the stone axe cut their finger trying to chop something. Their caring friend realised that adding a handle to the axe might help them out. We of course, have no idea if this is what happened. But it makes for a nice story.
The railway is another example. The original idea was to move coal from the mines in rural Britain to urban centres. Then someone figured out you could move livestock, then materials and lastly, oddly enough, humans. Though such a ride back then would’ve been rather unpleasant as there were no seats or roofs. That’s why it’s still referred to as cattle class.
Software and hardware products that become highly successful are most often because they’ve experienced high degrees of social interaction and the companies that make them take the time to listen to people.
While it’s claimed that Steve Jobs didn’t listen to people, I think that’s highly inaccurate. One has to have a fair…
