fooWare!

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke, “Profiles of The Future”, 1961 (Clarke’s third law)
English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – )

There’s an AT&T commercial I’ve been seeing lately which features snapshots of people using their smartphones (the Blackberry Torch in these cases) in different situations. “It says you like soft rock.”, “It says so-and-so bought the same dress.”, “It says it’s the second switch on the left.” And amazingly the lights go on thanks to what their Blackberry Torch “said”. Just like magic, right? I don’t think so…

Yes, technology is great. And it’s getting more amazing all the time. The power packed into mobile devices is accelerating the pace of our business and personal lives. But magic? Let’s go back to our AT&T commercial. “It says it’s the second switch on the left.” No, it didn’t. Some human put that information somewhere for you to find with your smartphone. The device is the vehicle for information, but the intelligence behind that information still came from a human somewhere along the line.

Writing computer programs is no different. I’ve been a software engineer for about 15 years, and in that time I’ve written some pretty decent applications. But they aren’t magic (well, there have been a couple really cool ones). I look at the software I write as tools to help people do what they need better, faster, more completely.

So, with all due respect to Mr. Clarke, instead of thinking of technology as magic that will read your mind to give you the answers magically, how about envisioning the world’s best Swiss Army knife? What amazing things can you do with the tools created for you?

Humorous sidenote posted to Twitter by Scott Hanselman: “All mankind’s achievements combine so that my 4 year old can carry a $600 pocket supercomputer that can make fart noises.”