Did you read Layne’s post about 5 Life-Improving Technologies? I found it worthwhile, because I haven’t thought of Tablets, iPhones, printers, etc. as “improving” my life. I still hold a mental image of how a new Bendix front load tumble washing machine improved Mom’s life washing diapers and children’s clothes as I helped Dad remove the wringer washer from the back porch in Burlingame.
I use a few new technologies, mostly to try to understand what family members are talking about. Then, I usually find a use for one or more of them that absorbs my attention and appreciation. Best of all for me, has been how Tablets have allowed me to development and receive feedback about aLEAP, a product I’ve nurtured in various pieces for several decades, as some of my former grad students and faculty colleagues will recognize.
A couple hours later:
I’ve been thinking about Layne’s post about what technologies have improved my life in the past 5 years. Yes, I generalized the question differently from the way he stated it.
Through the past decade and a half of getting to know people who have designed and developed advancing technologies, the part that has improved my life the most has been these people. I like being in their presence.
They are among the smartest, well rounded, disciplined, and productive people I’ve encountered. They’re changing the world by making our communications faster and broader. These are archtypes of world class leaders. And, there are more of them in the high tech industry than in any other venue in which I’ve worked since leaving the airline industry in the late 1950s.
I’ve learned a lot about ways to improve my life from people in the high tech industry. They’re curious, highly skilled intellectuals with global awareness, focused, calculated risk takers, and impatient with people who express non-optimistic views.
What a refreshing way to live. It reminds me of the optimism of the small group of air pioneers I knew as a child. They changed our world by making air travel safe and ubiquitious.
You, too, advancing tech people, offer a fascinating vision of what’s possible in the future! I hope it’s infectious.
Thanks, Layne, for asking.