Trapped

I had an interesting time at the Honor Tech Innovation for the Future forum at The Baltic last week. My name had been put forward to be on a panel and it seemed like a good idea to say yes. I am always happy to help where I can especially where it raises the profile of the North East.

The subject of the discussion was about what innovations in consumer technology you are most excited about and how could those innovations can or will improve the lives of its users?  This was be followed by an audience Q&A.

I talked about my ChromeBook which seemed a bit dull as it is just a laptop, yet I talked about the price, how light it was and how long the battery lasted for and that really it was a step down the road of disposable computing. The other on the panel had much more exciting things to talk about though I did get a couple of questions from the audience.

What was most interesting was listening to the other panelists describe how their own sector was in turmoil and that technology was disrupting the way that people thought. The film production industry was still making content as if physical film was used while the health industry started from the premise that drugs are what is needed to make you better.

In both cases the industry is trapped into a way of thinking. Its processes are struggling to catch up with, or vene keep pace with the rapid changes in technology.

This is a phenomenon that is affecting us all. Most of what we believe about the way we work and the society in which we live in exists entirely in your heads and is reinforced through artifact and culture. Change can go against the wishes of those who hold the reins in society and it is not the pace of technological change that pushes society forward but rather our ability or inability to absorb it that holds us back.

We are all trapped in our own paradigms.