The Design of Future Things Read Online Free

behavior, the one attempting to control what goes into the body, the other measuring and assessing what comes out. We have scolding scales watching over weight. Exercise machines demanding to be used. Even teapots shrilly whistling at us, demanding immediate attention.
    As we add more and more smart devices to daily life, our lives are transformed both for good and for bad. This is good when the devices work as promised—and bad when they fail or when they transform productive, creative people into servants continually looking after their machines, getting them out of trouble, repairing them, and maintaining them. This is not the way it was supposed to be, but it certainly is the way it is. Is it too late? Can we do something about it?
The Rise of the Smart Machine
Toward a Natural, Symbiotic Relationship
    The hope is that in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly,and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought.
    â€”J. C. R. Licklider, “Man-Computer Symbiosis,” 1960.
    In the 1950s, the psychologist J. C. R. Licklider attempted to determine how people and machines could interact gracefully and harmoniously, or in what he called a “symbiotic relationship,” so that the resulting partnership would enhance our lives. What would it mean to have a graceful symbiosis of people and technology? We need a more natural form of interaction, an interaction that can take place subconsciously, without effort, whereby the communication in both directions is done so naturally, so effortlessly, that the result is a smooth merger of person and machine, jointly performing a task.
    There are numerous instances of “natural interaction.” Let me discuss four that demonstrate different kinds of relations: between people and traditional tools, between horse and rider, between driver and automobile, and one involving machine automation, “recommendation” systems that suggest books to read, music to listen to, and films to watch.
    Skilled artisans work their materials through their tools, just as musicians relate with their instruments. Whether used by a painter or sculptor, woodworker or musician, their tools and instruments feel like a part of the body. So, craftspeople do not act as if they are using tools but as if they are directly manipulating the items of interest: paint on canvas, sculptured material, wood, or musical sounds. The feel of the materials provides feedback to the person: smooth and resonant here, bumpy or rough there. The interaction is complex but pleasurable. Thissymbiotic relationship only occurs when the person is well skilled and the tools are well designed. When it happens, this interaction is positive, pleasurable, and effective.
    Think of skilled horseback riders. The rider “reads” the horse, just as the horse can read its rider. Each conveys information to the other about what is ahead. Horses communicate with their riders through body language, gait, readiness to proceed, and their general behavior: wary, skittish, and edgy or eager, lively, and playful. In turn, riders communicate with horses through their body language, the way they sit, the pressures exerted by their knees, feet, and heels, and the signals they communicate with their hands and reins. Riders also communicate ease and mastery or discomfort and unease. This interaction is positive example two. It is of special interest because it is an example of two sentient systems, horse and rider, both intelligent, both interpreting the world and communicating their interpretations to each other.
    Example three is similar to the horse and rider, except that now we have a sentient being interacting with a sophisticated, but nonsentient, machine. At its best this is a graceful interaction between the feel of the automobile, the track, and the actions of the driver.
    I think of this when I sit beside my son while he drives my highly