Devices of the Soul (Hardcover)

Chapter 18. The Ideal of Ubiquitous Technology

I sometimes wonder whether the folks at the MIT Media Lab are pulling our legs.

It seems that a lot of energy at the prestigious lab (which claims to be “inventing the future”) has gone into the redesign of the American kitchen. For example, one project involved training a glass counter top

to assemble the ingredients for making fudge by reading electronic tags on jars of mini-marshmallows and chocolate chips, then coordinating their quantities with a recipe on a computer and directing a microwave oven to cook it.

Dr. Andrew Lippman, associate director of the Media Lab, said that “my dream tablecloth would actually move the things on the table. You throw the silver down on it, and it sets the table.”

One waits in vain for the punch line. These people actually seem to be serious. And the millions of dollars they consume look all too much like real money. Then there are the corporate sponsors, falling all over themselves to throw yet more money at these projects.

Nowadays this kind of adolescent silliness is commonly given the halo of a rationale that has become respected dogma. After all, don’t many inventions find unexpected uses in fields far removed from their first application, and doesn’t a spirit of play often give rise to productive insight?

Certainly. But somehow it doesn’t all add up.

In the first place, the likelihood of serendipitous benefits is not a convincing justification for trivializing the immediate application of millions ...