We don't need the threat of repo men to keep you paying your car note – miss a Tesla payment and your car will phone home and lock its doors. When the tow arrives, it will flash its lights, honk its horn and back out of its parking space for repossession.
The technology in advanced cars like the Tesla can be used for repossessing them. Is this an intended or unintended consequence?
Looks like this is the sort of community that would attempt to put into action some of the ideas behind the book Ruined by Design.
For a long time, the blue flame coming out of a gas burner has evoked cleanliness. That was no accident, but the result of a concerted advertising campaign.
design gone wrong
This piece makes a fascinating point about people and interactions. It's the sort of thing that many in the design and IndieWeb communities should read and think about as they work.
I came to it via an episode of the podcast The Happiness Lab.
Most of the tech news we get barraged with is about algorithms, AI, robots, and self-driving cars, all of which fit this pattern. I am not saying that such developments are not efficient and convenient; this is not a judgment. I am simply noticing a pattern and wondering if, in recognizing that pattern, we might realize that it is only one trajectory of many. There are other possible roads we could be going down, and the one we’re on is not inevitable or the only one; it has been (possibly unconsciously) chosen.
duty of care
This reminds me of Mike Monteiro's book Ruined by Design from last year which pushes for a code of ethics for designers.