V. Technology can communicate, but doesn't need to speak
Introduction
Machines and people are good at different things. Machines are good at precision, repetition, memory, endurance and arithmetic. People are good at judgment, context, improvisation and deciding what is worth doing. A tool that takes over the second category in order to demonstrate the first produces worse results and a less capable person.
Amplification means the machine handles the part that would otherwise consume a person's attention, and hands back the part that requires a person. The test is whether the person is more capable while holding the tool and more capable after setting it down.
- A calculator performs arithmetic so a person can hold the shape of a problem.
- A dishwasher runs a cycle so a person can leave the kitchen.
- A sewing machine produces a consistent stitch so a maker can attend to the pattern.
The Autofocus Camera
An autofocus camera performs the operations that are mechanical: measuring distance, setting focus, metering light, selecting a shutter speed that will not blur. These are calculations with correct answers, and a camera arrives at them faster and more reliably than a person can.
Everything the camera does not do is the photograph. Where to stand, what to include, when to release the shutter, whether the moment is worth keeping. The camera has no opinion about any of it. The division holds because the camera is confident about arithmetic and silent about meaning.
A camera that amplifies does not need to:
- Choose the subject
- Decide when the moment has arrived
- Judge whether the photograph is good
- Explain its exposure calculation
The failure mode is a tool that reverses the split. A camera that selects subjects and discards frames it scores as unsuccessful takes over the judgment and leaves the person operating the machine.
Just as a camera measures light so a photographer can watch a room, well-designed technology takes on the mechanical part of a task and returns the part that requires a person.
Categories
- Pass-Through Technologies
- Principles of Calm Technology
- I. Technology should require the smallest possible amount of attention
- II. Technology should inform and create calm
- III. Technology should make use of the periphery
- IV. Technology should amplify the best of technology and the best of humanity
- V. Technology can communicate, but doesn't need to speak
- VI. Technology should work even when it fails
- VII. The right amount of technology is the minimum needed to solve the problem
- VIII. Technology should respect social norms
- Papers on Calm Technology
- Podcasts on Calm Technology
- Calm Tech Example Book Development
