Being Fair To The Media Lab
Posted by harrisj Wed, 13 Apr 2005 19:58:00 GMT
In my previous post where I criticized the SNIF device for mapping pet social networks as being a solution in search of a problem, I wrote a snide aside about it originating from the MIT Media Lab (where else?). Okay, I will admit it, that was mean. The MIT Media Lab does come up with some great ideas too. For instance, check out this design for a remote control that is powered by pushing the buttons (via the wonderful Make Magazine Blog. This is so simple but brilliant (think how many batteries just go into remote controls every year), that I feel I owe the Media Lab a bit of an apology on the strength of that one invention alone. And they do lots of other neat stuff too. I even took a few classes in holography there while I was a student at MIT.Still, I feel I must explore the source of my snarkiness. The nature of the Media Lab is that their projects are driven by corporate funding, and so there is often a sheen of hype over everything they do (no sponsor wants to feel like they're paying for a dud). They really have to sell themselves to the sponsors. So, the resulting perception among engineers is this sense of undifferentiated breathlessness where the most speculative and profoundly silly projects are treated with the same reverences as ideas profound and smart. Furthermore, the hype practically screams out the belief that everything will be a wild success and that everything can be improved by technology. It's like we've learned no lessons from the dot-com bust. And this hype is what gets me surly, because I've been down that road before.
