When I was small, I threw a rock at my brother. I was quickly taken aside and reminded that if I did not think about the consequences the next time I decided to do something like that, there would be a wealth of unhappiness wreathed about my young frame. Profoundly repentant, I vowed to never again get caught throwing a rock at my brother.
There are intended consequences when you throw a rock at your brother. They look like this, and you are well aware of them before you throw the rock:
- Your brother gets hit by a rock.
- He becomes aware of your power.
- You grow in power until you are the king of all men.
- You open a chain of meat restaurants where you never have to pay.
Then there are unintended consequences. This is really what your parents—who are much better systems thinkers than you at that age—want you to try and figure out beforehand. They look like this:
- You, a freshly-minted king, are quickly stripped of your office by the incumbent authorities.
- You are denied macaroni dinner — a favorite.
- Your brother grows up listening to a lot of Bauhaus.
Brother gets hit with rock, identifies with “boo-hoo goth music”
I was sitting in the privacy of my office recently, wearing Google Glass. (I may or may not have had the shades drawn.) For reasons that are too complicated to present in an interesting fashion here—laser beams and a fast-talking Irishman are involved—I am recently farsighted in my right eye.* This made it impossible to read the weensy little Glass screen, which is placed on the device’s right side. I simply sat there in a darkened room, feeling not just socially repugnant, but hamstrung in the race to define the future. Kind of like Axl Rose, or a sofa frequented by dogs.
These are not “agents of change.” Unless you count odor as a change.
What are the unintended consequences of Glass’s design—not just which side the lens goes on, but the lens itself? It may seem like the most boring question ever put forth by humankind, but consider for a moment the drastic impact:
Google Glass…
- Favors the young
- Favors the physically perfect
- Favors the shameless
This means Glass’s apps have a greater likelihood of being developed by those who fit the above profile (Justin Bieber), and the reality created by those apps will be shaped by their interests (trying to get monkeys through customs). It will be more likely to exclude those who are different.
If that doesn’t sound like a big deal, consider how left out you’d feel if you couldn’t use Facebook. Or the bus.
In a few years, I won’t be able to understand how my daughter experiences the world, and things like this will directly contribute to that alienation. I’ll be sitting in my darkened office, depressed, and if there’s any justice in the world, my brother will be outside in his car with a rock.**
CTO
*Farsightedness is an expected outcome in men of my age who undergo Lasik surgery. While it is not exactly an unintended consequence, it is a reality based on weakening musculature, like so many of the regularly-scheduled disgraces of aging.
**Unintended consequence
