[Monica] Week 1 Response

Notopia

I agree that corporations sell the dream of a utopia through the purchase of their products. I don't believe this is a surprise anymore in today's world. "My product solves all your problems" is what keeps capitalism's wheels turning. Money and their perception of a consumer are the main things corporations care about. This reading brings up a good point on what corporations and their product designers should also be paying attention to; their misuse and how they can use it to improve their product or make it more complex.

Amateur subversions and beta-testers

Generally, the public takes information or a product for what it is, and corporations benefit from this. They don't expect everyone to be a beta-tester or enjoy doing DIY projects. Corporations believe in a passive consumer and for the most part people are. Most people don't want to buy a product they have to modify, they want a product that does what it's advertised to do. But there is definitely a niche market for people who like to modify products. I believe as this niche expands people will not just demand, but expect products on the market that do more and are more complex.

When objects dream...

Electronics' dreams being radiation offers a new way to look at the technology around us. It is known that electronic objects give off radiation but the public primarily connotes radiation with destruction and cancer. When reading about hertzian space I couldn't help but imagine an image of a 10 o'clock news anchor warning the public that the space with all the electronics they live in is going to give them cancer. Fear is often the first reaction when someone does't understand something. Making hertzian space understandable, especially for the public, is important in order to innovate new technologies that can use this space to their advantage.

Overall, understanding what technologies can do beyond what is simply told to us can help us take more control of the technological world we live in.