nicholas@hq.media.mit.edu
I don't think novelty plays any role in the assertion that computers allow for greater learning by doing and by active exploration, because most kids just don't find them novel. I don't think that many of us understand how fast things have changed and how natural the digital world is to kids. We say we do, but we don't really.
jls@world.std.com
What does the success of programs like that at the Hennigan School suggest about training employees (skilled and unskilled) in new technology in a variety of work settings?
nicholas@hq.media.mit.edu
The success of the Hennigan School does not map directly onto the much harder problem of retraining employees, where the biggest task is to unlearn things. That may be one of the biggest problems facing the world today, as automation chews more and more into jobs and we have fewer and fewer places for people to go.
jls@world.std.com
Since public money is being used to fund some of the Media Lab's research, are concerns about how the outcome of the research might affect the public legitimate?
nicholas@hq.media.mit.edu
Concerns about how the outcome of the research might affect the public are legitimate, with or without public money. It is hard to imagine doing any research without that being the purpose. What can happen is that we try to evaluate something we do not understand or we do so in a context that is just inappropriate. For that reason, a place like the Media Lab will let ideas grow even if they seem foolhardy at the beginning. We don't uproot little plants. Even if we bring only one out of 20 new ideas to fruition, that is just fine (in fact, a good ratio). Industry is just not equipped to take that kind of risk or to accept that kind of yield; somebody has to. When people in my world cry foul about public scrutiny, it is usually based on the argument that it is premature, not that it is not "legitimate."
jls@world.std.com
What's your reaction to the policy implications of things that have happened under the Clinton administration that make it clear that money for nonapplied research, particularly in a university setting, is obviously becoming scarcer?
nicholas@hq.media.mit.edu
I am not a Washington animal, and my experiences in that arena are limited. What I can say is that Al Gore and to a lesser degree Bill Clinton have raised public attention to a new level. Whether or not you agree with the idea of the information highway in name or in tone, it has become part of everyday parlance and is in every American's awareness. You need not be right or wrong. This high level of attention is very new and very helpful.
As for the specifics of funding, sure, there are contradictions. Since the Media Lab is 73% funded by companies (50% U.S., 25% European, 25% Far East), we are less sensitive to the ups and downs of Washington's funding.
Subject: Intersection of Business and Technology
jls@world.std.com
You suggest that if there is a "next" it will likely be the technologies of intelligence. For the businessperson trying to translate that phrase into viable business opportunities, what does it mean?
nicholas@hq.media.mit.edu
The business opportunities are real simple: the personalization business. That can range from being in the information-about-information business, digital-butler services, mail filtering, personalized magazines, etc. Knowing what is in a body of information can have as much value as the body itself.
jls@world.std.com
Is the assumption true that if you wait for technologies to be widely accepted, it will be too late to take advantage of them?
nicholas@hq.media.mit.edu
While one wants to avoid the bleeding edge of technology adoption, you don't want to go to the other extreme and keep waiting for prices to go down. I've mentioned Andy Grove's remark about 50% of all computing being manufactured in the last two years. That means that if you wait two years you will enjoy twice the value. That is true. But the cost of the wait to your company may be much higher.
jls@world.std.com
There's a lot of misinformation and hype about technology. How can average businesspeople teach themselves to become as skeptical about the information they read about nascent or developing technology as they are about everything else they do in running their businesses? How can they make smart, informed "business" decisions about technology?
Just so you know, we're facing a major-league baseball strike here in the States. So soon we'll be just like Greece and have no baseball either.
nicholas@hq.media.mit.edu
I continue to have a problem with your use of the word "technology," because it is so wide. It could mean a new nonstick hamburger grill. If we narrow that to computing, the best way to teach yourself is to ask your 13-year-old son or daughter. If your children are grown up, then tune into one of the CEO computer camps. There is a real need to put some of this stuff in your bloodstream, for you to experience it directly, versus going only for a broad reengineering approach.
Since I am in Norway, coming from Denmark, heading to Sweden and then back to France, I see baseball nowhere and would not know how to miss it anyway.
