After much protest and anxiety, an Ikea opens in Brooklyn and turns out to not be so horrible.
Every person in America protests Rupert Murdoch‘s purchase of the Wall Street Journal, but it’s actually looking pretty good.
Back in 1966, Time magazine predicted that “remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop — because women like to get out of the house, like to handle the merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.” (On the other hand, Time believed in the Internet: “One thing people almost certainly will want is electronic ‘information retrieval’: the contents of libraries and other forms of information or education will be stored in a computer and will be instantly obtainable at home by dialing a code.” Ironically, that shrewd prediction is spelling big trouble for Time and other magazines.)
It is probably hard to think of any progress or disruptive technology that hasn’t been met with fear, anxiety, and predictions of failure. What are your favorite examples?
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My own! but to what….if I give it away, will there be anything left for readers to learn. I will give this bit– we all gain- so not all progress in science is bad- and it bodes well for science here in America and worlwide in the sense that China, Japan, India ….. will now have to catch up- and especially for women in science and for men too– So I wouldn’t spend toooooo much time worrying unless of course you are completely averse to change. I then would ask every reader to read Hegel’s bit about the master-slave relationship as characterizing all human relationships in a way. If you don’t like change, here is a way to get over it quick- It is a fascinating, but difficult read. I also recommend a new book, however, just off the press. It is called- A Japanese Duality. Jones Harvest Press, 2008 Its author is Jean Goldstein Tao Yin. There’s behind it and curiously in it a bit more of a hint at where this all is leading.
” (On the other hand, Time believed in the Internet: “One thing people almost certainly will want is electronic ‘information retrieval’: the contents of libraries and other forms of information or education will be stored in a computer and will be instantly obtainable at home by dialing a code.” Ironically, that shrewd prediction is spelling big trouble for Time and other magazines.)”
Does this mean that Time’s management does not read the magazine?
As to your question: The only compelling ‘example’ I can think of is actually more of a counter-example: the glowing predictions of success and health and happiness-ever-after surrounding the marketing of obstetrical services and infant formula in the United States. I think the reality is much more of a mixed picture.
P2P distribution technologies that ended the false scarcity of media. The MPAA and RIAA in the United State have been trying desperately to halt the direction their markets are headed, and infringing their copyright is made easier by the day. It is fascinating to watch them struggle to litigate and legislate against their own customers, who are inexorably growing to hate the restrictions of copyright law that no longer serves the public.
Public libraries will kill the publishing industry.
In Brazil, judges were afraid of the typing machine; at first, they thought there would not be any way of acknowledging their decisions as theirs, since anybody could write it. That was a few decades ago.
Nowadays, legislators are not willing to allow videoconferences in legal procedures, which would noticeably cheapen legal costs.
My Grandmother still won’t go near a microwave. She was a teenager during Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I’m guessing another common fear, that of nearby nuclear power plants, will subside when her generation passes away.
Modern farming fertilizers, pesticides, etc. are some other controversial ongoing fears of technology.
I remember when ATMs were first proposed, and the street wisdom was that bank customers wouldn’t use them because they would miss the the personal interaction they get with bank tellers. Ha!!
Dear Jim Apple;
Sorry, I do beg to differ. I just love books in print and many that should still be, but that are not. If anything, I expect the marketplace to increase and expand in a huge way worldwide. I just hope that the print is readable and easy on the eyes. Some books are just so hard to read these days. The paper is glaring, the print/type so small and not reader friendly.
And so long as the information offered to public libraries is limited to just enough for readers to want more- I see no harm- if anything a true benefit.