Why shoot for the moon? It matters because when you try to do something radically hard, you approach the problem differently than when you try to make something incrementally better.
Astro TellerRead
We know in our hearts that technology at its best should make us feel even more human than we currently feel. Sometimes it makes us feel less human.
Interpretation
Technology should enhance our humanity, but sometimes it has the opposite effect.
This quote by Astro Teller suggests that the purpose of technology is to enrich human experience and connection, yet it often fails to do so. While advancements can create opportunities for growth, they can also lead to feelings of disconnection and alienation, highlighting the need for a mindful approach to how we integrate technology into our lives.
In practice
During a tech conference discussing the impact of social media on relationships.
Why shoot for the moon? It matters because when you try to do something radically hard, you approach the problem differently than when you try to make something incrementally better.
The faster you can get your ideas in contact with the real world, the faster you can discover what is broken with your idea.
If you want to explore things you haven't explored, having people who look just like you and think just like you is not the best way.
When you attack a problem as though it were solvable, even though you don't know how to solve it, you will be shocked with what you come up with. It's 100 times more worth it. It's never 100 times harder.
Here is the surprising truth: It's often easier to make something 10 times better than it is to make it 10 percent better.
We nonchalantly expect that next year's smartphone will be faster and better than this year's, yet we struggle to imagine that society and our lives could progress at anything like the pace at which technology advances and we meekly accept it when things go backwards.
The Internet's abundance - of information, goods, tastes and sources of authority - creates unparalleled opportunities for individuals to get exactly what they want. But this plenitude threatens political and cultural authorities who believe in telling individuals what they can have rather than letting them choose for themselves.
Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition. It must be done with an appreciation for the civil and human rights that deserve protection - without pretending that access itself is such a right.
Disruptive innovations create jobs, efficiency innovations destroy them.
What we are finding out now is that there are not only limits to growth but also to technology and that we cannot allow technology to go on without public consent.
Our values are that we do think that people have a right to privacy. And that our customers are not our products.
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