Listen, three eyes," he said, "don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal.
Douglas AdamsRead
We no longer think of chairs as technology; we just think of them as chairs. But there was a time when we hadn't worked out how many legs chairs should have, how tall they should be, and they would often 'crash' when we tried to use them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects how everyday objects, like chairs, evolve in our perception from technological innovations to mere commonplace items over time.
Douglas Adams highlights the journey of technological development as something that, once established, fades into the background of everyday life. We often forget the complexity and thought that went into creating simple objects because they become so integrated into our daily routine that we take them for granted. Adams reminds us that even the most ordinary items have a history of innovation and adaptation behind them.
Themes
TechnologyChairsInnovationPerceptionEveryday Life
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about innovation in design, one could use this quote to illustrate how common items evolve over time.
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Computers are still technology because we are still wrestling with it: it's still being invented; we're still trying to work out how it works. There's a world of game interaction to come that you or I wouldn't recognise. It's time for the machines to disappear. The computer's got to disappear into all of the things we use.
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We are stuck with technology when all we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognize something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.
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