tomorrow now - bruce sterling
A gizmo is neither a “machine” nor a product.” It doesn’t want you to accomplish any task in particular. It wants a relationship; it wants to be an intimate experience, as close to you as your eyebrow. It wants you engaged, it wants you pushing those buttons, it wants you faithful to the brand name and dependent on the service.
A gizmo needs an interface, and an interface for its interface. It needs tech support, and tech support for its tech support. Event its web pages need web pages. And this is where you work. Because the mental insuffienciency of these bleeping, begging little gizmos has become a human job magnet of titanic proportions. The near-infinite complexity of a network of rapidily obsolescing, disposable gizmos can suck up near-infinite amounts of human effort and ingenuity. Tomorrow Now, Bruce Sterling