Bret Victor’s rant on the future of technology had a very interesting take on technological design for the future, which made me realize the things we often ignore. He mentions how a glass screen completely misses the purpose of what our hands can do, which is to feel and manipulate, and how future interaction designs seem to neglect that entirely by reducing interaction to swiping fingers across a flat screen.
Honestly, I can’t help but agree with him on this, but I also find it difficult to come up with a clear solution to this problem. Designing future technology in the “Pictures Under Glass” way is probably the easiest way to do so, which is likely why it became the default design. If we did take the abilities of our hands into account, depending on the purpose of the device you’re using, the design would differ drastically from one to another, making it extremely complex. Although I do agree with Victor’s frustration, I also think his critique shows how difficult innovation can be once a certain design dominates the industry.
In his follow-up, Victor admits that he didn’t offer a solution because the purpose of his rant was to encourage research rather than provide answers. I actually respect his honesty, it made his rant look more like an invocation rather than a complaint. I’m on board with his criticism to limiting designs and to instead imagine new possibilities of greater ones. Even though we don’t yet know what a “dynamic tactile medium” will look like, I think Victor’s ideas push us as readers to think deeply about how our bodies and technology should work together.