Mon 17 Aug 2009
blinker
Posted by Lisa Hickey under random, social media
photo: jessicafm on Flickr
When cars were first invented, they didn’t have blinkers. It was only after the fact that people studying the effect that cars had on society said “hey, it looks like people keep crashing every time the person in front of them turns. Too bad we can’t figure out a way for the cars to signal their intention before they turn so that people can stop in time.”
And then they solved the problem.
What they didn’t say was: “what idiot invented the car and didn’t realize you’d crash every time you got out there and made a turn” or “the general public is too stupid to drive cars, they are never going to work” or “cars don’t work, it’s fine when there’s only a few people on the road but they are just not scalable.”
Yet that’s what I see people do when it comes to technology, or social media, or networking platforms. They blame the creators or they blame the people using them or they figure stuff will never be scalable.
Until someone else comes along and solves the problem.
Which just got me thinking that some day I would like to be the type of person that invents the blinker.
5 Responses to “ blinker ”
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Lisa,
It’s awesome to see you post again - please do more when you have time! I love your mind and you already have invented the blinker simple because you possess the desire to do so.
Keep sharing. Stay curious. Thanks for being a great inspirational friend!
@knealemann
Given that you are thinking about this stuff non-stop, I won’t be surprised if you come up with the blinker. If that’s a metaphor for how to make all this stuff work better, get us where we need to get without accidents, delays or pissing other people off, allowing us to show those behind us where we’re going, that’s sort of what you’re doing already. Keep it up.
very nicely stated.
Thanks all,
I always appreciate the thoughts and support. Have not had time to post as much as I’d like because am up ’til all hours of the night figuring this all out!
What’s SO fascinating to me about Social Media is the ability to see the way people are navigating through it. And to be able to see results and outcomes so clearly. Never in my life before have I had that feeling of clarity. The ‘blinker’ is yes, a metaphor, to show people ways to navigate. More and more important, I believe.
My friend Gouwe wrote the following comment as a second point on another post, but I think it’s worth restating here. Fascinating, this notion of people having a “social blindness”, which I would argue is certainly not limited to those with autism.
“Hi,
What a interesting piece. I can truly relate to the idea about the blinker on the car. Our son [he’s 10 going on 11] is autisch and there is a possibility I myself as well. Being that autism a sort blindness is for social traffic, we find ourselves each day rediscovering social ‘cars’ whom don’t have the extra ‘social blinkers’ which are needed to prevent us from ‘bumping’ and from taking the wrong ‘exit’, finding ourselves at odds at what to do.
The cool thing about the way our son interacts with his autism, is that he is very analysing person. When each new ‘extra social blinker’ is constructed by explaining in the topic in more detail, about the whys and how’s , writing a sort ‘subprogram’ finally the pieces of the puzzle fall in place and he ‘sees’ what’s going on and why afterwards it’s the common knowledge. He has also the capability to redesign his subprograms to suit a new but almost identical social situation.”