Designing Calm Technology
summary
Claims that attention becomes the scarcest resource as we approach “50 billion” connected devices and revives Xerox PARC’s calm tech principles: devices require only some attention and act as ambient indicators. Gives concrete failures (Petnet feeder servers cause pet starvation; insulin pump emits unmodifiable beep that nearly kills a user), and concrete fixes (a weather lightbulb that changes color, a posture buzzer, ThreeScan robot that speeds tissue imaging while keeping humans in the loop).
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chapters (8)
- 0:00Introduction to calm tech
- 3:59Suboptimal conditions in design
- 8:15Technology should not demand full attention
- 13:28Peripheral attention and foot pedals
- 17:59AI should not replace human culture
- 24:43Ambient awareness and social norms
- 30:00Technology needs time to be accepted
- 34:20Calm tech for human-centered living
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