Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #03506



To: Hendrickson hannah@nanospace.com
From: Bruce Robinson Bruce_Robinson@bc.sympatico.ca
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 23:37:14 -0700
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Evolution Comparison


> Hendrickson wrote:

> I doubt many people will spend $375 for a vacuum when a $150 one will
> do. Sure, some will like the novelty factor, but not the majority.

Well, I do all the vacuuming around here, and I would gladly fork out
that kind of money for a robotic vacuum that could actually do the job.
Mind you, if I still had to fish out the human-operated machine each
week to get at the corners -- or do the stairs -- then it wouldn't be
such a good deal.

Many useful household devices don't sell well because of economic
discontinuity -- "them that do the work ain't the ones that earn the
money."

> And Mark W. Tilden wrote:

> The evolution of biologicals focuses on their own interest where the
> mainstream evolution of devices focuses only on human interest, which,
> let's face it, doesn't give a damn about the technology so long as it
> works.

Fair enough. But look for the leverage. One major breakthrough in a
"practical" application of robotics -- on the household appliance level,
or example -- will generate all kinds of interest, and competition, and
research money.

Also don't overlook what Michael Hammer called "the rhetorical answer".
Huh? OK, here's an example. The original Xerox photocopier was a dumb
idea (according to all the experts). That's because they thought it was
the answer to this question: "What's the best way to make a copy of a
new document?" And of course, the answer was "A 2 cent sheet of carbon
paper." The experts were answering the wrong question. The questions
that the Xerox answered (and which no one thought to ask) were these:
"What's the best way to make a copy of an existing document?" and "What
kinds of existing documents would we want to make copies of, if we
could." These two unasked questions defined the photocopier, and the
volume of material it would need to process.

So ... what questions haven't we thought to ask, that a robot
(preferably BEAM) can answer?

Hope that get's some creative juices flowing.

Bruce

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