Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Pinch. Ouch!

There is the common phrase "pinch yourself" to signify an action that gives yourself evidence that you are likely to be real. One could do a great deal of things to oneself, so the idea of a pinch has to be something special. First of all, a pinch does not exercise much effort. Secondly, that little bit of effort, when applied to the most sensitive skin areas, can have an especially high pressure-to-pain ratio. I hurt, therefore I am.

Knowing that you exist is an important task when it comes to telephones. When you install a telephone yourself, you are often unsure of whether you have connected the device correctly. A call to a friend to request a call back to your phone is the common method to test a newly installed phone. Another way is to call a special callback number for your telephone exchange that can test your phone as well. But nothing quite beats having a friend call your unsure self because we're so used to pinching ourselves in this way. I ring, therefore I am.

Computers are a little bit different. My friend in our Development section at the Media Lab, Sarah Page, recently commented about her dad's recent switch from America OnLine (AOL) to a regular Internet Service Provider (ISP). Sarah noticed that her dad was suddenly sending her regular messages of the form, "Can you send me a mail to check if my mail is working?" I suggested that the reason for her dad's sudden electronic unassuredness arose because a connectivity product like AOL is designed to engulf its user in a gigantic warm blanket of wiredness. Her dad's ISP may be cheaper and faster, but it's also more ambiguous about his state of connectivity as compared to AOL. I know that with my unreliable ISP I sometimes feel like an astronaut floating in space that is unsure whether his lifeline is connected to the main craft. Houston? We've got a problem.

Too much of the technology around us seems to fade out in unpredictable ways. If more computing devices could reliably pinch themselves from time to time, we humans wouldn't have to pinch ourselves as often as we do on the computer. The road to building robust systems of the future will require more and more systems that continuously verify their self-operation (or at least pinch themselves). I pinch, therefore I am.