The Smart Man and The Internet
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| The Coffee Shop Source: LibreShot |
His resource was strictly the internet for all of his skills in helping grow startups. But, as far as the human aspect of brainstorming and conversing with people he had knowledge which usually ended with his clients gaining initial traction and then failing. He would blame the idea saying he helped them get off the ground. Most people dismissed his help for being shallow and others were too busy to care. The smart man just wanted to invest.
The naive entrepreneur decided to take him up on his offer to help. They were to meet at the local coffee shop which had the fastest internet in town. The conversation started well with the smart man using all of his resources on his laptop. Next, the entrepreneur asked him to work with him on making the product truly connect with people and make it blend in with the home environment.
The smart man knew right away he would have to jump on the web to get ideas with this subject even though he claimed he knew it well. All of the sudden, the wifi went out and he lost connection, "Hold on, my friend. The wifi seems to be not working!", he said. The entrepreneur was surprised because they were just going to brainstorm. This was ideas creation nothing that needed the internet. But a couple minutes into the conversation, the entrepreneur knew the smart man was nothing without his connection and said, "A disconnected man with no ideas and creativity is a prisoner to technology."
Biography: The Wealthy Man and The String, Indian Fables, by P. V. Ramaswami Raju (1887).
Authors Note: In Wealthy Man and The String, the man claimed to have knowledge of music. However, it was his wife who was the expert in music. Whenever a musical guest would visit, he would have his wife in the background with a string attached to his coat to tell him when to acknowledge good sound. One time it broke and everyone realized what he had been doing. I wanted to give this a twist to the current craze right now, starting a company. I also wanted to touch on our dependence on technology and the internet. That sometimes when we lose connection we are incapable of working on a project. Our reliance on the internet for ideas and help is so strong I made an example of a man who knows nothing without it. He can't even brainstorm without needing his connection. In this, I wanted to highlight the importance of disconnecting and sitting down with another human to think of ideas and be creative.
The smart man knew right away he would have to jump on the web to get ideas with this subject even though he claimed he knew it well. All of the sudden, the wifi went out and he lost connection, "Hold on, my friend. The wifi seems to be not working!", he said. The entrepreneur was surprised because they were just going to brainstorm. This was ideas creation nothing that needed the internet. But a couple minutes into the conversation, the entrepreneur knew the smart man was nothing without his connection and said, "A disconnected man with no ideas and creativity is a prisoner to technology."
Biography: The Wealthy Man and The String, Indian Fables, by P. V. Ramaswami Raju (1887).
Authors Note: In Wealthy Man and The String, the man claimed to have knowledge of music. However, it was his wife who was the expert in music. Whenever a musical guest would visit, he would have his wife in the background with a string attached to his coat to tell him when to acknowledge good sound. One time it broke and everyone realized what he had been doing. I wanted to give this a twist to the current craze right now, starting a company. I also wanted to touch on our dependence on technology and the internet. That sometimes when we lose connection we are incapable of working on a project. Our reliance on the internet for ideas and help is so strong I made an example of a man who knows nothing without it. He can't even brainstorm without needing his connection. In this, I wanted to highlight the importance of disconnecting and sitting down with another human to think of ideas and be creative.
I wish Rao could read your story, Josh: I bet he would be fascinated by this modern application — the way you made technology part of the story is just perfect! It is such a funny little story to start with... and since it is so short, it gives you plenty of room to develop your own plot and characters... with the Internet itself now a character in the story! Ha! Wife... AS WIFI!!! Hilarious! (And Siri has a woman's voice, of course.)
ReplyDeleteThis whole notion of our dependence on the Internet is the latest in a series of debates about knowledge and where it resides: you have probably read in Seth Godin or elsewhere about how the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates rejected the technology of writing because it would make our minds weaker, undermining our own memories and person-to-person connections by depositing our knowledge in lifeless books with whom you cannot have a conversation. Now we can sort of have conversations with our computer... but they are not exactly satisfying conversations much of the time. Have you seen the hilarious videos about Google as a person? I love those!
If Google was a Guy
Anyway, that whole back and forth about technology as strength of weaknesses is a theme that plays out again and again in terms of writing, magic, all kinds of pre-electronic events. It would be so cool if you used a technology theme to weave together your stories this semester, thinking of how the same questions we ask about technology today parallel the questions people have asked for thousands of years about the superhuman world, invisible spirits... and also about tricks and tricksters, like in Rao's story!
Well, I am enjoying this luxury of "Week Zero" when I have lots of time to comment on the blogs and leave long comments. I am really glad you got started early for that reason... the luxurious days of Week Zero are soon coming to a close, and the craziness will really begin.
And your blog is looking great, of course: I am going to learn so much from this experiment, and Madison is working from a similar template I think. Very exciting! This is not a technology class, but the more people can learn about technology along the way (including me!), the better IMO.
I really liked your play on the theme of this story. I know all too well the reliance on technology for information. I often see people in my class googling the "answers" for a class debate rather than developing their own opinion. I think it is important to be able to play off of others' ideas, but taking their idea in whole does nothing for innovation. I also felt as if you really applied your own knowledge to the storyline - with the discussion of the roles of entrepreneurs. Overall, a great adaption to the story you picked!
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