The definition of “useful puzzle” is loose. This week I encountered some puzzles that I think are useful, but they are not the usual things I present here. My wife and I stopped at a little thrift store where she likes to hunt for bargains. As a matter of policy, they do not carry electronic equipment, so I browsed through the books and found a ten-year old gem of an oversized book for one dollar: Forward Through the Rearview Mirror: Reflections on and by Marshall McLuhan edited by Paul Benedetti and Nancy DeHart. Most people remember McLuhan for “Media is the Message” and coining the concept of “Global Village.” He did much more. Looking back at what he wrote, it is spooky how prescient he was.
I will not try to review the book or his work. The book’s impact depends heavily on its many collages and images, and his work is far too varied. But one quote really caught my attention and seems to be relevant to these topics. This is from CBC television in 1970:
You know, there’s an old saying in the business world: if it works, it’s obsolete. And it’s only when a thing has become obsolete that everybody is sufficiently familiar with it to make it work. Our motorcars were obsolete long ago, but that means they are really going concerns. There is more writing today than there was before Gutenberg — more handwriting. Obsolescence does not mean the conclusion, but rather the beginning, of a process as far as everyday life is concerned. This is not ordinarily understood. Most people think obsolescence means the end. It means the beginning. People always live with obsolescent attitudes and int obsolescent frames of mind and obsolescent technologies and homes.
Maybe that explains why we all still own brooms even though we all have vacuum cleaners. I once read that in San Diego county, where I live, the population of horses is much greater than it was at the height of the cowboy days. The person who told me this swore that he meant the number of horses per capita, not the absolute number. He might be right. I do not know.
All of this is a long way from decision theory, but it certainly does present some puzzles. Or maybe it solves some puzzles. It is all in how you look at it.
Prof. Don Norman once said that computers will not be mature until we are surrounded by them and unaware of it. That has already happened to your automobile. It has many embedded computers. Handheld calculators that once cost $300 in 1970 dollars are now given away as promotions, but we still can, and sometimes do, add numbers using a pencil and paper. By contrast, while you are reading this, you are likely surrounded by printed material and not really aware of it because printing is a mature technology, and by McLuhan’s estimate, hopelessly obsolete. So you can touch type and write emails, you still have ballpoint pens within easy reach. Are they obsolete? Is that okay?
The founders of “Wired” studied and understood McLuhan.
Who is the modern equivalent? Would we recognize a new genius on the block?
In response to the interest my original tutorial generated, I have completely rewritten and expanded it. Check out the tutorial availability through Lockergnome. The new version is over 100 pages long with chapters that alternate between discussion of the theoretical aspects and puzzles just for the fun of it. Puzzle lovers will be glad to know that I included an answers section that includes discussions as to why the answer is correct and how it was obtained. Most of the material has appeared in these columns, but some is new. Most of the discussions are expanded compared to what they were in the original column format.
[tags]McLuhan, obsolescent, obsolete, obsolescence[/tags]