My brother Mark and I were (and largely still are) complete nerds. As kids we coveted computers, Atari 2600s, and pretty much anything that had technological characteristics. Anyway… at some point early in elementary school, my brother noted to one of his teachers how he thought it would be really great if you could have, “a portable computer that you could take with you anywhere you went.”

His teacher sighed and asked, “Now Mark… Who would want to carry a computer with them?”

Fast-forward twenty-five years or so, and we have a planet obsessed with having full-time access to computing. In fact, that’s what I think is so funny about us calling the iPhone a “phone”. That’s just a small fragment of it’s functionality–kind of like thinking that your keyboard is your computer. (But I digress.)

The point I’m trying to make here is in how ready people are to tell you how bad your ideas are. The unfortunate truth is that if you ever do anything vaguely original, you’re going to have to accept this. Harder yet, you’ll have to learn how to drown out these voices and become as unencumbered by the “sensible” thinking that limits so many. Sadly, even those who intend to help often get in the way with uninformed or limited perspectives.

(I wonder if that teacher has a laptop now.)

Posted on October 01, 2008 | Share this