Member-only story
Deus Ex Machina
Why The Device Of The Future Is A Gateway
“I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it — to be fed so much love I couldn’t take any more. Just once.” —Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Abraham Maslow’s need hierarchy theory is a neat, compact and mostly reliable way of looking at human needs. We have been using technology to help solve our basic needs such as finding food (Yelp!), clothing (Amazon and online retailers), shelter (AirBnB) and mobility (Uber) so far. There is no restriction to us using technology to solver higher level needs such as love and belonging, self-esteem and ultimately self-actualization.
What we see today is a plethora of devices in the market much like the oceans of humans seeking the ultimate truth. I have no doubt that the purpose of the device of the future is singular. If it was an objective function, the purpose of every device would be to maximize the amount of time, that the human species has on this planet, for a higher order pursuit. That pursuit is self-actualization leading to liberation of the soul.
This story lays out the reasons why the device of the future will be a gateway/portal to an alternative, virtual universe where you can be who you truly are and search for answers by escaping to an alternate dimension even if that escape lasts only 15 minutes in a day.
I have been bewildered at the array of devices released each year. The most recent roll-out was Samsung’s folding phone unveiled at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Live event on February 20, 2019. A mix between a tablet and a phone, Samsung’s device provides a larger canvas for users to view the world from.
Today, the reality is that each device maker has its own approach to imagining how humans will interact with the world in the future. While MagicLeap thinks that mode of interaction will take the form of Mixed Reality (MR) where a user puts on glasses that blend virtual world with the real world, Virtual Reality (VR) players such as Oculus think of an immersive virtual world.
