I've got a bunch of talks to write over the next few weeks. I'm conscious that I've been doing varients of the same thing recently. I'd like to change that. I'm not sure I have tons of new ideas, but I should at least try and find new ways to talk about them.
Thus far this sign has been my most productive inspiration. It seems to have a speculative, fantastic layer and a cautionary one.
The speculative layer is about objects with intention and behaviour. This restaurant is trying to stay close to you, it caused some un-named inconvenience in the past. Its owners (trainers? suppliers? workers? subjects?) are sorry about that. Sentient restaurants! Good.
The cautionary layer is about the weirdness that comes from software that tries to solve problems. In this instance what happens when spellcheck meets people who don't speak English as their first language? You get something that seems right but isn't, you get SUBTLE FAIL, which is more intriguing and dangerous than EPIC FAIL
SUBTLE FAIL is going to be interesting in a world of 3D printing and the internet of things.