Quote: ‘“I don’t have any particular specialist skills,’ he once said. ‘I have a sort of vague knowledge of everything.’ He advised young employees not just to play with technology for its own sake, but to play with ideas” (Epstein 198).
Comment: It’s kind of weird to think about how the creator of such a big product admits that he didn’t really excel in anything. He used lateral thinking which is using known information in new contexts and that can give old ideas new uses. I feel like understanding lateral thinking is one thing, but actually putting it into use is another thing and I feel like its not that easy. Knowing how and when to put existing ideas into action is actually in my opinion a very impressive skill.
Question: Is there a way we can practice lateral thinking, or is it just something that when the time comes we hope we know what to do?
Quote: “As the company grew, he worried that young engineers would be too concerned about looking stupid to share ideas for novel uses of old technology, so he began intentionally blurting out crazy ideas at meetings to set the tone.”
Comment: This caught my attention because I have experienced something like this during school. The teacher would pretend to maybe not know something simple or know how to spell a word to make the students more comfortable making mistakes during class. I think this is very important for young people’s development. Feeling comfortable in a learning environment is crucial to actually learning the material being presented to them.
Question: Have you ever experienced something like this? If so, how did it make you feel?
Quote: “He committed to using technology that had already become cheap, even obsolete, in new ways” (Epstein 194).
Comment: This is a skill that not a lot of people have; turning something old into something new. He is making the most out of what he has and is extremely creative. A lot of people might see the material he is working with and assume it is junk, but they are unable to see the creativity that he has. He sees treasure and is able to think of ways to use this material in order to mass produce at a cheap price. This exemplifies one’s creative talents and shows his personality as well. He doesn’t overlook the material like everyone else, he looks at it and sees what he can create. This makes me think of thrifting as people are taking old clothes and repurposing them into something new.
Question: Why do some people overlook the old just to see the new?
Quote: “As information becomes more broadly available, the need for somebody to just advance a field isn’t as critical because in effect they are available to everybody” (Epstein 205).
Comment: The internet has played a great role in expediting information all around the globe. People are able to share their discoveries by the click of a button and people who need help solving a problem have access to all these discoveries. Although this technology is amazing the need for people in specialized field becomes less because the information and problem solving, they provide on a specific topic can be looked up online. People specialized in one specific area are not going to be as helpful because of the vast transfer of knowledge the internet provides. However, this makes me think of generalists and what benefits they have. One can look on the internet and find anything they are looking for so why wouldn’t generalists be just as obsolete?
Question: Has the internet helped, or hindered peoples view of specialization?
Q: “When the problem is presented with the tacks outside of the box, solvers are more likely to view the empty box as a potential candler holder, and to solve the problem by tacking it to the wall, and placing the candle inside. For Yokoi, the tacks were always outside the box.
C: I think that this goes for most situations, and its definitely important to note when looking to solve problems. Often times, all thats needed to fix a problem that may seem unsolvable, or far beyond your comprehension, is to take a step back, and look at the problem from a different perspective. When I worked in construction, I often found myself on job-sites with a task that I simply couldn’t wrap my head around. You often know what needs to get done, and how to do it, yet find yourself stuck when a factor you haven’t planned on is put into play. It’s easiest in the moment to get frustrated and give up, however, if you are to take a few minutes, step away from the situation and take your mind away from the problem, the solution is often apparent once you return.
Q: What causes some people to have the inherent ability to think “outside the box”? Can this be taught, or is it something you’re born with?
Q:”The producer knows that theres such a thing as a semiconductor, but doesn’t need to know its inner-workings, that can be left to the experts”
C: For experts, in the scenario the engineers, its extremely hard to create an idea that is entirely knew, as they are aware of what the newest technology requires to be produced. However, those who know much simpler workings, created something new is fairly easy. Thinking outside the box is much easier to do, when you don’t entirely understand where the limits of the box lie. This is why Yokoi was able to utilize old technology in new ways. He understood what the old technology was, and saw new ways to utilize it, without having to entirely understand the technology.
Q: In this situation, is it better to be the engineer, developing new tech, or the producer, capable of utilizing old tech in new ways?
Quote
“From a technological standpoint, even in 1989, the Gameboy was laughable, Yokoi’s team cut every corner. The Gameboys processor had been cutting edge-in the 1970s. By the mid-1980s home consoles were in fierce competition over graphics and quality period. The Gameboy was an eyesore. It featured a total of four gray scale shades displayed on a tiny screen that was tinted a greenish hue somewhere between mucus and old alfalfa. Graphics and fast lateral motion smeared across the screen. To top it off the Game boy had to compete with handheld consoles from Sega and Atari that were technologically superior in ever way… it sold 118.7 million units far and away the best-selling console of the twentieth century. ”
Comment
This quote shows the power of simplicity. Thinking simply when creating an idea can actually be the best way to do it. One of my 6th grade teachers had a saying about simplicity. He would always say “KISS keep it simple, stupid.” This is a very true statement. When making the Gameboy they said they cut every corner and kept everything simple. If you overcomplicate something it will only make it worse. Some of the best songs ever made were the ones that were kept simple. When an artist tries to hard on a song and overcomplicates everything it just sounds worse. Simple songs like Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin or Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival became great because the bands did not try too hard. The guitar riffs are short and simple which makes them catchier and more memorable. You can tell when a band tried to hard and it never sounds good. Happiness comes best with simplicity. The smallest things in life can bring the most joy. Simply having coffee outside watching the sunrise on an early morning can give you the most peaceful feeling. Even just driving with all of the windows down with the radio all the way up can be an amazing experience that can be the most exciting part of your entire day. Simplicity helps you enjoy the little things in life and will make you a happier person.
Question
Why do the simple things in life bring us so much joy?
Quote
“One day he cut crisscrossing pieces of wood and fashioned a simple extendable arm, like the jack in the box kind he had seen in cartoons when a robot’s belly opens up and a boxing glove fires out. He stuck a gripping tool on the outer end that closed when he squeezed handles to extend the arm. Now he could lazily retrieve distant objects. The company president saw the new hire goofing around with his contraption and called him into his office. “I thought I would be scolded,” Yokoi recalled. Instead, the desperate executive told Yokoi to turn his device into a game. Yokoi added a group of colored balls that could be grabbed, and the “Ultra Hand: went to market immediately. It was Nintendo’s first toy, and it sold 1.2 million units. The company paid off a chunk of its debt. That was the end of Yokoi’s maintenance career. The president assigned him to start Nintendo’s first research and development department.”
Comment
This quote shows the power of creativity. Yokoi was just a maintenance worker for Nintendo but when he was messing around, he ended up creating a new game that was a major success in the Japanese market. The president of Nintendo noticed his creativity and turned the maintenance workers invention into a success and gave the worker a promotion. Creativity is arguably the most important trait to have in the working world because creativity can make your life easier, and it can advance you in the business world like it did to you Yokoi. Thinking outside of the box can give somebody the ability to solve problems and come up with more unique solutions. Creativity can make working fun, interesting, and it can raise your happiness. A world without creativity would be a boring and bland place. When you do something creative it can raise your self-confidence and make you become a more creative person. Being creative can make you a stronger and more confident person because when you are creative you are more likely to take risks and become bolder with your thinking. Creativity can depict your own personality from other people because everybody’s creativity is different
Question
How different would our world look without the power of creativity?
Quote: “The desperate executive told Yokoi to turn his device into a game. Yokoi added a group of colored balls that could be grabbed, and the “Ultra Hand” went to market immediately. It was Nintendo’s first toy, and it sold 1.2 million units.” (193)
Comment: I thought this quote was interesting because it introduced the concept of lateral thinking, which is reimagining information in new ways. In this quote, Yokoi started out as just another employee at Nintendo but he was able to move up in the ranks and become an imperative member of the company. He did this by just playing around with seemingly random things to create something significant. His invention brought lots of success to the company, and he was able to make a name for himself. This shows how you do not need to be skilled in a specific area to become successful. Yokoi had fun with what he was doing and was able to make a name for himself, without specializing in one specific area.
Question: Although trial and error works, is being expert in one area sometimes better when problem solving?
—————–
Quote: “‘This is going to take too long because you have no fundamental knowledge in this area and you’re going to be behind people who have already done their master’s there,’ she told me. To clarify: the advice she received was to stick in an area she knew she didn’t like because she had already started, even though she wasn’t even that far in. It is the sunk cost fallacy embodied.” (206).
Comment: I found this quote very interesting partly because it brought up that idea that people should stick with the current path they are taking simply because society feels that they should. This idea reminded me of the conversation we had in class about “finishing what you started,” regardless of if you enjoy it. It is the norm in society that when you make a commitment to something, it is important to see it all the way through, even if that is not the best option for yourself. This is because society views changing courses as quitting, when in reality, it might just simply be trying something new. In this quote, Jayshree Seth who is a scientist switched labs and her focus multiple times while trying to find where she best fit. Her peers warned her that changing courses would set her back, when it did the opposite. She approached science by asking questions and let the more qualified people in her area solve the problems. This is a different way of thinking, but is still successful.
Question: Why has society labeled changing paths as quitting?
Quote – In the early twentieth century, for example, the state of Iowa alone had more than a thousand opera houses, one for every fifteen hundred residents. They were theaters, not just music venues, and they provided full time employment for hundreds of local acting troupes and thousands of actors. Fast forward to Netflix and Hulu. Every customer can have Meryl Streep on demand, and the Iowa opera houses are extinct.
Comment – I find this concept to be really interesting and funny about our society. We create these infrastructures and things we think we need at some point in our lives, then all of a sudden, a new technology comes around and then that thing we spent so much time and effort on becomes obsolete. It really makes me think and wonder about what things and what skills in the future will become obsolete. Will robots take over and do all of the basic things that a human can. What technologies are on the way that will make a certain skill useless. Will I even need to know how to drive in 10 years? What skills am I learning right now that won’t even do anything for me. How can I eliminate these useless skills and add more skills that benefit me? This idea is very interesting to me because when it comes to jobs, will my degree become useless?
Question – What things that I am doing right now will be obsolete in a few years time?
Quote – Taylor and Greve expected a typical industrial production learning curve: creators learn by repetition, so creators making more comics in a given span of time would make better ones on average. They were wrong.
Comment – This quote is very interesting and funny to me. This whole theory was debunked with no information to back it up. How would they even measure the quality of the comics? Whos to say that they actually were much better quality than the other test. I also sort of disagree with that statement, I think I learn much better with repetition and I get better at things the more I do them. Why is this sentiment wrong? The more I do something and the more I practice the better it becomes. Maybe because I am not a creator, but I feel like I am always creating strategies and problem solving when I am trying to get good at something like a video game. Why does this concept work like that, why do people get worse at something the more they do it? That is what this quote confuses me about.
Question – How does this affect me? How does repetition help or hurt me when I am trying to get better at something?
Quote: “Yokoi embarked on an approach he called ‘lateral thinking with withered technology.’ Lateral thinking is a term coined in the 1960s for the reimagining of information in new contexts, including the drawing together of seemingly disparate concepts or domains that can give old ideas new uses” (Epstein 193).
Comment: It seems like lateral thinking is something that you learn how to do through being a generalist. If you know about a lot of different subjects, and have solved a variety of problems in different ways, you will have a wider breadth of information to be able to apply to different domains. I think lateral thinking is a great skill to have because you could solve a variety of problems in ways that specialists in a field might not have even thought to try.
Question: Does college help teach you lateral thinking?
Quote: “They examined patents, and with Ouderkirk’s internal access to 3M, the actual commercial impact investors made. The specialists and the generalists, they found, both made contributions. One was not uniformly superior to the other. […] The specialists were adept at working for a long time on difficult technical problems, and for anticipating development obstacles. The generalists tended to get bored working in one area for too long. They added value by integrating domains, taking technology from one area and applying it in others” (Epstein 203-204).
Comment: I like how this quote shows that in some ways, generalists are not necessarily better than specialists. Sometimes being a generalist isn’t going to be as efficient as being a specialist in something, sometimes you really just need an expert’s help. This quote shows that generalists and specialists have their own strengths and weaknesses, and in this case at the end of the day, neither way is better than the other.
Question: Would you still be considered a generalist if you were an expert or specialist in something but still had a wide range of knowledge?
Quote:
“By ‘withered technology’ Yokoi meant tech that was old enough to be extremely well understood and easily available, so it didn’t require a specialist’s knowledge. The heart of this philosophy was putting cheap, simple technology to use in ways no one else considered.” (193)
Comment:
In today’s day and age, we rave about the newest technology because of how “game changing” it is, how fast it is, how good it looks, etc. Gunpei Yokoi’s idea of “withered technology” clashes our modern day thoughts head on. Creating these easy to use and cheap products propelled his success with the Nintendo franchise. This quote also mentions the neglect of a specialist’s mindset. Throughout the book, we’ve talked about and seen examples of these two ideals, generalists and specialists, going against one another. In this case, Yokoi’s background of being an “enthusiastic hobbyist” was at the forefront of his success. This allowed him to think more broadly about old technologies and turn them into new ones, rather than thinking deeper about new technologies to begin with. In the end, this quote really stuck with me because I often find myself “needing” the newest technology, whether it’s to “fit in” or just as a sense of self fulfillment, but reading this quote about Yokoi has made me rethink that.
Questions:
Do any other big name brands come from “withered thinking” that we may not know about?
Quote:
“She is a ‘T-shaped person’ she said, one with breadth, compared to an ‘I-shaped person’ who only goes deep, an analog to Dyson’s birds and frogs. ‘T-people like myself can happily go to the I-people with questions to create the trunk for the T,’ she told me” (207)
Comment:
When reading this quote, I see it as another way to bring up the battle between generalists and specialists, with T-shaped people closely relating to generalists and I-shaped people to specialists. I like this way of thinking about it because of the visual representation this analogy provides. T-shaped people are able to have an understanding of many things, ultimately creating the base of the T and being able to stem and produce a positive outcome. I-shaped people have a very deep understanding of one thing, just like how an I is a straight line, they produce an outcome from the one thing they know very well. The most interesting part of this quote to me is how important asking questions is to be a T-shaped person. The ability to ask questions is at the forefront of T-shaped people gaining their knowledge and applying it to the real world.
Questions:
Do you find yourself asking questions to get to a result like a T-shaped person?
Quote: “More toy success followed, but it was an abject failure that first year that profoundly influenced Yokoi. He helped create Drive Game, a tabletop unit where a player used a steering wheel to guide a plastic car via electric motor. It was the first Nintendo toy that required electricity and a complete flop. “ (193)
Comment:Yokoi was involved in creating a new idea for a toy that he was unfamiliar with. Even though the toy was a flop it was the start to something they haven’t done before. WIthout moving out of your comfort zone you may never understand if something is going to work for you or not.
Question:If Yokoi wasn’t involved in the making and failure of the toy he may never know what would work for him and what doesn’t?
Quote: “ Yokoi was well aware of his engineering limitations. As one aficionado of game history put it, “He studied electronics at a time where the technology was evolving faster than snow melts in the sunlight.” Yokoi had no desire (or capability) to compete with electronics companies that were racing one another to invent some entirely new silver dazzling technology.” (193)
Comment: Yokoi had no desire to compete with what he was doing. He was just trying to study electronics and make what he could out of them. There was no competition in his eyes since he was still trying to learn what he was being taught and putting it towards something he was trying to make. If he was worried about competing with other companies on what he was trying to make he wouldn’t be able to learn what was working and what wasn’t.
Question: If he was worried about the other companies and what they were doing would he be able to make what he could out of what he knew prior?
9 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 15”
Quote: ‘“I don’t have any particular specialist skills,’ he once said. ‘I have a sort of vague knowledge of everything.’ He advised young employees not just to play with technology for its own sake, but to play with ideas” (Epstein 198).
Comment: It’s kind of weird to think about how the creator of such a big product admits that he didn’t really excel in anything. He used lateral thinking which is using known information in new contexts and that can give old ideas new uses. I feel like understanding lateral thinking is one thing, but actually putting it into use is another thing and I feel like its not that easy. Knowing how and when to put existing ideas into action is actually in my opinion a very impressive skill.
Question: Is there a way we can practice lateral thinking, or is it just something that when the time comes we hope we know what to do?
Quote: “As the company grew, he worried that young engineers would be too concerned about looking stupid to share ideas for novel uses of old technology, so he began intentionally blurting out crazy ideas at meetings to set the tone.”
Comment: This caught my attention because I have experienced something like this during school. The teacher would pretend to maybe not know something simple or know how to spell a word to make the students more comfortable making mistakes during class. I think this is very important for young people’s development. Feeling comfortable in a learning environment is crucial to actually learning the material being presented to them.
Question: Have you ever experienced something like this? If so, how did it make you feel?
Quote: “He committed to using technology that had already become cheap, even obsolete, in new ways” (Epstein 194).
Comment: This is a skill that not a lot of people have; turning something old into something new. He is making the most out of what he has and is extremely creative. A lot of people might see the material he is working with and assume it is junk, but they are unable to see the creativity that he has. He sees treasure and is able to think of ways to use this material in order to mass produce at a cheap price. This exemplifies one’s creative talents and shows his personality as well. He doesn’t overlook the material like everyone else, he looks at it and sees what he can create. This makes me think of thrifting as people are taking old clothes and repurposing them into something new.
Question: Why do some people overlook the old just to see the new?
Quote: “As information becomes more broadly available, the need for somebody to just advance a field isn’t as critical because in effect they are available to everybody” (Epstein 205).
Comment: The internet has played a great role in expediting information all around the globe. People are able to share their discoveries by the click of a button and people who need help solving a problem have access to all these discoveries. Although this technology is amazing the need for people in specialized field becomes less because the information and problem solving, they provide on a specific topic can be looked up online. People specialized in one specific area are not going to be as helpful because of the vast transfer of knowledge the internet provides. However, this makes me think of generalists and what benefits they have. One can look on the internet and find anything they are looking for so why wouldn’t generalists be just as obsolete?
Question: Has the internet helped, or hindered peoples view of specialization?
Q: “When the problem is presented with the tacks outside of the box, solvers are more likely to view the empty box as a potential candler holder, and to solve the problem by tacking it to the wall, and placing the candle inside. For Yokoi, the tacks were always outside the box.
C: I think that this goes for most situations, and its definitely important to note when looking to solve problems. Often times, all thats needed to fix a problem that may seem unsolvable, or far beyond your comprehension, is to take a step back, and look at the problem from a different perspective. When I worked in construction, I often found myself on job-sites with a task that I simply couldn’t wrap my head around. You often know what needs to get done, and how to do it, yet find yourself stuck when a factor you haven’t planned on is put into play. It’s easiest in the moment to get frustrated and give up, however, if you are to take a few minutes, step away from the situation and take your mind away from the problem, the solution is often apparent once you return.
Q: What causes some people to have the inherent ability to think “outside the box”? Can this be taught, or is it something you’re born with?
Q:”The producer knows that theres such a thing as a semiconductor, but doesn’t need to know its inner-workings, that can be left to the experts”
C: For experts, in the scenario the engineers, its extremely hard to create an idea that is entirely knew, as they are aware of what the newest technology requires to be produced. However, those who know much simpler workings, created something new is fairly easy. Thinking outside the box is much easier to do, when you don’t entirely understand where the limits of the box lie. This is why Yokoi was able to utilize old technology in new ways. He understood what the old technology was, and saw new ways to utilize it, without having to entirely understand the technology.
Q: In this situation, is it better to be the engineer, developing new tech, or the producer, capable of utilizing old tech in new ways?
Quote
“From a technological standpoint, even in 1989, the Gameboy was laughable, Yokoi’s team cut every corner. The Gameboys processor had been cutting edge-in the 1970s. By the mid-1980s home consoles were in fierce competition over graphics and quality period. The Gameboy was an eyesore. It featured a total of four gray scale shades displayed on a tiny screen that was tinted a greenish hue somewhere between mucus and old alfalfa. Graphics and fast lateral motion smeared across the screen. To top it off the Game boy had to compete with handheld consoles from Sega and Atari that were technologically superior in ever way… it sold 118.7 million units far and away the best-selling console of the twentieth century. ”
Comment
This quote shows the power of simplicity. Thinking simply when creating an idea can actually be the best way to do it. One of my 6th grade teachers had a saying about simplicity. He would always say “KISS keep it simple, stupid.” This is a very true statement. When making the Gameboy they said they cut every corner and kept everything simple. If you overcomplicate something it will only make it worse. Some of the best songs ever made were the ones that were kept simple. When an artist tries to hard on a song and overcomplicates everything it just sounds worse. Simple songs like Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin or Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival became great because the bands did not try too hard. The guitar riffs are short and simple which makes them catchier and more memorable. You can tell when a band tried to hard and it never sounds good. Happiness comes best with simplicity. The smallest things in life can bring the most joy. Simply having coffee outside watching the sunrise on an early morning can give you the most peaceful feeling. Even just driving with all of the windows down with the radio all the way up can be an amazing experience that can be the most exciting part of your entire day. Simplicity helps you enjoy the little things in life and will make you a happier person.
Question
Why do the simple things in life bring us so much joy?
Quote
“One day he cut crisscrossing pieces of wood and fashioned a simple extendable arm, like the jack in the box kind he had seen in cartoons when a robot’s belly opens up and a boxing glove fires out. He stuck a gripping tool on the outer end that closed when he squeezed handles to extend the arm. Now he could lazily retrieve distant objects. The company president saw the new hire goofing around with his contraption and called him into his office. “I thought I would be scolded,” Yokoi recalled. Instead, the desperate executive told Yokoi to turn his device into a game. Yokoi added a group of colored balls that could be grabbed, and the “Ultra Hand: went to market immediately. It was Nintendo’s first toy, and it sold 1.2 million units. The company paid off a chunk of its debt. That was the end of Yokoi’s maintenance career. The president assigned him to start Nintendo’s first research and development department.”
Comment
This quote shows the power of creativity. Yokoi was just a maintenance worker for Nintendo but when he was messing around, he ended up creating a new game that was a major success in the Japanese market. The president of Nintendo noticed his creativity and turned the maintenance workers invention into a success and gave the worker a promotion. Creativity is arguably the most important trait to have in the working world because creativity can make your life easier, and it can advance you in the business world like it did to you Yokoi. Thinking outside of the box can give somebody the ability to solve problems and come up with more unique solutions. Creativity can make working fun, interesting, and it can raise your happiness. A world without creativity would be a boring and bland place. When you do something creative it can raise your self-confidence and make you become a more creative person. Being creative can make you a stronger and more confident person because when you are creative you are more likely to take risks and become bolder with your thinking. Creativity can depict your own personality from other people because everybody’s creativity is different
Question
How different would our world look without the power of creativity?
Range 191-215
Quote: “The desperate executive told Yokoi to turn his device into a game. Yokoi added a group of colored balls that could be grabbed, and the “Ultra Hand” went to market immediately. It was Nintendo’s first toy, and it sold 1.2 million units.” (193)
Comment: I thought this quote was interesting because it introduced the concept of lateral thinking, which is reimagining information in new ways. In this quote, Yokoi started out as just another employee at Nintendo but he was able to move up in the ranks and become an imperative member of the company. He did this by just playing around with seemingly random things to create something significant. His invention brought lots of success to the company, and he was able to make a name for himself. This shows how you do not need to be skilled in a specific area to become successful. Yokoi had fun with what he was doing and was able to make a name for himself, without specializing in one specific area.
Question: Although trial and error works, is being expert in one area sometimes better when problem solving?
—————–
Quote: “‘This is going to take too long because you have no fundamental knowledge in this area and you’re going to be behind people who have already done their master’s there,’ she told me. To clarify: the advice she received was to stick in an area she knew she didn’t like because she had already started, even though she wasn’t even that far in. It is the sunk cost fallacy embodied.” (206).
Comment: I found this quote very interesting partly because it brought up that idea that people should stick with the current path they are taking simply because society feels that they should. This idea reminded me of the conversation we had in class about “finishing what you started,” regardless of if you enjoy it. It is the norm in society that when you make a commitment to something, it is important to see it all the way through, even if that is not the best option for yourself. This is because society views changing courses as quitting, when in reality, it might just simply be trying something new. In this quote, Jayshree Seth who is a scientist switched labs and her focus multiple times while trying to find where she best fit. Her peers warned her that changing courses would set her back, when it did the opposite. She approached science by asking questions and let the more qualified people in her area solve the problems. This is a different way of thinking, but is still successful.
Question: Why has society labeled changing paths as quitting?
Quote – In the early twentieth century, for example, the state of Iowa alone had more than a thousand opera houses, one for every fifteen hundred residents. They were theaters, not just music venues, and they provided full time employment for hundreds of local acting troupes and thousands of actors. Fast forward to Netflix and Hulu. Every customer can have Meryl Streep on demand, and the Iowa opera houses are extinct.
Comment – I find this concept to be really interesting and funny about our society. We create these infrastructures and things we think we need at some point in our lives, then all of a sudden, a new technology comes around and then that thing we spent so much time and effort on becomes obsolete. It really makes me think and wonder about what things and what skills in the future will become obsolete. Will robots take over and do all of the basic things that a human can. What technologies are on the way that will make a certain skill useless. Will I even need to know how to drive in 10 years? What skills am I learning right now that won’t even do anything for me. How can I eliminate these useless skills and add more skills that benefit me? This idea is very interesting to me because when it comes to jobs, will my degree become useless?
Question – What things that I am doing right now will be obsolete in a few years time?
Quote – Taylor and Greve expected a typical industrial production learning curve: creators learn by repetition, so creators making more comics in a given span of time would make better ones on average. They were wrong.
Comment – This quote is very interesting and funny to me. This whole theory was debunked with no information to back it up. How would they even measure the quality of the comics? Whos to say that they actually were much better quality than the other test. I also sort of disagree with that statement, I think I learn much better with repetition and I get better at things the more I do them. Why is this sentiment wrong? The more I do something and the more I practice the better it becomes. Maybe because I am not a creator, but I feel like I am always creating strategies and problem solving when I am trying to get good at something like a video game. Why does this concept work like that, why do people get worse at something the more they do it? That is what this quote confuses me about.
Question – How does this affect me? How does repetition help or hurt me when I am trying to get better at something?
Quote: “Yokoi embarked on an approach he called ‘lateral thinking with withered technology.’ Lateral thinking is a term coined in the 1960s for the reimagining of information in new contexts, including the drawing together of seemingly disparate concepts or domains that can give old ideas new uses” (Epstein 193).
Comment: It seems like lateral thinking is something that you learn how to do through being a generalist. If you know about a lot of different subjects, and have solved a variety of problems in different ways, you will have a wider breadth of information to be able to apply to different domains. I think lateral thinking is a great skill to have because you could solve a variety of problems in ways that specialists in a field might not have even thought to try.
Question: Does college help teach you lateral thinking?
Quote: “They examined patents, and with Ouderkirk’s internal access to 3M, the actual commercial impact investors made. The specialists and the generalists, they found, both made contributions. One was not uniformly superior to the other. […] The specialists were adept at working for a long time on difficult technical problems, and for anticipating development obstacles. The generalists tended to get bored working in one area for too long. They added value by integrating domains, taking technology from one area and applying it in others” (Epstein 203-204).
Comment: I like how this quote shows that in some ways, generalists are not necessarily better than specialists. Sometimes being a generalist isn’t going to be as efficient as being a specialist in something, sometimes you really just need an expert’s help. This quote shows that generalists and specialists have their own strengths and weaknesses, and in this case at the end of the day, neither way is better than the other.
Question: Would you still be considered a generalist if you were an expert or specialist in something but still had a wide range of knowledge?
Quote:
“By ‘withered technology’ Yokoi meant tech that was old enough to be extremely well understood and easily available, so it didn’t require a specialist’s knowledge. The heart of this philosophy was putting cheap, simple technology to use in ways no one else considered.” (193)
Comment:
In today’s day and age, we rave about the newest technology because of how “game changing” it is, how fast it is, how good it looks, etc. Gunpei Yokoi’s idea of “withered technology” clashes our modern day thoughts head on. Creating these easy to use and cheap products propelled his success with the Nintendo franchise. This quote also mentions the neglect of a specialist’s mindset. Throughout the book, we’ve talked about and seen examples of these two ideals, generalists and specialists, going against one another. In this case, Yokoi’s background of being an “enthusiastic hobbyist” was at the forefront of his success. This allowed him to think more broadly about old technologies and turn them into new ones, rather than thinking deeper about new technologies to begin with. In the end, this quote really stuck with me because I often find myself “needing” the newest technology, whether it’s to “fit in” or just as a sense of self fulfillment, but reading this quote about Yokoi has made me rethink that.
Questions:
Do any other big name brands come from “withered thinking” that we may not know about?
Quote:
“She is a ‘T-shaped person’ she said, one with breadth, compared to an ‘I-shaped person’ who only goes deep, an analog to Dyson’s birds and frogs. ‘T-people like myself can happily go to the I-people with questions to create the trunk for the T,’ she told me” (207)
Comment:
When reading this quote, I see it as another way to bring up the battle between generalists and specialists, with T-shaped people closely relating to generalists and I-shaped people to specialists. I like this way of thinking about it because of the visual representation this analogy provides. T-shaped people are able to have an understanding of many things, ultimately creating the base of the T and being able to stem and produce a positive outcome. I-shaped people have a very deep understanding of one thing, just like how an I is a straight line, they produce an outcome from the one thing they know very well. The most interesting part of this quote to me is how important asking questions is to be a T-shaped person. The ability to ask questions is at the forefront of T-shaped people gaining their knowledge and applying it to the real world.
Questions:
Do you find yourself asking questions to get to a result like a T-shaped person?
Quote: “More toy success followed, but it was an abject failure that first year that profoundly influenced Yokoi. He helped create Drive Game, a tabletop unit where a player used a steering wheel to guide a plastic car via electric motor. It was the first Nintendo toy that required electricity and a complete flop. “ (193)
Comment:Yokoi was involved in creating a new idea for a toy that he was unfamiliar with. Even though the toy was a flop it was the start to something they haven’t done before. WIthout moving out of your comfort zone you may never understand if something is going to work for you or not.
Question:If Yokoi wasn’t involved in the making and failure of the toy he may never know what would work for him and what doesn’t?
Quote: “ Yokoi was well aware of his engineering limitations. As one aficionado of game history put it, “He studied electronics at a time where the technology was evolving faster than snow melts in the sunlight.” Yokoi had no desire (or capability) to compete with electronics companies that were racing one another to invent some entirely new silver dazzling technology.” (193)
Comment: Yokoi had no desire to compete with what he was doing. He was just trying to study electronics and make what he could out of them. There was no competition in his eyes since he was still trying to learn what he was being taught and putting it towards something he was trying to make. If he was worried about competing with other companies on what he was trying to make he wouldn’t be able to learn what was working and what wasn’t.
Question: If he was worried about the other companies and what they were doing would he be able to make what he could out of what he knew prior?