Since I’m writing about technology related things, it makes sense that I talk a little about society. After all, technology is a tool that society uses for a variety of things – from million dollar lawsuits over flatulence based applications to ‘sex beds’ in Second Life having copyright issues to… oh, things that very few people see as meaningful. As a society, we’re kind of like kids and we want to play, eat sweet things and have everything catered to us. No, maybe not you. After all, you’re reading this… but take a look around at what is popular. Take a look at

That’s all open to argument, I suppose – I’m a bit cynical of late – but the point is that as a general rule, society pretty much tells us what it wants from technology. It wants stuff that is easy, that is fun to use, allows us to be healthy while tasting perfect, that boosts our sex appeal even when everyone else has it, and so on. This is a bridge a bit far for us, so let’s keep it simple.

We want to have tools that allow us to do things with less effort. Plowing fields? Yeah, got a tool for that. Shoving metal pieces into wood, or even twisting them? We have tools for that. Boosting your social media presence? Well, we allegedly have tools for that.

So what is it, exactly, that society wants?

Stuff that makes doing things simpler. And the stuff that makes doing things simpler should be simple.

And that requires a fairly high level of complexity to create it.

Behold, the cognitive dissonance of humanity.