Wired: Revenge of the Right Brain

Wired sez:

To flourish in this age, we'll need to supplement our well-developed high tech abilities with aptitudes that are "high concept" and "high touch." High concept involves the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to come up with inventions the world didn't know it was missing. High touch involves the capacity to empathize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.

With computing (note: computing, not computers) seemingly going down the path (from my strongly influenced by HCI point of view) of a greater focus on creativity, spontaneity and satisfaction, it's interesting to take a look at a few things that spring to mind:

1. The rise and rise of Apple iProduct.
Apple are the current masters of techno high touch and high concept. Who cares if they're don't have more than 5% of the PC market - they own the MP3 player market (in mind-share, if not market-share) and everyone cool needs a iPod to match their pink polo shirt and Von Dutch cap.

iPod is to MP3 what Walkman is to cassette tapes. With BMW, Volvo, SAAB, Mercedes and Jaguar announcing MP3's for their cars, pretty soon, a 10-stack-in-dash CD player is going to be a passe as an 8-track-tape machine.

2. SMS society
As wired says, look to Asia (but they're looking there for a different reason). Why do I think SMS society is a sign of the right-brained world? It's loosened everything. People don't make hard and fast plans anymore. How often have you received a last minute SMS along the lines of "prty @ 9pm @ joes CU there"? If you're me, the answer if never, but I have friends who can't plan two weeks in advance because they're so addicted to the better-offer than might spring up over SMS.

3. Science fiction
Seriously. If you want to find out where society is going, read sci-fi. The last William Gibson latest book I read and the last Neal Stephenson are both set in times where creativity is a premium product, highly valued, and more important than just crunching numbers.

Rise of the creative class? You betcha.