Joseph R. Jones

Of course not all innovations are necessary... but I would argue that all are desirable. All new technology is derivative of prior works-- the mother of invention is not necessity as the old saying goes, but rather prior inventions. Sometimes a new technology that truly moves us forward leverages an invention that seemed silly at the time. I view one of my roles in society as that of an "early adopter." I buy into new technologies when they are expensive and don't work very well. Early adopters fund innovation so that these same products in a couple years will be cheap (or even approaching free) and work extremely well. At that point, it's not called "technology" any more, but it is. A stone tool was technology, as was the horse and buggy. However, the early adopter is by definition a small niche group-- most people shouldn't tread those paths until they are well worn. When gunpowder and guns were invented, they were vastly inferior in every way to longbows. Only through rapid iterative improvement did firearms become the better technology. When the internal combustion engine was invented it was expensive and didn't work nearly as well as a horse... but it got better because a few bought them as a curiosity/novelty before they got good enough to be practical. I had an iPhone sized pocket computer in 1999. It was a piece of crap, but I loved it. Actually, I think the iPhone is a perfect example... the iPhone 4S is not for people who own an iPhone 4-- it's for people who don't. Folks who either have an iPhone 3G/3GS and didn't bother to upgrade, or who don't have a smartphone yet at all. Should you buy a new phone every year? No, of course not... that's ridiculous (and yes, I'm often ridiculous.)

Actually, I stand corrected: I had an iPhone sized pocket computer in 1997.