There is a tech bubble because the people making the things are unable to relate to the people who should be using the things. Judgment is run through a series of prisms, mufflers, and tubes filled with iced coffee—and the people who invest the big money think something like this is a good idea:

Hunter Walk is by most estimates a perfectly nice, educated man. He has a history degree from Vassar, which is a good school! Good guy. But he also thinks movie theaters should have their lights turned up, include Wi-Fi, and encourage iPad use. He thinks there is a market for this. He thinks this makes sense, and is good. These words were written in earnest:

Some people dislike going to the movies because of price or crowds, but for me it was more of a lifestyle decision. Increasingly I wanted my media experiences plugged in and with the ability to multitask. Look up the cast list online, tweet out a comment, talk to others while watching or just work on something else while Superman played in the background. Of course these activities are discouraged and/or impossible in a movie theater.

But why? Instead of driving people like me away from the theater, why not just segregate us into environments which meet our needs. I’d love to watch Pacific Rim in a theater with a bit more light, wifi, electricity outlets and a second screen experience. Don’t tell me I’d miss major plot points while scrolling on my ipad – it’s a movie about robots vs monsters. I can follow along just fine.

Walk cites essentially every reason you pay to go to a movie theater: the dark room, the lack of distractions, the absence of people watching other things on tablets—and reverses them. Why? Because in Silicon Valley, your pet peeves are surely The Next Billion Dollar Idea. Unfortunately Walk's vision is what you call a "living room," and it already exists in households around the world. But that's sort of the tech dream right now, isn't it? To remake the world in the image of your own living room. Do my laundry. Give the homeless USB plug implants. Give Stanford grads everything they imagine. Raise the lights.

At least his commenters seem to get it:


"People like me" indeed.

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