The Future Is Velvet Ropes

"...Many companies developing self-driving cars are designing everything from the computer chips to the steering wheel. Devices that connect our TV sets to streaming video services are almost as tightly controlled by their creators as the cable TV systems of old. Outside companies make apps for Apple Watch devices and Echo voice-activated speakers, but mostly we use those gadgets to stay in a world that Apple or Amazon creates. If this is a party, it’s one with the domineering host dictating almost everything...These relatively closed systems might be temporary. And complicated technologies can be better, safer and easier to use if the creators control everything about them. But I worry that we might miss out on new ideas if those digital-world nightclubs get harder to access." (NYT, 27 May 21)