An Idea for an App!
[Ed: this was originally published December 17, 2013 on another blog I used to write. It came back to the surface due to a random encounter with the name Teilhard de Chardin. Enjoy.]
Alright, I own an iPhone. I admit it.
I have an idea for an app that might creep the Hell out of some people, but maybe not. Here goes:
In the writings of Teilhard De Chardin, the concept of the Omega Point builds upon another fundamental concept called the Noosphere. The basic premise (for those who don’t even want to read the Wikipedia summary) is that the uppermost level of human cognition is something akin to truly shared cognition. I have also seen this premise described as the Earth clothing itself with a brain.
OK, so keep that premise in mind…
Let’s say you had a brain worm of a problem. A problem that you couldn’t shake, no matter how much you think about it. Yet, given a set of circumstances, you would talk about it ENDLESSLY. But, you just can’t seem to find the right discussion partner, or venue, or whatever.
Enter the iPhone.
Now that the iPhone supports things like geofencing, and location awareness and cool stuff like that (some might say a circumstance that is ripe for exploitation by BAD PEOPLE), the stage is now set to solve this problem.
The App would allow one to put in some criteria that would allow/not allow people to know when someone else is around with the same App. It would also allow a person to specify the topics of conversation that would be welcomed at any given point (such as, “Ask me about my antique fountain pen collection” or “Tell me about your favorite trip to the Bahamas.”), or the App would direct folks of like-minded beliefs on a given topic to find one another in public (like “I need to find people who love microbrews so they can tell me where the best ones are in this area.”)
The App then keeps this extremely personalized database of “fair game” discussion topics, and location awareness, running.
Through this constant awareness (from the App’s perspective) of what conversation topics are possible nearby, a person can easily find a conversation partner to talk about anything he wants.
So, yes, I know. STALKER CITY. Put that thought aside.
How cool would it be to curb your fear for half a minute and just consider the ramifications of an app that can help you find a way to talk about your most frustrating ideas? “I want to talk about post-Soviet and post-Cold War Eastern Europe and how its recovery is slower than anticipated by other major inflection points in history.”
Or, wouldn’t it be cool to discover long-lost family members out in the vastness of public? Or to be able to AVOID certain people?
Whitelists and blacklists and geofences, oh my.
See, something like this could rattle around in my brain for a LONG time, distracting me from my purpose…