Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What do the unusual and unexpected products at CES reveal about the nature of technology innovation?

The unusual and unexpected products at CES reveal something important that mainstream technology coverage misses: the full distribution of ideas being explored at any given moment in the technology development ecosystem is far wider than the products that eventually reach market. The weird and wonderful exhibits at CES are the exploration frontier — most will not become products, but some contain genuine insights about human needs that eventually find expression in successful forms. The fitness tracker was strange when it first appeared at CES; so was the tablet; so was the voice assistant. The discipline is to look at unusual exhibits not for their literal product form but for the human need or behaviour they are trying to address — that need is often real even when the specific solution is not the one that will work.

Q: How should a foresight practitioner engage with technology exhibits that seem trivial or absurd?

The foresight practitioner’s question for any exhibit — including the apparently trivial or absurd — is: what human need, frustration, or aspiration is this trying to address, and is that need real? A ridiculous-looking connected kitchen gadget may be addressing a genuine cooking friction that a better-designed product will eventually solve more elegantly. A bizarre wearable may be clumsily attempting to meet a genuine need for health monitoring that a later, less obtrusive device will address successfully. The apparent absurdity of many CES exhibits is often a form problem rather than a need problem — the underlying human need is real, the specific technology execution is not yet the solution. Reading through the execution to the underlying need is the skill that separates useful technology foresight from gadget journalism.

Q: What does the diversity of products at CES reveal about the breadth of technology’s reach into daily life?

The diversity of CES products — spanning healthcare, home, transport, communication, entertainment, food, agriculture, and everything in between — reveals that the digitisation and sensing of the physical world is not a single trend but a pervasive process affecting every domain of human activity simultaneously. The implication is that no industry and no aspect of daily life is exempt from the question ‘what changes when this becomes connected, measured, and algorithmically optimised?’ — and the organisations and individuals that treat digital transformation as relevant to specific sectors but not their own are consistently behind when the change arrives in their context.

Q: How can I book Morris Misel for a technology and society, innovation culture, or consumer trends keynote?

Contact the team at morrismisel.com/event-organisers.