Anyone who has ever been on a hike, inebriated late at night, or refreshed early in the morning can tell you that the best conversations cannot be forced. When the air is fresh, the senses focused, the mood right – only at such times will the Muse begin her song.

Classrooms are ill-suited for genuine, in-depth conversations. They are run by one individual, limited by time, crowded, indoor, and the seats are uncomfortable. Members of a classroom are obligated to be there, and most forms of jesting, fighting, and crying are discouraged. The Muse can choose any audience: Why would she sing to such an unnatural and unhappy crowd?

This article is not about the shortcomings of any system of education. For now, I accept that broad-scale education cannot be as inspiring as a walk through the woods or a twilight dialogue. But it can be better than it is right now.

Start small: Students should blog their essays.

They need to be reminded that they are part of this world – not just components of a tiny classroom. Understanding common literary themes is important, because that wisdom helps people live well – not because it will get them good grades. When a student recognizes this, the quality of their writing will improve. The stakes are higher, so they will take more risks and enjoy the work more.

And they will remember. Students forget an assignment after its completion, because the assignment is the only part of the learning process over which they have any control. By preserving an essay, opening it up to discussion with people who have lived some of the lessons about which the student is learning, and removing the grade dynamic, the value of the assignment becomes unpredictable and thus intersting (and thus less temporary).

I firmly believe that a child’s mind expands to fill the space it is allowed. Let’s encourage our students to broaden their worlds and blanket us in the warmth of their brilliance.

Students

In the future, every student at Acme University will carry a single item for all their classes. As class begins, the professor instructs them to refer to their textbooks. Every student touches the item’s screen, and their textbook appears. As class continues, the students navigate from page to page, typing notes as they go, calling a calculator to the screen for some quick math magic, adding an exam date to their calendar without reaching for their datebook, confirming some facts on the Internet, sharing notes with a tardy classmate (without having to hand over their notebook), and eventually taking a quiz and getting their scores… All from a single, slim, usable screen.

This is possible right now – no second-generation features are needed to achieve this future. Just adoption by a school. If I was a student at such a school, you bet your overstuffed backpack I’d spend $499 on an iPad to participate.

Old People

Today’s elderly don’t have a good computing option. I know this is terribly unoriginal, but my grandparents need only a handful of features on their computer. Everything else is either a distraction or an obstacle in the labyrinth that is a typical operating system (Yes, even Mac OS X).

Tablets of the past basically replaced the mouse with a stylus, so using them wasn’t much easier than using a laptop. But having to touch an icon to look at photo albums, play a movie, have a video call*, write an email… That’s easy.

This is simultaneously both the most awesome evolution and devolution of digital interaction ever: We’re a huge step closer to Minority Report, but all we’re basically doing is grabbing, poking, and groping the areas of a screen that look like they’ll accomplish our goals. (“Unhh. Must watch movie. Must press movie picture. Funny movi-Must make bigger. Must stretch movie to make bigger. Stretch with hands. Gooood.”)

* Yes, I know there’s no camera on the iPad. Just be patient.

Healthcare

Everyone knows doctors like tablets. Nothing new here. Google if you’re curious.

What It Isn’t – and Some Closing Thoughts

The iTab isn’t a replacement for anything Apple is selling right now. I’m not buying one, and I’d be surprised if many of my friends do. I simply don’t buy Steve’s claim that the iPad does things the iPhone and Macbook do – but better. Designers, programmers, CAD engineers, gamers, and people who just like to tinker with their computers won’t want an iPad – at least not in lieu of a Macbook. And I doubt lots of people are going to double up on their mobile devices.

But I do think Apple has the opportunity to take hold of new and developing markets. This is a checkpoint (milestone?) in the computing revolution: Hardware innovation is plateauing as integration with public services, ubiquity of data networks, and efficiency and grace of software mature. To all the people underwhelmed by the iTab, I empathize. But to the people who are trashing the iTab for being a huge disappointment, I have to ask: In what massive way has the iTab failed you?

I think the truth is that it got reasonably close to our mental image of a mythical digital gadget. Yea, it needs a camera, AT&T needs to start not sucking, multi-tasking, and a couple other things which we’ll get soon enough. But what the heck else were you expecting? Hardware is done innovating for a little while.

Apple is wise to spread its user experience magic to as many niches as it can. Get those credit cards into the iTunes Store, impregnate educational institutions with Apple’s sensibility and usability, rejuvenate relationships between grandparents and their grandkids, replace hospital clipboards with iPads.

Every major technology company should be focused on merging itself with people’s lives. Steps toward this goal are the only achievements that sound impressive anymore! (“Solar panels on your company’s roof? Cute trick, kid. Your company’s solar panels power my house? Holy shit!”) Google is making itself the omniscient brain of the world, Amazon is a seemingly omnipotent consumer universe sitting on a single mouse-click, and Apple could be the company that makes all of this omnipresent… and elegant.

1. Java House
I go to the same place almost every day for lunch. It’s called Java House. It’s basically a really big shack on the marina. I like to look at the sailboats. I love it. The food is okay, but mostly I go because I love the environment and people.

The owner, Philip, hates that I do web design. Every time I come in, he’s like “What’s your business?” and I’m like “Philip! It’s Internet!” and he’s like “Ahhh, I don’t understand that stuff. It’s God’s curse to us. Just you wait, we’ll all be robots in 10 years!” and then I tell him off and he waves me off.

He’s Greek and very, very old. He was a civil engineer back in the day and helped build San Francisco’s traffic management system.

Last week one day he sat down with me, and we were chatting. And in the middle of the conversation, he just picked up the syrup bottle and poured more syrup on my pancakes. “There, now they’re Java House pancakes.” And they tasted better!

Philip is set on me marrying an Indian girl – soon. Today he told me to go to temples because girls with faith are better than girls without faith.

2. Sachin’s Graduated
Well, he walked anyway. He graduated months ago and has been in Washington, D.C. Interning for Senator Feinstein and attending George Washington University for his Master’s Degree. He came back this weekend to be in his graduation ceremony at UC Berkeley, and it was wonderful watching him get his degree. He looked so studious in his cap and gown!

More important than his graduation is his return. In an impressive but not surprising display of maturity, Sachin decided to finish his Master’s Degree online from California. He’ll also be preparing for law school and perhaps doing a social project on his own. The maturity of his decision lay in his motivation – part of which was to be nearer to his family. We’re all happy he’s back. Color this brother proud.

3. Christmas Time
I’m on record as having stated that I’d give up Thanksgiving and Christmas for another Halloween. I hereby retract that statement. Winter – and the holiday season in particular – have a unique magic which I hope to preserve forever. Even in warm(ish) California, we appreciate the occasion to settle into our blankets around the fireplace and sip hot cocoa as we chat about this or that. Or – as we’re more likely to do in our family – settle into our blankets around the fireplace and sip hot Chai as we listen to Naniji play the harmonium.

Gift-giving is also one of my favorite activities – a practice which was sadly left out of the design spec for Halloween. I love thinking of the right gift for a person. I’m certain I fall short often, but the thinking process itself can’t be done without revisiting fond memories.

Please don’t throw rocks at me for this, but I love Christmas music. Walk by the street corner at 17th and Noe in San Francisco around 9:00pm and you’re likely to hear holiday standards coming through the window from my apartment. Nothing beats coding sessions set to “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”.

Even when we use an intelligent and automated web application, we interact with the humans who created it. Their choices, tastes, words, designs, failures, and successes are all contained within the code that serves us. You cannot escape the humanity of the Internet.

The human connection is more obvious in some online experiences than others. Video-chatting on Skype with my grandmother across the world is direct interaction, and the technology is only secondarily apparent. Even if you take away the video, her voice is still human enough that I don’t feel the filter of technology.

Other experiences begin the transition away from direct, human interaction. Instant Messaging like with AIM or MSN Messenger is still direct communication, but the human aspect of it is lessened by the introduction of a person’s “cyber-ego” (or “online identity”). Not being able to see or hear the person with whom we’re speaking necessitates the creation of an image in our minds of who (what?) the person is. We can’t help but project our own assumptions and judgements onto them. Still, at least we’re conscious of the fact that we are communicating with a human – though our image of them is admittedly inaccurate.

At the other end of the spectrum are online experiences where the human connection has been completely erased. That is, when we use applications in this realm, we forgot that humans are involved at all. The big example? Google, of course.

Crud, I forgot the keyboard shortcut to open the last-closed tab in Firefox. As I Google for this keyboard shortcut, I’m aware of my expectations: The query will be processed by Google’s engine. I will be shown many results. Clicking one of them will likely provide me the answer I desire.

But as I read lifehacker’s post on the keyboard shortcut, at no point am I considering that a human being wrote this tip. It’s information, and it’s there, and that’s that.

For our younger generation, the removal of this human connection is even more apparent. They have no reason to equate information with humans, because they were never alive during a time when humans gave each other information directly. Their entire view of acquiring information has its premise in the Internet – and more than likely in applications like Google.

What I’m curious about is how long it will take for applications that are not like Google to become equally human-less. Twitter seems poised to be the first. This is a site with an overwhelmingly expansive data structure that I actually feel fear when I think about it. It’s huge. Perhaps its most powerful feature is its search, which looks through all Tweets by all users.

Try searching for a good budgeting application for the Mac. Or what’s new with the San Francisco Giants? Your results will vary, but you’ll find a wealth of information about whatever you search for.

Another way to get information from Twitter is to just ask. Say you hear some folks talking about the Rolling Stones touring in the USA and get excited. Quick, Tweet a question to the world at large: “Are the Rolling Stones really coming to the States?” You might get a couple people giving quick replies within the hour. Specific information – on demand.

So far, Twitter’s users are very aware of the fact that all of this information comes from people. There hasn’t been enough time for a Twitterer’s real identity to become dissociated from their online persona. Once that happens, it doesn’t take long for the online persona to fade into obscurity and become one with the Internet.

But Twitter grows – as do many of the Internet’s offerings. And as a new generation grows up with these resources more available than any other resource – man-made or natural – I wonder how long the Internet has before it’s wholly a non-human entity.

A pivotal point in human development is the asking of that existential question: “Where do babies come from?” Among other things, it marks a child’s awareness of the world as something which is created. How soon will our informational development be marked by our awareness of the Internet as something which is created? When will children ask, “Mommy, where do websites come from?”

A girl – no more than eight years old – walks with her father down the street on a cold night.

As they approach a turn, she notices a shivering man sitting on the sidewalk. Without hesitation, she removes her scarf and hands it to the shivering man. There is kindness in her eyes but no pride.

Her father looks at her with concern, then surprise, and then asks stupidly, “What are you doing?”

The girl looks up at her father and replies simply, “There’s nothing of interest in what I’ve done. I found someone in need and gave him my excess.”

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One day, during rehearsal, a rare moment of revelry was permitted to continue beyond a few seconds. A friend – Alex Stollar – began singing a parody of R. Kelly’s song. He was making it up on the spot, and the class was eating it up. Alex was very popular, but whether this contributed to his song’s positive reception is not clear. Regardless, I was jealous of Alex’s popularity, so I decided to one-up his song by singing my own immediately after he finished.

For your reference, the actual lyrics of the song are:

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away

I’m not a song-writer or a singer, but moments of desperation can bring out strengths we do not know we possess. I sang:

I believe I can run
I believe I touch the sun
I think about it every night and day
Spread my legs and have some fun

If you’re even a little bit shocked right now, you’re far less sheltered than I was in the sixth grade. My brilliantly spontaneous song and plan had backfired. With the last line of the stanza, the class fell silent. All eyes turned in my direction. Our teacher Ms. Robertson, a tall blond woman with unnecessarily sharp features, stared at me with wide-open eyes.

I was paralyzed. I had expected – in order of preference – either glory, quiet chuckles, or quick dismissal. But this response was completely unforeseen! Whispers filled the room, some girls were snickering at me from the corner, not even my friends were laughing at my parody, and the stupid R. Kelly song was still playing on the stereo.

Frozen in time, I slowly evaluated the situation. Clearly, my song had some evil power of which I was unaware. No one was hitting me, I hadn’t wet my pants or thrown up, and my grades were fine; so survival was not at risk. I decided there could be no harm in asking my teacher what I’d said that was so egregious.

I turned to Ms. Robertson, and – before I could open my mouth – she screamed at me in an awful, angry, male voice, “What are you doing! What did you just say!” I would have liked to answer, but her anger petrified me. She continued to berate me in front of the class. It seemed like hours, but I doubt the scolding lasted for even a minute.

Eventually, the class decided what was to be seen had been seen; so they returned to their work. Rehearsal was over the day. When I got home in the afternoon, I mentioned nothing of the crime I’d committed. I just did my homework while trying to figure out exactly what I’d done wrong.

I never told anyone the story, so I never found out what was so terrible about my parody. Obviously, as I grew older I learned how the song could be construed to have illicit meaning. Today, the memory is source of laughter for me.

But I do wish I could bottle up the feelings of confusion, shame, fear, and anger that I felt that day – and give the bottle to anyone who interacts with children. These were the feelings of an innocent boy who was beaten down for a misdeed he did not understand.

I wonder how many children are too scared to ask what they’ve done wrong when they’re scolded. Why are people so quick to make assumptions upon which negative conclusions depend?

A plea to educators, parents, siblings, friends, strangers: Always be listening. Always be teaching.

With all the cool websites to visit, thrilling television shows to watch, movies and music to steal, books to read, and games to play, it’s a wonder we’re not walking around in a post-Thanksgiving-esque stupor.

Then again, maybe that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Listen: It is vital for the growth of children and adults alike to create as well as consume. This is especially true for our youngsters, who may not remember a time when the world wasn’t accessible from a desk chair. We have to show them – remind them – that the world they experience doesn’t merely exist. Rather, it is built.

There are an infinite number of ways to create. Here are just a few:

• Draw. Just draw. Take 15 minutes this evening, go outside, and draw the clouds and moon.
• Write an Op-Ed for your local or a national newspaper. Even if it doesn’t get printed, you’ll learn about where you stand in the process of writing it.
• Cook something for the first time. Grab a recipe and get going.
• Become a photographer. Buy a disposable camera from a store like Safeway and take 5 photos from the perspective of an ant and 5 photos from the perspective of a bird (This means climbing!).
• Start a blog. Tumblr is easy to use and takes 10 seconds (literally) to set up.

And if none of those are appealing, think of another way to create. Or help someone else create.

Supplementing consumption with creation enables growth on multiple levels. When you create, you build the confidence in your abilities that’s required to take risks in the future and think quickly. What’s more, your creation may become a form of consumption for others. The world grows as we create.

One final method of creation: Responding to the creations of others. As you experience something, feelings and thoughts must go through your head. What do you do with them? Most people either forget them or don’t even notice them in the first place. But developing an awareness of your self, so that you can detect and understand your fleeting emotions and thoughts, is perhaps the only way to truly improve yourself from within.

As practice, try commenting on blog posts and online news articles. This will force you to think about what you just consumed, and eventually your thoughts will become clearer and awareness will require less effort.

Less ambitious – or perhaps only less successful – people make up the rest of the Deck. From the apathetic or pathetic 2s to the second-place Kings, we all have to fall somewhere.

And so we live – fighting our way to the top until we choose another Game to play, give up, or die. In the course of our lives, we come across individuals against whom we must battle – be it for respect, our jobs, or even our very lives. 2s don’t beat Aces.

What happens when two Aces must battle? Say two supremely gifted mayoral candidates are debating tonight. Well, every one will want to watch that debate. But if these two mayoral candidates are seen to be a couple of 2s, viewership will definitely take a hit. More often than not, we are only interested in the lives of those whose card we believe to be greater than our own.

But wait, there’s more. In the Game of Life, there are Trump cards: An entire suit consisting of cards which rise above The Game to play by different rules and thereby redefine the Game itself. Trumps compete only with other Trumps – if they even come across each other. This isn’t to say a Trump won’t trounce all over an average card. They will. But they’ll feel no pride for having done so.

Trumps you might have heard of include Mahatma Gandhi, Robin Hood, and the Joker. These are all figures – of good and evil – whose presence in their world made it necessary for all others to change their way of thinking, acting, and living.

Not all Trumps achieve the fame of the aforementioned characters. It can take an unusual amount of attention to detect such a unique individual – especially since it can take a most unassuming form. But if you believe someone in your life to be a Trump, find the strength within to commit to them. From them draw inspiration and learn about the world, but be sure to guide your Trump through a life of goodness.