When I asked Enas what kind of bionic arm she’d want, if anything was possible, she told me “When I think of Will Smith in one of his movies I think of sick robots – sick functionality… I want to be able to see the wires and it be more robotic-like.”
Enas’s desires for her sci-fi bionic arm signals an interesting convergence of cultural and tech trends.
First of all, Enas isn’t alone in her love of sci-fi movies. Marvel, Star Wars, Dune, the Creator. On-screen science fiction has become a significant part of popular culture. The fantastical products featured in these movies influence our attitudes to, and expectations of the technology that we use every day.
Second. People are more accepting of their own and others’ differences, as part of their unique identities. 86% of young people think it’s normal to be weird. That stat, courtesy of Virtue, suggests that differences may be aspirational amongst GenZ, who could look to express these differences through the personal devices they own.
In addition, the evolution of AI promises to make future hardware a container of simulated personalities. Form, detail and interactions of that hardware will help communicate the character of that AI entity… An entity which could diminish our reliance on screens.
The smartphone format has dominated design in the tech scene for over a decade. Could the current combination of culture, identity and technology hint at the opening up of a market for more experimental devices? Or do the unsuccessful departures from screen and slab, led by the likes of Humane and Rabbit, show that the mould is just too hard to break?