I want to talk about the next Dumb Idea.
Why do I want to do this? Because I'm getting pretty tired of hearing about the Next Big Thing. It's always coming, it's always here – and it will always be forgotten in the next few months. In many cases it wasn't the next big thing anyway, but of course the various pundits, experts, and bloggers (guilty, here . . .) go on to look for the Next Big thing even when they got the last one wrong.
iPad. DLC. Mahwa. Whatever. I keep hearing what's absolutely going to rock my socks off in the geekonomy.
So I'd like a change of pace – I'd like people to start discussing the incredibly stupid ideas that are going to go down in flames.
Really, we could use a change of pace. We're tired of hearing about what the next big thing is. In some cases it's obvious. In some cases it's not obvious and we'd dearly like to know how stupid it is before we invest time, effort, money, or education in whatever incredibly bad idea is out there this moment.
Think of the fun people could have with it. No more hyping things that are already hyped. No more pretending to care about something that's been advertised one way or another until we hate it anyway. We can all get together and start hunting for the worst things that are going to go on int the geekonomy, in technology, in media.
We might even get some good warnings of what not to do, buy, learn, or invest in. With a media filled with Big Things, a bit of discretion on the part of analysts and journalists might be useful.
Besides, by now the predictions about the worst thing out there can't be any worse than the predictions on the Next Big Thing, or as asinine, or as obvious.
– Steven Savage