In the 2019 TedTalk titled Everything around you can become a computer, designer, Ivan Pouprey speaks about the integration of technology into everyday objects. He mentions that we are walking around with supercomputers in our pockets but how we interact with computers hasn’t really changed in the past fifty years. He elaborates on this by saying we still use keyboards and screens. He asks, “Is this what the future looks like?”. He also asks, “How do you turn everyday things into technology?”. He uses a doorknob as an example for anything becoming interactive while showing a screen that responds when you touch the doorknob. He then shows how our gestures and bodies can be used as interfaces. He shows a man covering his ears and then music turns off. He shows how we could make things interactive in the workplace by showing a touchpad that helps a tailor make clothes. Further, he shows how he is wearing a coat that gives him the ability to control his slides in his presentation. He says “technology has to make existing things better” by adding technology and usefulness. He doesn’t want to create a bunch of gadgets that you will just throw out. He adds “Makers of things will have to think ‘what kind of digital functionality can we offer the consumer’”.

While Pouprey’s ideas are incredibly creative and forward thinking, I do not believe we will see a world where every article of clothing has digital functionality. I believe this is wasteful and could become very expensive. I would never buy a plant that controls the volume of my music for $200 when I can simply just control it from the phone I already own. All in all, I think Pouprey’s ideas of making everyday objects “useful” are very interesting and may advance technology in other ways, I don’t think they will become widespread. 

Technology: machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge.

Interface:a device or program enabling a user to communicate with a computer.

Supercomputer: a particularly powerful mainframe computer.

Digital: electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data