Sometimes, the act of "seeing" requires an ability to shift modalities without missing a beat. In this posting of 'Thought Streams,' we move from the realm of flesh, blood and physicality to the realm of the spirit. We then triangulate on three different instances of BEING DIGITAL:
A juxtaposition is a multi-part overlay, an act or instance of placing items close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.
I previously blogged about one particular juxtaposition (the one that President Obama must navigate), something that I reference here as a vehicle for grounding in the real-world the types of complex analog states that can manifest when various potentialities and actualities intersect.
Spiritual States
Someday we will have sufficient distance from this particularly chaotic point in time to appreciate the sheer wonder, confusion and terror of it all (relative to the go-go boom times that we have come to expect).
In Tibetan Buddhism, they speak of bardos, a series of transitional metaphysical states that exist between birth, life, death and re-birth.
Before all is said and done, many of us will have experienced first-hand such bardo states, shedding skin and exposing raw nerves, knowing all to well what spiritual death feels like, albeit with the hopeful knowing that as one door closes, another (eventually) opens.
Digital Expression Engines
I have been reading an incredible book, ‘Founders at Work’ about the seminal moments of founders in the realization of their companies. One founder featured in the book is Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple.
In a prior post, I shared my sense of how Woz’s mastery of hardware-software chemistry remains an essential part of the company’s DNA, all the more amazing since Wozniak left the company even before the Macintosh was born.
Looked at analytically, Apple’s instantiation of digital expressionism vis-à-vis iPhone and iPod touch platform is all about enabling loosely coupled hardware, software and service composites to be meaningfully coupled through systemic hybridization and highly procedural assembly call generation mechanisms.
Through such endeavors, Apple has created the first “native” mobility platform – from the tools to the hosted infrastructure layer to the core services and the device-level runtime environment.
It’s a wonder to behold, and everyone else is in fourth place. Seriously.
Growing Digital “Legs”
Recently, Apple announced plans to activate a third-party hardware accessory market for the iPhone/iPod touch platform.
I think that this is a BIG deal (as expounded upon in 'PC 1.0, iPhone 3.0 and the Woz: Everything Old is New Again').
Not only does it extend the capabilities of the device, but it broadens out the ecosystem and most importantly, drives focused engagement within specific market verticals (e.g., medical, sports, automobile, controller, data acquisition, playback, entertainment and finance segments).
Enlightened self-interest is an incredibly powerful driver in creating new markets, especially when you have the necessary tools to succeed within the market.
On that front, does anyone doubt that Apple has learned a thing or two about how to cultivate new markets?
No less, they seem to still be on “offense,” driving new market innovation versus resting on their laurels.
Breadcrumbing the Digital Universe
Maybe it’s the geek in me acting out, but I think that what Apple is doing is pretty frickin cool so I blog about all of the piece parts that are coming together, and post it on the blog that I maintain at OReilly.com.
Long story short, Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly and Company, posts a tweet about my post, which leads to 15 re-tweets, and in a flash, 3500 people converge on my blog post.
Thinking this to be a pretty terrific example of the power of social propagation at work, I tweet the stats generated by O’Reilly’s tweet; O’Reilly sees them (the stats), re-tweets them and another 1500 people read my post.
And that my friends, is how digital sausage is made.
(Final note: I must say that in a pretty organic fashion, I have gotten a lot of love from the folks at O’Reilly; a not so subtle reminder that, digital, shmigital, it still comes back to surrounding yourself with good people.)
Related Posts:
- Juxtapositions: Crisis Management, Complexity and Systems Thinking for the 21st Century
- Getting Real: On Doomsday, the Demise of So-Called Experts and the New Arbitrage.
- Crazy Wisdom as Rome Burns
- PC 1.0, iPhone 3.0 and the Woz: Everything Old is New Again
- ANALYSIS - iPhone 3.0 Developer Preview: Block the Kick Strategy
- iPhones, App Stores, Ecosystems: On Recipes for Successful Developer Platforms
- How Social Media Works: It's About Breadcrumbs and Conversations
