Technology & Societal Expectations
Technologies that understand social expectations or that meet them, are more likely to be successful. Here's why.
An important aspect of technologies that we don’t often think about directly is the expectations that we have for them. These vary by culture and society and impact how they are adapted in various sociocultural settings.
Designers often think about expectations, but today, many technologies are developed within the mindset of only solving for a problem, often bypassing the designers inputs. Without thinking about what humans expect from their technology. How it works, how it will affect them, cultural differences, impacts on societies. It is part of the reason that social media went sideways and will impact how Artificial Intelligence will become embedded in our sociocultural systems.
When inventors of technologies do consider expectations they can find ever more interesting ways to innovate and evolve a technology that meets with the expectations of the intended users. This can also help inventors avoid their own biases, enhancing the chances for the success of a given technology.
So what do we mean by social expectations of technologies? They can be summed up as the norms, values, beliefs, traditions and customs that shape how we perceive and interact with various technologies.
Cultures that are more “me” focused expect technologies to serve them first. They view technologies from an individualistic perspective. How will it make my life better? How will it make me more money or save money? How will it make me look to my friends and peers?
Cultures that are more “we” focused expect a technology to be of value to society in a broader sense. Before they look at themselves, they consider their friends and family, community and then outward to their region and perhaps, nation.
Social expectations can play a role inspiring creativity and innovation. They can also impose constraints and challenges. Social expectations influence regulations, processes and the cultural evaluation of technologies.
Technology companies will often try to set expectations before or at the launch of a new technology. Tesla did this with electric vehicles (EVs). Initially setting an expectation that society will rapidly adopt EVs and all the other auto manufacturers will follow. They did. Now they aren’t.
EVs haven’t met broader sociocultural expectations. People didn’t expect replacing batteries to cost so much. They expected the infrastructure for recharging would be easy, everywhere and cheap. These expectations haven’t been met. Sales have flatlined.
Science-Fiction in the 20th century predicted we’d have flying cars by now. There are some, but they are clunky and for now, remain impractical and pricey. Pop culture has played a key role in setting expectations for the future. Some have come to pass in various ways, like the smartphone.
Many technology companies took a page out of Sci-Fi story telling to set expectations on technologies like EVs and robots. As so many of these technologies have failed to meet our own expectations and those promised, it has left much of society skeptical of the promises tech companies make. There’s a reason we have the term “managing expectations.”
Sometimes our expectations of a technology take on a fearful tone. Our broader expectation of Artificial Intelligence (which is not a singular technology as I wrote here), was that it would lead to massive job losses, greater societal surveillance and loss of privacy. Some of our fearful expectations have come true such as racial and gender biases.
Once technologies enter society and culture reacts, technology inventors then look at the reactions that occur through market research. Smart companies then take those learnings and will adapt the technology to meet the expectations of a culture.
No creator of any entirely new, revolutionary technology, can anticipate or understand the expectations of a culture or society. They will have invented tht technology for a reason, perhaps just to solve a problem in a manufacturing process. Expectations there are clearly understood and the implications minimal.
One technology that’s progressing rapidly and moving into more parts of society are robots. Robotics companies are very progressive in terms of setting and understanding expectations. For the most part. Makers of humanoid robots understand well the uncanny valley and adjust their devices accordingly. Dr. Kate Darling has some excellent insights on robots and society.
When technology companies or inventors focus solely on the technology itself however, is when they miss the human element. Some companies understand this and will engage anthropologists, sociologists and human computer interaction specialists.
Robots and Artificial Intelligence are two core technologies that will continue to move ever deeper into sociocultural systems around the world. Technology is and always has been, a part of what it means to be human. Companies that understand human expectations and how culture (which is highly dynamic anyway) work, will have greater success and adoption than those who don’t.