Our planet is a very delicate puzzle. There are many interdependent, interlocking pieces. When we remove one of these pieces, the picture becomes incomplete for a bit. But it does not stay incomplete: like any organic structure, a reorganization occurs to reach a new point that is stable. For example, as the population of a species declines, new predator-prey relationships form in the food chain. The gap closes quickly. Keep reading while we assemble our puzzle for you. Let's start with the corners. Don't Look Away! Are you still here? Great! Keep reading. The premise of almost every ad is that a product will make your life better in some way. This may hold true for some time. Or, the product may distract you from noticing some underlying need. It may complicate your life. It might make you dependent on the product; a dependency that you did not previously have. Ads are not a natural phenomenon. Wouldn't that be odd if they were? A forest that spontaneously clears away trees to provide an inviting pathway. Ads come from businesses. The start of the funnel has no parallel to nature, but that does not stop society from drawing comparisons between businesses and nature. The expression "survival of the fittest" might come to mind. However, in truth, nature is frequently a collaboration rather than a competition. An ecosystem develops with specific synergies. It is true that species compete for scarce resources, but there are deep interdependencies that we are just now observing. Nature is a complex puzzle that transcends measurement. Each piece represents an important relationship. Just because we do not have a label for a particular piece, we do not simply throw it away while building the puzzle. Marketplace competition, on the other hand, is simple and one-dimensional. Businesses compete for one thing: your attention. And they will employ any means to justify their ends. Don't look away! Stay with this blog. There's an intermittent reward coming soon. You should take a moment or two to observe yourself from this vantage point. How much time do you really spend with different products? More importantly, what aren't you looking at? StomachacheIn nature, each piece of the puzzle contributes to the health of the overall system. The concept of waste does not exist in nature: every product serves a purpose. Contrast this with marketplace competition. Buying decisions lead to the creation and consumption of goods that the Earth cannot digest. This is a planetary stomachache. Consumerism threatens the existence of life on our planet. We have become conditioned to believe that recycling is a cure to this ill. Recycling does not have perfect recapture, leading to waste that neither humans nor the Earth can use. The raw egg yolk cannot be extracted from a baked cake. Entropy is always increasing. In many cases, these remaining compounds are a piece that do not fit into nature's fragile puzzle. This is smashing together puzzle pieces that do not fit. The endgame of this trajectory gives me a stomachache too. As capitalism requires the creation of wealth, any alternative to consumerism must also create wealth to be viable. I would rather replace the capitalism-for-the-sake-of-capitalism system altogether, but such a change is not within the capacity of any individual. If you've been following along, the irony will not be lost on you: to achieve our goal of reducing consumerism, we have to create a product. Shift Sight took a cue from nature. We decided to look at interoperability. We set out to create a product that adds value (and a humane context) to existing technology rather than immediately displacing the products, sending them to the trash or recycler. Nature excels at symbiotic relationships. Humanity deserves and can do better than our current technological paradigm. LongevityDeveloping a product in the context of a triple-bottom-line business is unusual. The product carries a mission (UN SDGs).
From the beginning of Jade's development, we carefully considered how people use and are affected by their technology. We looked at the existing market climate, products, players, lifecycle and [lack of] takeback programs. We estimated what the Earth can support. We noted that people wanted to fix their goods and observed repair shops popping up in increasing numbers. We scrutinized technology used in education, noting that most edtech does not belong in a school and simply serves to create customers for life through brand loyalty. We tried to anticipate what your children would need to create a future with sustainable, humane technology. Digital addictions create an unintentional apathy, leading to a self-perpetuating cycle of electronic waste. A cycle that cannot be corrected with recycling. Our mission is enormous. Creating sustainable, humane technology may be one of the greatest challenges of this generation since it diametrically opposed to profiteering. Individual growth and happiness do not come from consumerism. We are unfazed by challenges and obstacles: they are teachers, enabling us to succeed. Our puzzle is extremely complex. But the pieces mesh together well with the fabric of humanity and the capability of nature. And most importantly, Jade is a centerpiece that seeks to extend the life of existing products. By changing their behavior and how you interact with them, we can change the experience from one of disposability to one of longevity. Even if competitor products are not built to our meticulous standards and do not wield Jade's level of durability, we intend to make them last for as long as possible. The picture in the puzzle is breathtaking. We can't wait to assemble and share it with you. See you next week!
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Ty is a Founder of Shift Sight, LLC. Archives
June 2019
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