Technology moves faster than discussions. We create faster than we debate. Often we need to create in order to debate. Yet after the debate we sometimes wish we hadn’t created as it’s nearly impossible to ‘put it away’. As the saying goes, ‘Once pandora is out of the box…’ So then, is there any point in the debate? I firmly believe yes, it is through the conversations, the listening, the arguing, the agreeing, disagreeing, and agreeing to disagree that improvements are made.

Many organisations have cultures of speed. ‘Fail fast’. ‘If we don’t do it, someone else will’. Questions and conversations are seen as a nuisance as it slows ‘progress’ down or risks revenue. One of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to see the ‘long view’. The seven generations view. You can’t see it fast. It is about seeing slowly.

Too often those who create are separated from those who debate. And so our paths diverge, even throw stones at each other. We can’t see slowly on our own. And without the debate, we tend to create much more ‘collateral damage’ then we intended.

We need more spaces where the skeptics, the technologists, the anthropologists, academics, users, and the elders can come together to listen, to show, and to argue. We ‘see slowly’ together never on our own.

Photo by Luca Bravo