phone and it’s locked; challenge accepted! Because it isn’t enough to take things apart and see how they work, you have to put them back together better than they were. You get frustrated when people don’t understand you, too, but on a tangible, specific level. If someone asks a question and you answer it, you’re annoyed when they ask again — as we all just learned — because you can’t accept that other people aren’t as quick as you are. You can’t help but wonder why everyone and everything isn’t better than it is. ”
“To be honest I can’t help but wonder why you’ve been wasting so much time and money developing the SycaPhone when it’s such a slight improvement on what we already have.”
“The SycaPhone is a revolutionary device,” Amos insisted, too affronted to realise that he was admitting to having rigged the contest. “You haven’t even seen it. How can you dismiss it?”
“Because I’ve seen the spec, and it’s garbage.”
Professor Walker’s head fell into his hands. Randy, Sabrina and Julian sat huddled in front of Sabrina’s TV, begging Kurt to take his words back, begging him not to throw it all away again.
Amos looked at the arrogant child before him through newly-narrowed eyes. “What do you mean garbage? The SycaPhone is transparent! It has a multitouch screen on each side, and they’re the sharpest screens ever made!”
“You know exactly what I mean.” Kurt returned Amos’s gaze unflinchingly. He wasn’t pitching anymore, just having a tense one-on-one conversation that the world happened to be watching. “A slightly lighter phone with a slightly sharper screen and a slightly longer battery life? That’s the best you can do? Really?”
“Lighter, sharper, longer... it’s all progress.”
“At a geological pace! When your two options are crawling forward and sprinting away, crawling isn’t progress. And, as always, the biggest obstacle to progress is attachment to method. You’re coming at this as if the only place for the necessary components is inside a handheld device. Why? Because you’ve been trained to attack problems with existing solutions. My eyes are only on the desired outcome, which right now is creating something that makes the most of the UltraLenses. That something will enable them to record our experiences and act as a display for a holistic system. A chip does that better than a phone — fact — so don’t even try and tell me otherwise. I really did see two birds eating a cat today, and If I had a chip in my hand I could show you.”
“Since when do birds eat cats?” asked Amos.
“Since the cat was dead and the birds were hungry.”
Amos studied Kurt’s blank face. “So... what? Are you the birds? Am I the cat?”
“It’s not a metaphor. I actually saw it. The blood was flowing into the sewers and… anyway, the point is that I should be able to rewind the footage and swipe it over to you. I would pay to be able to do that.”
“Hmm. I understand what you’re saying,” Amos sighed, appearing almost submissive, “but you have to take a step back and see this from my perspective. The SycaPhone represents a huge commitment for Sycamore. We can’t just write it off.”
“No, you have to take a step back and appreciate how big this could be. It’s not just about recording our experiences. This is about digital currency, personal security, next-gen social networking and genuinely targeted advertising. Sometimes ideas are too big to take in at once… it’s like trying to explain the internet. This will be bigger than the internet.”
Amos scoffed at the notion. “Come on, now.”
Kurt felt confident that he would win the job for life at Sycamore — why else would he have been called back after what he said? — but he wanted to make sure that his work would involve developing and releasing the chip. These were the crucial moments.
“Really,” he said, slicing the air with a two-handed gesture that even Sabrina
“To be honest I can’t help but wonder why you’ve been wasting so much time and money developing the SycaPhone when it’s such a slight improvement on what we already have.”
“The SycaPhone is a revolutionary device,” Amos insisted, too affronted to realise that he was admitting to having rigged the contest. “You haven’t even seen it. How can you dismiss it?”
“Because I’ve seen the spec, and it’s garbage.”
Professor Walker’s head fell into his hands. Randy, Sabrina and Julian sat huddled in front of Sabrina’s TV, begging Kurt to take his words back, begging him not to throw it all away again.
Amos looked at the arrogant child before him through newly-narrowed eyes. “What do you mean garbage? The SycaPhone is transparent! It has a multitouch screen on each side, and they’re the sharpest screens ever made!”
“You know exactly what I mean.” Kurt returned Amos’s gaze unflinchingly. He wasn’t pitching anymore, just having a tense one-on-one conversation that the world happened to be watching. “A slightly lighter phone with a slightly sharper screen and a slightly longer battery life? That’s the best you can do? Really?”
“Lighter, sharper, longer... it’s all progress.”
“At a geological pace! When your two options are crawling forward and sprinting away, crawling isn’t progress. And, as always, the biggest obstacle to progress is attachment to method. You’re coming at this as if the only place for the necessary components is inside a handheld device. Why? Because you’ve been trained to attack problems with existing solutions. My eyes are only on the desired outcome, which right now is creating something that makes the most of the UltraLenses. That something will enable them to record our experiences and act as a display for a holistic system. A chip does that better than a phone — fact — so don’t even try and tell me otherwise. I really did see two birds eating a cat today, and If I had a chip in my hand I could show you.”
“Since when do birds eat cats?” asked Amos.
“Since the cat was dead and the birds were hungry.”
Amos studied Kurt’s blank face. “So... what? Are you the birds? Am I the cat?”
“It’s not a metaphor. I actually saw it. The blood was flowing into the sewers and… anyway, the point is that I should be able to rewind the footage and swipe it over to you. I would pay to be able to do that.”
“Hmm. I understand what you’re saying,” Amos sighed, appearing almost submissive, “but you have to take a step back and see this from my perspective. The SycaPhone represents a huge commitment for Sycamore. We can’t just write it off.”
“No, you have to take a step back and appreciate how big this could be. It’s not just about recording our experiences. This is about digital currency, personal security, next-gen social networking and genuinely targeted advertising. Sometimes ideas are too big to take in at once… it’s like trying to explain the internet. This will be bigger than the internet.”
Amos scoffed at the notion. “Come on, now.”
Kurt felt confident that he would win the job for life at Sycamore — why else would he have been called back after what he said? — but he wanted to make sure that his work would involve developing and releasing the chip. These were the crucial moments.
“Really,” he said, slicing the air with a two-handed gesture that even Sabrina
Similar Books
