Going into this article, it's interesting to think about what we talked about today when on the topic of refining ideas. We talked about thinking of the refining process as a "survival of the fittest" concept, and linked it to evolutionary traits. When reading the excerpt on how it's easy to assume that the Eames recliner ottoman design solution would "trickle down" from many ideas into few refined and improved models, it was fascinating to see that the process happened in reverse, which happened to be a very rare case of innovation, especially for it's time.

4 things that surprised me:

1. I was surprised by the modern concept of able-bodied normality. I didn't know that it was a rather new norm of society to be so obsessed with formatting and conforming to a "normal able body," and that it was so linked to The Bell Curve. I also found this interesting and ironic, "Exceptional normal-ness is what they prize above all else" (speaking on parents of young children). I feel like today it's important to value and celebrate differences among one another, but at the heart of it all in the back of everyone's heads is the pursuit of this "exceptional normal-ness." It all seems pretty ignorant and foolish, but I suppose that's a part of the society we live in.
2. When reading the snippet from the piece below the picture of the man using four or five devices, I began to think about self awareness. "But they’re also allowing you to decide whether to be available for approach in public, or not; to check out or in on a conversation or meeting in a bunch of subtle ways; to identify, by your choice of brand or look, with one culture group and not another." This passage was a little eye-opening, because I found it so interesting how most of us are very self aware on how our appearance can shape not only our image, but our state of being, and how technology can be such a factor in this matter. This man is sending a ton of messages to the people around him, and he's probably aware of it. He has a computer, a tablet, and his phone running, all while he has headphones in. It makes me think back to The Bell Curve and the concept of "normality." How is this man's environment impacting his choices on appearance? How does he want to appear in order to fit in, or feel comfortable in his environment? Does his appearance send good or bad messages to the environment around him, and how does technology effect those messages? (etc.)
3. I never thought of a multi-purpose invention as a questionary matter. When reading about the exoskeleton, I was interested in the fact that the purpose of this invention could have possibly changed before, during, or after the design process. Initially, the designer could have wanted to create an apparatus that allowed enhanced ability for the user, but without changing a thing about the device, the purpose could have been changed. The designer could have said, "Hey, maybe we could use this to aid people that have a disability standing up and walking," and poof, it's a whole new invention, but at the same time it's not. I was surprised by this because I didn't know how easily it can occur in the world of technology, and it makes me think about what tech today might have had a different original purpose.
4. This is kind of funny, but I didn't realize how receptive the tongue was until I tested it out myself. when reading about using your tongue as a control device for a wheelchair, I wasn't aware of how good of a navigation tool your tongue can be, simply because it's usually not. The passage went on to talk about how the tongue can act as a great tool to move a cursor on a screen, and then I went on and imagined that I was doing that with my tongue, at which point I understood the practicality of it. Again, it goes back to multi-purpose instruments, and the tongue is a great example. I bet up until recently no one had ever thought of one day someone using their tongue to dictate wheelchair movements.... pretty interesting. 

6 examples from the 6 categories:

1 (Invisibility is overrated): The first thing that I thought of when I saw this was how walking canes were turned fashionable in the 18th century as an accessory, sometimes rather than an actual walking aid (Goes back to flexibility of purpose in technology).
2 (Rethink the default bodily experience):  During our studio today when talking about disabling and enabling, I heard a cool example of playing soccer with only your head (if you were taken away use of your feet). It's fun to think about alternate purposes of body parts that you usually wouldn't think of.... even everyday things like performing tasks with your feet/head/elbow if your hands are full (pressing an elevator button, opening a door etc.)
3 (Consider fine gradations of qualitative change): One thing that this reminded me of was different ways of public transportation, specifically............ public slides. I've seen slides placed in public places (like staircases) online before, and it always king of just stuck in my mind as something cool and different, and that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the lamp post bench.
4 (Uncouple medical technologies from their diagnostic contexts): The squeeze chairs immediately made me think of sleeping pods, specifically the ones that Google uses. I just found a parallel between the comfortability of it all. The chair kindly squeezes and supports with its cushions, and the pods are able to shield and create an enveloped environment that provides comfortability, isolation, and safeness.
5 (Design for one): The sewing machine made me think of the logistical and sentimental side of the invention, and reminded me of the logistical and sentimental sides of the creation of photo albums. Though pretty simple, I find it cool how memories are not only captured, but can be stored in an organizationally sound manner, not just with books, but also on our phones / devices.
6 (Let the tools you make ask questions, not just solve problems): While I was reading on the final category, there was an advertisement on the right side of my screen for a curved television, and it made me think about curved technology and how it is becoming more prevalent in our world today. Along with the televisions, I've also seen people make flexible phones that act as wristbands, and with any out of the box invention like this, it poses a couple of questions like: Is it fashionable? Is it practical? will it work just as well as my regular phone or will it be a hassle?
It's important to note that all of these questions come during the design process and are direct factors of the outcome of a product.

1 Thing I disagree with: I didn't really disagree with anything in this article, but I just thought that the light pole bench invention was a little far fetched. I guess if I was going to disagree with one thing, I would disagree with the assumption that people would actually sit down on that thing and reflect on whatever, and not get self concious on how weird they look to other people walking past.

Favorite Invention
My favorite invention was easily the chairs that hugged you. Personally I love sleeping (probably top 3 favorite things to do) so I found this invention really comforting and inviting, and I immediately wanted to use one. I think the practicality and comfortability of the invention was incredibly appealing.