If a Colleague Asks: “Will my Innovation Have Unintended Consequences?”

Polymorphic Innovation through Unintended Consequences

This paper re-interprets Short Messaging Service (SMS) systems as emergent technology, the impact of which has accidentally been instrumental in the configuration of a range of applications that are transforming social networking. The case study presented describes the implementation of the Trigger, an application that provides students’ with SMS reminders in the higher education context. An ob...

Unintended Consequences: How Qualification Constrains Innovation

The development and implementation of new materials and manufacturing processes for aerospace application is often hindered by the high cost and long time span associated with current qualification procedures. The data requirements necessary for material and process qualification are extensive and often require millions of dollars and multiple years to complete. Furthermore, these qualification...

Encouraging innovation, unintended consequences, and group-level research.

200 Primary care clinicians face a daunting set of challenges in today’s health care environment. Health care reform is creating a constantly evolving context for providing care. Time and productivity pressures contrast with a growing set of clinical expectations and responsibilities in the patient encounter. Chronic and behavioral conditions increasingly dominate the lives of our patients, yet...

If Oswald Hadn’t Used Counterfactuals, My Robot Would Have

This paper presents a computation model that emulates the process by which humans generate, evaluate and distinguish counterfactual sentences. Though compatible with the “possible world” account, this model enjoys the advantages of representational economy, algorithmic simplicity and conceptual clarity.

Unintended Consequences.