Technology is, by and large, supposed to help make the world an easier place to live.
While clever stuff like cars, medicines and the internet makes contemporary life a relative breeze compared to the labour-intensive lives of former generations, every once in a while a technology company makes something that just seems like... a backward step?
Take Bond, the handwriting robot that has quite literally taken up the lost art of letter writing. The technology involved in Bond's writing service is impressive: by studying your letters and notes, the arm of the robot can "learn" your handwriting, mimicking your flicks and dots and thus copying out "handwritten" letters from documents you've typed out on a computer or phone. You check it out in action (with added sales pitch) in this video:
If you're looking to write a whole bundle of repetitive thank you letters and don't have any carbon copy paper to hand, it could save you a few hours - but that's where the Bond moves from being a quirky tech demo to becoming a soulless tech fix. A "technology for thoughtful companies", while it might be a neat way to receive your next Christmas letter, we doubt that it's going to put the 'heart' back into those letters from your bank pleading for you to take out a new credit card, or adding that personal touch to your estate agent telling you just how much it wants to sell your house for.
It's impressive, it's clever and it could save some people a lot of time. On the other hand, if you do actually want to send a "thoughtful" letter, you might just want to bother taking the time to write the thing yourself. You can employ Bond's services by visiting their site, though you'll have to make a trip to the US to have the machine learn your style.
(Images: Bond)
