think like a criminal

let's play science fiction writer for a minute and a half.

watch this inane promo video for microsoft surface:



now, if i were a criminal, how would i use this device to rob people of money? i'd put it in their chair, under a thin pillow so every time a man sat down in the chair, his credit cards and vital info would flow out of his pockets and into my palm pilot. i wouldn't even have to hide the surface somewhere (firewalls, i imagine, might pose a problem). i could just muck up the data stream a little. seriously, people become far too dependent on technology. if someone's getting directions into their palm pilot and plopping it into the map tool on their dashboard, all kinds of chaos can ensue when a gang gives people wrong directions.

the more dependent upon technology we become, the less able we are to escape when our street smarts give us warning blips. when our vital tools fail, who will have the wits to survive?

how can this surface kill a man? lace the top of it with arsenic or poison - something low tech - and let someone touch the screen and lick their fingers on salty food.

what will happen when the houses aren't clean, when the rats and cockroaches crawl over the top and defecate upon the console?

also, how would one use such a tool to make beautiful art, and music. naturally, we didn't have to wait very long for that. the moment tech emerges from the metallurgist's womb, someone has beaten it with drumsticks.