Intelligence of the user and the technology are inversely proportional

The 'buy' button is the next big thing on smart phones. Instead of fumbling on a small keyboard, all you have to do is press the button, helpfully placed alongside any potential merchandise you might be browsing, and the payment is done. Whether this will disintermediate the likes of Amazon and plant Google, Apple and Microsoft as the interface between consumers and a zillion producers is moot. What is striking is the inverse relationship between the intelligence of the user and the intelligence of the technology deployed. Before graphical user interface, jargon for the icons on the screen that you can click on or tap to launch programs, you needed some computer smarts to do simple chores on the machine. GUI makes child's play out of technical savvy.

Not that this is entirely a digital-age thing. Striking a match to light a fire is far simpler, of course, than rubbing stones together. But a matchstick embodies quite a bit of science and technology: chemistry and engineering to dab the right stuff on to one end of a regular-shaped sliver of wood produced by a complex process of sawing, cutting and machining. What advance in technology does is to allow the technologically-challenged to make use of cutting-edge technology without being aware of his grace. A monkey can be trained to flick on a light switch. Or press a buy button.