I want a museum of bad ideas.
I want a museum (online or off) that is truly dedicated to the "it seemed like a good idea at the time" crowd of innovations, technologies, and so forth. I don't just want snarky articles and annual "worst ofs," I want a shrine in concrete or pixels to the truly egregious ideas that people really thought were the next big thing. I also want it as soon as possible.
I want this, because I both want to look back, and because I want a place to remind me of stupid stuff I've believed. I figure everyone out there that tries and predicts things needs this.
One of the things we do here is predict the future. Now Bonnie and I do pretty well, but we've made some real mistakes (remember when I thought the iPad was more slow burn? Yeah, I keep reminding myself). These mistakes would be easier to stop if there was one place to go to marinate myself in the well-meaning stupidity of the past.
Thus I want the Museum of Bad Ideas.
See, here's the thing. I have plenty of ideas, and I know instinctively that some part of them are really awful. I have plenty of theories of the future which I share endlessly here, and I know some will be near-mythical levels of dumb. I'm just not sure, at the time, when I'm a genius and when I'm mistaking "enthralled with an idea" or "head up my ass" for "genius."
I figure If *I* fear that I'm being stupid, others do. Those that don't fear being stupid, well, they're great for creating exhibits.
So, I think this museum is a great idea.
Of course my fear? My fear is I'm wrong and this is a dumb idea.