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In the seven years since Amazon introduced its first home speaker with Alexa voice assistant, it has accomplished something remarkable. The company convinced millions of people to put an Amazon computer (or two or 10) in their homes and changed their habits.

I continue to be amazed and a little tired by the relentless speed of the world. new amazon inventions. On Tuesday, the company showed a $1,000 Alexa on wheels, multiple home security cameras, a thermostat that learns your temperature preferences, and a device for kids to play interactive games via video conferencing.

It’s best to think of most of these new Amazon stuff as public experiments. Amazon is America’s dumbest inventor. Her Ron Popeil unfiltered, plus Alexa. Amazon does everything imaginable and seems to see what people do with it.

Some items will not be of interest – you probably did not buy Alexa powered ring – but some will. And Amazon is taking tips to fine-tune them even more, from what people are doing with their devices and internet add-ons. We are co-inventors with Amazon.

As long as people know that they are human guinea pigs sometimes for half-baked goods, Amazon’s “Sure, why not?!” style is an invigorating way to do new things. This is in stark contrast to Apple’s Extremely Serious approach to launching very few highly refined products after years of snooping.

The downside to Amazon’s spirit of constant invention is that there’s less of a tendency to slow down and ask: Are we sure this is a good idea? Why? What is this for? Is this what normal people want? And if so, do we know the best way to give it to them?

Amazon’s biggest idea on Tuesday was anxiety. The roaming Alexa robot called Astro – plus new security cameras, home monitoring and aged care hotlines – has played on people’s worst fears. something terrible can happen our homes or the people we care about. (Amazon executive Dave Limp, who oversees the company’s devices, says he has three teenagers and one inspiration for Astro was the trained security camera in his home liquor cabinet.)

Fear is a powerful emotion. We take everything to protect the things we care about. But it’s also frustrating that the vision of one of America’s greatest innovators includes setting up virtual sentries inside and outside our homes 24/7. Does this buy peace of mind, or strengthen our fears? What kind of world does this produce? and do more complex doodles better protect our homes and loved ones, right?

We don’t need to imagine the fallout of ethos just to invent it first and see what happens. We already live with it.

When technologists don’t imagine how people will react to their creations, we sometimes get social networks that empower the authorities. encourage the most polarizing ideas. We get ride services set vision of less traffic and instead did more. Sometimes we get sleep improvement tech worsens people’s sleep. we end with ours lots of digital information it is dangerous.

I often forward a version of this question to my colleagues, usually in all caps: IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?

Something I asked about projects providing internet service from satellitesexperiments with technology-laden department and grocery stores, driverless carsdeliveries with drones and electric helicopters dreamed up by tech inventors buzzing over our neighborhoods. just for the company to be able to do something doesn’t mean it has to be.

I don’t want to think too hard to keep people from dreaming of new wonders. Amazon’s “Sure, why not?!” The product approach can be refreshing, especially when it comes to relatively low-risk things like digital book readers or children’s storytime gizmos.

But we’ve seen the consequences when companies don’t think carefully about whether something is worth doing or how their vision could go wrong. We should want inventors to invent. We should ask them to do this with care.

Before you go …

• Meet the man who can’t and always quit virtual reality: My colleague Cade Metz introduces us to Wolf Heffelfinger, a musician from Montana who has been experimenting with virtual reality experiences for years to play laser tag, watch movies, try different personalities, and visit the Egyptian pyramids. Cade, Heffelfinger love for technology shows that for almost a decade, no one was sure of what virtual reality could be.

• YouTube crashes: My colleague Davey Alba declares that videos expressing false claims that approved vaccines are dangerous or ineffective are banned. Writer. YouTube has also shut down some of the leading anti-vaccine activists, which researchers say helps gather credible information about vaccines.

• Melting face emoji! wins people’s hearts, writes my colleague Anna P. Kambhampaty.

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Do you know what to do today? NS see a group of amazing sea snails. I mean… “donut nudibranch” who knew?!

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