I’m a PhD student in the Computing Department at Lancaster University, studying the use of public, situated displays to support communities. More generally, I’m interested in the novel use of simple technologies to support day-to-day life and the intersection of technology and social factors.
I’ve been thinking about magic beans. I’m a sceptic and a rational thinker, and not so much a fan of things like homoeopathy and other “magic beans”. That’s a phrase that rational, sceptic writers tend to use a lot to describe some wonderful, scientifically dubious item that people will buy into to solve their problems or improve their life. It’s used as a derogatory term, because after all, everyone knows Jack was a bit of a fool for accepting magic beans in lieu of payment.
Except that story didn’t really play out that way, did it? I seem to recall Jack ended up rich and happy beyond his wildest dreams.
For many obvious reasons, Jack and the Beanstalk is a pretty dubious children’s story to start with, given that Jack steals from—and in some versions murders—a man who is treated as a villain purely on account of being a giant and trying to defend his home from an intruder. But beyond that, it can be read as a piece of anti-sceptic propaganda that every child knows by heart: the message is “don’t worry about those people telling you you’re an idiot, they’re wrong and you’ll find fortune with your stupid investment”.
It’s an odd message to teach kids, don’t you think?
EDIT: Coming back to this a few days later, I think I might have been a bit too harsh on Jack. It doesn’t take too much effort to think of a few entrepreneurs with stupid investments who really did find their golden goose…