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BY J O H N WATS O N , PA LO M A R C O L L EG E 108 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2026 E L E M E N TA RY, M R . WATS O N F rom the earliest days of electronics, engi- neers have worked within some shared as- sumptions about how systems should be built and how people should interact with them. These assumptions often feel so natural that they are rarely questioned; they define what "normal" is. Thomas Kuhn, the American philosopher of science best known for introducing the idea of "tech- nical paradigm shifts," observed, "What someone sees depends upon what he looks at and also upon what his previous visual-conceptual experience has taught him to see." In other words, we do not readily notice the framework we are in while using it, nor how it relates to the broader picture of innovation. After many years in the electronics industry (and I am being kind to myself with "many"), I have learned that change is often easier to recognize in the rearview mirror. While it is happening, it may look like another new tool, process update, customer requirement, or a "minor improvement" that somehow changes everything. Only later do we realize how much the industry has shifted. A good example is the way people have inter- acted with electronics. Specifically, for nearly 40 to 50 years, the same basic model shaped how computers interacted: input occurred in one place, and output appeared elsewhere. A keyboard, keypad, mouse, switch, and, yes, even punch cards or buttons told the system what to do. A screen, a light, a meter, or a printed result told the user what happened. But over time, that model began running into practical limits. Physical controls worked well, but they were fixed in place. A button could only The Display Revolution Now With Fewer Tiny Keys