I think this is the natural reaction of the hacker news (intelligent and savvy) crowd, but I see more and more every day that the average human desperately wants to be seen by anyone. Hence the success of youtube, twitter and facebook.

Brings to mind a blog entry of Chris Dixon's back on 8/5/09: "Reading my friends’ tweets helps me keep connected with them, the same way bumping into them on the street and exchanging small talk does. The content isn’t as important as the connection shared and presence felt."

Is it a reaction to a form of mass social dislocation? Everyone finding acceptable ways to yell and scream for attention, not because they have something useful to share, but just because they are desperate to be part of the meta-conversation.

With that in mind, are we really advancing society with this?

Hardly. I imagine unnecessary corporate rules and other security rules being created from Color. Imagine: You are working in an office and all of the sudden someone is offended from the pictures on your phone. Or you are on a plane and suddenly become terrorized from the pics on the phone from the man sitting next to you. From a practical point of view, Color is not a viable app to advance society.

Interesting points and I think you are spot on with this assessment. I've not used Color, but been at an event where it was used. Frankly, what I saw was a mass of photos all of the same thing - various angles of the inside of a historic building. I'm not sure how it added to the event or anyone's enjoyment of it. I can see how Color could have some amazing applications, like forensic analysis of an event based on hundreds (if not thousands) of photos taken at and around the moment that something happened. Think of what would be possible if Color had existed and was in heavy use on 11/22/63.

Since most office workers spend the majority of their time behind a computer screen, it makes up for all the contact we lost Pre-Internet.