The thing to understand about the Media Lab is that it produces research, not products (although, the line is blurry, I give you that, and some groups at the Me

The thing to understand about the Media Lab is that it produces research, not products (although, the line is blurry, I give you that, and some groups at the Media Lab have spun off separate companies.) People at the Media Lab are working on figuring out what is possible, not necessarily what is useful. By inventing or exploring new techniques, it's possible for others to apply those techniques to "real" problems. I recognize that this is an opinion and I don't have any proof, but I've spent some time in/around the media lab and I just thought I'd share my impression of the place.