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AI & Digital Life · 45 sec

QR code

A useful mental model for the technology shaping daily life.

  1. The useful idea

    A QR code, short for quick-response code, is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara of the Japanese company Denso Wave for labelling automobile parts.

  2. How it works

    It features white and black squares within a square grid featuring fiducial markers on the corners, readable by imaging devices like cameras, and processed using Reed–Solomon error correction until the

  3. Why it matters

    image can be appropriately interpreted.

Use QR code as a lens when judging what a digital tool can — and cannot — do.

Use QR code as a lens when judging what a digital tool can — and cannot — do.

Test your recall

Which idea belongs to the explanation of QR code?

  • Why it matters
  • How it works
  • The useful idea — correct

A QR code, short for quick-response code, is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara of the Japanese company Denso Wave for labelling automobile parts.

EvergreenLast verified 2026-07-19

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