This article presents empirically based research on the use of future technology for crisis management. In particular, it sets out to challenge ideas of future technology by contrasting them with examples from current practice with new, high-tech systems in emergency rescue centers and military command and control environments. The following threee dichotomies are singled out: to start with, that between commitment and information storage; secondly, that between silence and transparency; and finally, that between mimetic representation and interpretation of representation. This research points to a contradiction between current system design for crisis management systems and actual work in practice. Generally speaking, it is suggested that the information technology is becoming both a burden and a saver.