Thank you for your thoughtful post. I hope you are feeling well. I wish you the best with your book edits and other projects. I hope you have fun with it all and find occasion to dance.
Your discussion of systems and confusion brought to mind Neal Stephenson's ideas about interfaces and metaphors in "In the beginning was the command line" [1] and Plato's allegory of the cave in "The republic" [2].
You speculate whether systems are confusing by design, and whether sometimes they have to mislead users. I wonder whether misleading arises (in (large) part) from communication shortcuts, made by the system designers and maintainers, by the system users (participants), or by both. By the system designers and maintainers, who don't have the time---or feel they don't have the time, or would rather not take the time---to explain all the details and intricacies of a complicated system to every layperson who asks (or doesn't ask); or who don't fully understand all the details and intricacies themselves, whether they admit it openly or try to hide it. (Who will respect or trust an "expert" who says, "I don't know"? I don't know...) By the system users, who don't have the time---or feel they don't have the time, or would rather not take the time---to build understanding from first principles to complicated system (impossible to do, for all systems), and so settle for analogy or metaphor, which offers a more-immediately accessible, intelligible worldview that works, until it doesn't. (At which point, they are confronted with a choice between rejecting the challenging facts, or rebuilding their worldview, among other responses.)
If this is true, then we are led to the title of your post: Whether systems are confusing by design, whether they have to mislead users, because time is scarce and precious, each of us must accept a level of understanding that makes some systems in which we participate confusing and misleading.
And maybe, sometimes, that's OK. Though I wish for a meta-system in which system participants could trust system designers and maintainers. If men were angels... [3]
Reading Kyla usually requires a mixture of helium and oxygen because I know I am venturing into a very deep dive of thought and I wish the mixture were sufficient to sustain my critical blood gas balance but it never is because Kyla almost always exceeds my depth limits! And, such a beautiful little phrase: “Jealousy is admiration turned sour” has been stuck in my head. Every negative feeling really is a positive one rotting. You are one very deep soul!
Of all the great quotes and ideas here, my favorites were these:
"I was able to see my family for the first time in several months on Mother’s Day, and it was again, a reminder that we operate under the theory of assumed static.
Overall, there is a world of last times that I try not to spend too much time in, but the idea of ends still haunt me."
I work in UX/Design and my philosophy is very much the Vonnegut "fart around" mindset, but losing out on chances, opportunities that only come during certain seasons of life haunts me as well.
Sorry to hear about your voice/family/bike/past month in general.
Thank you for your excellent writing and I'm eagerly waiting for your book!
You and Lex Fridman would have the conversation of the century!
Thanks for sharing as always, excited to hear more about your book.
thank you for referencing Vonnegut! "Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail." - Jailbird (1979)
I love this - especially Kurt's reflections on dancing around.
I feel tempted to share the newest emotional category I learned about (via Schmachtenberger)
The word “compersion” refers to a form of joy in the joy of others.
Peace is not in the world. Peace is in the person that walks the peaceful path.
(To put a sharper point on it- The world can be an outrage machine.)
Great post Kyla!
Thank you for your thoughtful post. I hope you are feeling well. I wish you the best with your book edits and other projects. I hope you have fun with it all and find occasion to dance.
Your discussion of systems and confusion brought to mind Neal Stephenson's ideas about interfaces and metaphors in "In the beginning was the command line" [1] and Plato's allegory of the cave in "The republic" [2].
You speculate whether systems are confusing by design, and whether sometimes they have to mislead users. I wonder whether misleading arises (in (large) part) from communication shortcuts, made by the system designers and maintainers, by the system users (participants), or by both. By the system designers and maintainers, who don't have the time---or feel they don't have the time, or would rather not take the time---to explain all the details and intricacies of a complicated system to every layperson who asks (or doesn't ask); or who don't fully understand all the details and intricacies themselves, whether they admit it openly or try to hide it. (Who will respect or trust an "expert" who says, "I don't know"? I don't know...) By the system users, who don't have the time---or feel they don't have the time, or would rather not take the time---to build understanding from first principles to complicated system (impossible to do, for all systems), and so settle for analogy or metaphor, which offers a more-immediately accessible, intelligible worldview that works, until it doesn't. (At which point, they are confronted with a choice between rejecting the challenging facts, or rebuilding their worldview, among other responses.)
If this is true, then we are led to the title of your post: Whether systems are confusing by design, whether they have to mislead users, because time is scarce and precious, each of us must accept a level of understanding that makes some systems in which we participate confusing and misleading.
And maybe, sometimes, that's OK. Though I wish for a meta-system in which system participants could trust system designers and maintainers. If men were angels... [3]
Thank you for being here.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20180218045352/http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html
[2] https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1497/pg1497-images.html#link2H_4_0010
[3] https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/text-51-60
Reading Kyla usually requires a mixture of helium and oxygen because I know I am venturing into a very deep dive of thought and I wish the mixture were sufficient to sustain my critical blood gas balance but it never is because Kyla almost always exceeds my depth limits! And, such a beautiful little phrase: “Jealousy is admiration turned sour” has been stuck in my head. Every negative feeling really is a positive one rotting. You are one very deep soul!
Of all the great quotes and ideas here, my favorites were these:
"I was able to see my family for the first time in several months on Mother’s Day, and it was again, a reminder that we operate under the theory of assumed static.
Overall, there is a world of last times that I try not to spend too much time in, but the idea of ends still haunt me."
I work in UX/Design and my philosophy is very much the Vonnegut "fart around" mindset, but losing out on chances, opportunities that only come during certain seasons of life haunts me as well.
Sorry to hear about your voice/family/bike/past month in general.
Thank you for your excellent writing and I'm eagerly waiting for your book!
To learn to love well is the hardest thing of all, it is much easier to love effortlessly.
Look at me, I'm dancing on light!
> timelines, if only it were all more malleable
Is that a The Flash reference?
A felicitous allegory at its finest. I really enjoyed this. Thank you!