Keith's story is wonderful on two accounts:
1. A most unusual use of "affordance."
Stupidity is its own affordance?
2. It provides a
n excellent example of Engineering thinking
: very logical.
I have to explain over and over again to engineers that logic is
an artificial way of thinking, invented by philosophers. It
is not how people work: we must accept people as they are, not as we wish
them to be.
A basic rule of design: If an error can be made, assume that it will be
made.
I like to think that a major difference between engineering design and
our kind of design is that we take into account the behavior, desires,
and understanding of people: the phrase human-centered is not just
advertising. It is a very important focus of attention.
Don
On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 10:49 PM, Keith Russell <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> This reminds me a multi million dollar CNC machine that had a left cutting
> head and a right cutting head so the top and bottom profiles of railway
> wheels could be cut at the same time.
> I asked the installing engineer whether the two heads knew about each
> other.
> He replied: why would they need to know that?
> I replied: so no operator can send the left head home via the right head.
> He replied: why would anyone do that?
> A month later, someone on night shift managed to send the heads home via
> each other ripping both of them off.
>
> Stupidity is its own affordance?
>
Don Norman
Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego
[log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/ www.jnd.org <http://www.jnd.org/>
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