Fault Is Not In The Technology, But In Ourselves

from the Zen-Computer dept

It seems like every so often, a columnist has to write about technology and spits out a 'top ten' list. Probably one of the most overdone topics for technology articles has to be a list of the 'top ten things people dislike about computers/software/etc' which can usually be reduced to the statement: it's frustrating when technology doesn't work the way people want it to. But apparently people are more forgiving to apologetic computers, so without changing what computers actual do, simply re-wording error messages might ameliorate the situation. However, the problem still exists, and the issue is that humans are the ones who build and design these systems, disregard owner's manuals, and write cryptic manuals in the first place. So before computers start designing other computers, just pretend your laptop apologized to you, read the manuals, and make up top ten lists to vent your frustrations.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    dorpus, 23 Sep 2004 @ 8:06pm

    Ethics Training

    Computers are growing up in more than one sense, and it includes the adolescent attitudes towards ethics prevalent in the profession.

    I'm taking a really exciting (not!) online ethics course right now for medical research, and it is a vast ocean of knowledge, like becoming a unix administrator.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.