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dmwallin | 4 years ago

There's a difference between the way our minds work and the way reality works. In reality a physical object can only exist in one place which naturally leads to hierarchal organization being the dominant paradigm. On the other hand our minds operate associatively.

When we started to build out computer systems we based the UX on metaphors of real-life tool equivalents. I would posture though that as we become more of a computing-literate society and as computing moves closer to becoming an extension of our minds as opposed to an extension of reality, the dominant paradigm will shift towards associate models of organization.

discuss

order

howaboutnope|4 years ago

> On the other hand our minds operate associatively.

The mind doesn't just "work" one way or another (certainly in no way that can be boiled down to a single adjective) and does everything it does that one way.

And hey, that we consider a thing a physical object distinct from its environment is a distinction we made with our minds, rather than the other way around, and that I have folders like "docs/images/photos/people/$city/$person" or "docs/images/created/cheatsheets" is also not because I'm used to that it being that way in real life.

The whole point of a taxonomy is for things to belong somewhere in it, roughly or neatly. You don't have to remember the place, you just have to be the same person with the same heuristics. That enables a very fast binary tree search, so to speak, both when looking for a thing and when looking for a place to put it.

That's a positive, not a limitation or baggage from the physical world, that makes it so great and quick. That's why we used them since forever, including for purely platonic ideas even that have no resemblance to physical reality, and way before computers.

And are we really becoming that much more computer literate, or are machines that can read the books for us becoming more widespread? There is a difference between proposing a better way to store and find things, and proposing someone else do it for us (until they don't).

> When we started to build out computer systems we based the UX on metaphors of real-life tool equivalents.

They started out as tools that were sold and learned and used, now they're turning more and more into a foot in the door for companies to capture consumers however they can.

https://theconversation.com/the-internet-of-things-is-sendin...

Taking care of one's own documents and personal affects is part of what makes a person an adult, and if these documents and media get moved into the digital realm, where vast amounts of them can be ordered and re-ordered within seconds, that is all the more reason to think about what they are and how to order them. If that's hard, then that's even more reason to not put it off.

How do you tell the difference between a.) the company gets to be the middleman not being good enough to find what you are searching for, b.) that company censoring you, or c.) you having misremembered that thing existing?

rrrrrrrrrrrryan|4 years ago

You've eloquently expressed something I've been feeling for a long time, but couldn't put into words myself. Bookmarks and file systems are frustrating ways to organize digital thingies.