(2019-12-11) Melcher Inspiring Or Distracting

Matthias Melcher: Inspiring or distracting? Gradually I can tell better which kind of tools for thought do help (me) thinking and which do not. In a previous post I contrasted the ‘sovereign-posture’ app with the ‘clerk’ that Douglas Engelbart envisioned, i.e., the tool that helped augmenting the human intellect. Apps that push themselves into the foreground, seem more patronizing than helpful to me.

One vendor describes this in their video as follows: “[The app] looks over your shoulder and offers to help

for users who know distraction-free software, such offers will even appear as obstruction and patronization.

instead of just going ahead, I am often required to find or create a type (sand mould?) for my stuff. This classification, however, is exactly the paralyzing problem of premature pigeon-holing that prevents to see the gradually emerging connections.