Counterintuitive Facts (50): There's No Easy Life. Someone Is Just Carrying the Weight for You
PremiumLaw of Conservation of Complexity: Trouble doesn't disappear. Trouble only transfers
I. You think iPhones are simple? Only one button (or no buttons now). You think WeChat is simple? Even elderly can use it. You think ordering takeout is simple? Press once and food arrives. You think the world got simpler. You're wrong.
II. The world hasn't gotten simpler at all. Tesler's Law (Law of Conservation of Complexity) tells us: Any system's total complexity has an irreducible minimum. The "simplicity" you see is only because designers, engineers, people working in this system, have absorbed all the "complexity" that should have been yours to handle.
III. Larry Tesler discovered while working at Xerox PARC: No matter how you optimize the interface, some complexity cannot be eliminated. Complexity doesn't disappear. Complexity only transfers.
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