From: Joi Ito Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2013 7:02 PM To: Kevin Slavin; Reid Hoffman; Joshua Ramo; Epstein Jeffrey Subject: designing around little minds Attachments: signature.asc I posted some thoughts on UI and our minds. It's not the network of =inds that Jeffrey's interested in, but this is one element of the =eception and brain stuff that I'm interested in. Thanks for the edits =evin. =ttp://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130929185906-1391-designing-a=ound-little-minds Designing around little minds In designing user interfaces, we aim to empower the "user" to =nderstand and control the system at hand. Output via screens and =peakers, with input from a keyboard, a touch screen or gestures. =etween them, the "user" is understood to be our conscious "mind" =96 the logical bit of our brain that thinks it's in charge. This "mind" is actually not nearly as "in charge" as it thinks =t is. In fact, our larger and often much more wise mind — the =motional, sub-conscious, parallel-processing, pattern recognizing part =f our nervous system even manipulates and deceives our conscious mind. =rticulated long ago as Dual Process Theory, Kahneman formalizes them as =ystem 1 (this vast, quick and automatic aspect of thinking) and System = (the small "conscious" mind that logically considers and judges). = There is a basic fitness function to having our conscious mind feel =onfident, whether fighting, mating, or even making the small decisions =hat people make to get through a day. But the confidence we are =uilding is with the small and logical part of our minds, deceiving =urselves that things are ok when another part of ourselves might know =therwise. This is articulated in an experiment described by Trivers in which =ubjects are asked to listen to a series of voices, some of which are =heir own. Depending on the confidence of the subjects, some tended to =ttribute their voice to others ... or conversely, mistake other voices =s their own.