Friday Fries : In between ZERO and ONE
We humans gifted ourselves a whole new ecosystem of ‘being binary’ with the advent of digitization. Primarily to simplify the task of computing, we deliberately kept aside all possibilities that can probably occur between “yes” and “no”. Between ‘true’ and ‘false’. Between ‘zero’ and ‘one’.
Nature, on the other hand, has always kept itself far from being absolute. Perception of natural phenomenon is very relative, very metaphorical. Nature can only be perceived.
Everybody perceives nature in his or her own way. This perception depends on their respective intellectual state, immediate environment, events that they are exposed to. Perception thus is influenced by ones intellectual exposure.
My father and me are both late risers and we prefer working late into the night. When I was in academics, on most occasions, I remember going to sleep only after sunrise. It was fun in a way. Thus I always associate rather perceive early mornings as calm times when the weather is cold for a nice nap. On the contrary, my mom is someone who always prefers waking up early. She associates sunrise with the enthusiastic chirruping of birds calling for a fresh start to a new day with her long cup of Darjeeling tea. See how in the same family, we relate to a same natural phenomenon so differently.
Thus in nature nothing is absolute. It is relative. It magnificently varies from person to person, intellect to intellect.
However our digital ecosystem stands on the concept of two states, yes or no. We have stitched together this mammoth phenomenon with the essential validations through “if “condition is true“ then follow instruction “for true” else follow instruction “not true”.
The more the conditions, the more the states between true and false. The more is the inclusivity of any system. Being inclusive, being accommodative, which is an essential human ideology.
This is what we interaction designers essentially do. We work to create more possibilities between yes and no to be considerate towards more situations. To enhance the spectrum of offerings.
Earlier when we posed our digital systems with any query, they answered in terms of “Not Possible” or “Possible”. Now through user centric design we are trying to bring in a natural element, a human touch in our systems. We experience creators are burning the midnight oil, figuring out a what all options can be provided to a user other coming up with a verdict.
The bed side alarm patterns ascends with a gentle vibration to a soothing tone in between “not ringing” and “ringing”. The e-commerse stores suggests you a whole lot of alternatives if your desired product is unavailable. The online banks offer you a series of customised options other than just saying your loan request is approved or declined. Your bedside lamp now offers a billion hues and intensities other than just being “Off” or “On”.
That’s what I think is the cornerstone of humanizing digital systems.
Cheers! Have a nice weekend!
