Post #1673983

2026-04-24 14:57 UTC

As soon as you defend a product with &quot;it isn&#39;t useless&quot; you&#39;re doing the thing the maker wants you to do. NOTHING is useless. It&#39;s the lowest bar for anything that exists, including a rock. What you&#39;re looking for is &quot;it is the best thing that exists for this concrete purpose&quot; then we can talk.

Replies (6)

@fasterandworse@hci.social 2026-04-24 15:09

"Potential" is the fastest growing product category in tech. This is what happens when design is reduced to being a treatment applied for improving adoption.

Open ##2330111
@davey_cakes@mastodon.ie 2026-04-24 15:08

@fasterandworse@hci.social the Juicero MADE JUICE

Open ##2330112
@wizardponderingorb@mastodon.world 2026-04-24 15:28

@fasterandworse@hci.social There's garbage I use to compost. Garbage is therefor not "useless." So a similar product is comparable to garbage.

Open ##2330114
@willegible@mastodon.ie 2026-04-24 15:29

@fasterandworse@hci.social These days I think I think I would settle for 'is it more useful than a rock?'

Open ##2330118
@larsmb@mastodon.online 2026-04-25 10:29

@fasterandworse@hci.social That's true. But the argument often is to, for pretty much the same reasoning, not attack them for having no utility. Because that opens up an avenue for immediate dismissal. (And, alas, for some areas that we previously dismissed or underserved, the tech in question *is* the best current approach available. I don't like that either, because it shouldn't be true. And possibly it shouldn't be used regardless. But that speaks from a position of privilege as well.)

Open ##2330119
@msbellows@c.im 2026-04-25 14:38

@fasterandworse@hci.social Betamax enters the chat.

Open ##2330134