Nothing Is Ever Obvious

By Leo Gura - May 20, 2017

“Below is a video made in a user-testing lab in rural Pakistan, featuring a man in his 20s. He has used a feature phone but never a smartphone. He’s given a simple-sounding task: Go to Google and search for the the name of your favorite actress. Watch the video. Watch it all.”

This is much more than just a case study for web and UI designers. This bespeaks a profound epistemic issue: nothing about reality is ever obvious! Nothing!

• Nothing in design
• Nothing in science
• Nothing in mathematics
• Nothing in technology
• Nothing in art
• Nothing in logic
• Nothing in the humanities
• Nothing in metaphysics
• Nothing in epistemology
• Nothing in philosophy
• Nothing in religion
• Nothing in social systems
• Nothing in language
• Nothing in culture or social custom
• Nothing in life

Anything you assume to be self-evident or obvious about reality was acquired. You had to learn it. Often through great struggle and confusion. Even something as simple as 1+1=2 had to be indoctrinated into you. At some point in your life it wasn’t obvious at all. It made no sense why reality ought to be characterized in that particular yet arbitrary way.

Hell, the fact of existence itself was non-obvious to you at one point. Can you recall?

All manner of delusion is possible when this point isn’t fully appreciated. And it’s really hard to appreciate the full depth of this point. Which is why we have so much delusion.

Credit: Smashing Magazine

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