Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas
What does Hans Zimmer throwing a piano down a flight of stairs have to do with design?
I've been reflecting on Claude/AI's basic function of "regression to the mean" and what that means for product design today. Two thoughts right now.
1. A lot of times I see this stated as a negative, but regression to the mean isn't always bad.
If I'm driving, I sure as heck want other drivers to "regress to the mean" and drive in their lane like everybody else. If I'm listening to music, I sure want the musicians to have their instruments in tune with each other. And in design, Jakob's Law says users expect consistency across their web/app experiences.
If Claude comes up with something that is a "regression to the mean" but is perfectly suitable for what needs to be done and also lines up with your intentional, trained, judgement-informed vision for the interface, that's great! Roll with it. Regression to the mean can be the right thing in many cases, so leverage this.
2. Instead, focus your attention on areas outside the mean.
Hans Zimmer threw a piano down a flight of stairs for his score for Sherlock Holmes, and the off-key, out-of-tune result provided real character to the soundtrack that there wouldn't be otherwise.
Because Claude/AI regresses to the mean, it results in safe decisions. Nice borders, nice radii, nice icons.
You (as the designer) need to let it regress to the mean in certain areas where you (as the designer) knows that's the right thing, and focus your attention on the areas where moving outside the mean will make the product so much stronger.
This means focusing on honing judgment, crafting unique character, fine-tuning micro interactions, maybe adjusting the border Claude suggested (but not the radii) or iterating your design.md file, bringing in amazing gradients, delightful illustrations, custom animations, unexpected design decisions that were difficult to pull off before AI, focusing on more user testing, and so forth . . . things that aren't the mean and that bring character, delight, and craft to the work.
This is why Jason and I have worked so well together for 25 years. Independently of each other, we both responded to a listener suggestion for a more WOW FACE YouTube thumbnail for the REWORK podcast. Hit sent at the same minute 😄
"The emperor did not need a statue in Rome. Everyone there already knew who he was. The statues went where the empire was thinnest. Where a subject might go a week without thinking about who ruled them. The further from the capital, the more the monuments mattered."
https://t.co/CZHmQjmthp
@finalcut83@LookAtMyMeat1 Absolutely bonehead take here. Would you like the same thing said about you?
I was circumcised as a baby. Would do anything to have it undone.
"I have probably watched Jurassic Park twenty times. It took me an embarrassingly long number of those viewings to realize the film is not really about dinosaurs. It is about what happens after you build the miracle. Three things go wrong on that island, and I have done all three of them."
https://t.co/7bdyHD4csl
Hot minute since I've had a pipe session with a confidant. Before - it was with my father-in-law. He passed in 2017. Legend of a man. Hell of a rock in my life, I still think about him a lot.
I didn't realize how much I missed those times until I did this again last night with another friend, confidant, and fellow WISP operator.
This bowl of tobacco was smoked for you, Derek. Keep Heaven company until I get there buddy. I miss you. Thank you for all you did in raising my wife. And thanks for listening to my younger and dumber self.
❤
@EGubbinsAnalyst@mikeddano@fortsol@AirspanNetworks I’m aware of (at least) 11 other operators in the same boat.
Planning to blow my AirHarmony radios up on Facebook Live since I can’t find a more useful purpose for them.
Why would anyone willing deploy an Airspan radio of any variety in 2026?
The Airspan AirHarmony was an absolute disaster for my business. Everything required a complete rip-and-replace as my customers were having a nightmare broadband experience.
In my opinion - unless they’ve fired the entire executive team - nobody should be deploying Airspan if they want their customers to actually like them.