Kill the "user": Musings of a disillusioned technologist

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Respect, coercion, and ad-driven design

  • Commenters highlight four questions (respect, mental health, lifestyle fit, non‑coercion) as a powerful lens; most modern consumer software fares poorly.
  • Strong sentiment that users are often not the real customers; software is optimized for advertisers or internal KPIs.
  • Advertising is debated: some call it “root of the rot”; others say it’s necessary but has become adversarial.
  • Distinction is made between informative vs persuasive ads; proposals include segregated “yellow pages”-style spaces, bans on certain ads, and tighter regulation of digital tracking.

CLI as refuge and its limits

  • Several people gravitate to CLI tools as “respectful”: no sign‑in, composable, long‑lived, less manipulation.
  • Others argue this is only because CLIs filter for literate, skeptical users; once mass‑marketed, CLIs would also accumulate telemetry, dark patterns, and bloat.

From HCI to UX to “late capitalism”

  • Many see a shift from “interfaces as tools” (HCI, platform HIGs) to “user experience” as a vehicle for branding, engagement, and sales.
  • Critiques: persona decks and landing pages replace understanding feedback, consistency, and workflows across apps.
  • Several tie this to “late capitalism”: infinite growth, MBAs, VC incentives, and engagement metrics overpowering user welfare.

Old vs new software layers

  • Photoshop, macOS, Windows, Word are cited as “tree rings”: a solid, user‑centric core layered with subscriptions, sign‑ins, web‑views, telemetry, and in‑product ads.
  • Some nostalgia for pre‑subscription eras; others note that old software also had UX warts and inconsistent dialogs.
  • The web is blamed both for normalizing bloated, ad‑centric UIs and for destroying the market for paid, native “real software.”

Lock‑down, ownership, and bifurcation

  • Strong worry that “personal computing” is being replaced by locked‑down ecosystems (app stores, mandatory signing, integrity checks).
  • Android is cited as an early example (payments/features disabled on unlocked devices).
  • Some predict a split: secure, entertainment‑capable consumer devices vs separate, more open “developer machines.”
  • Linux is viewed as a fragile but crucial refuge, yet criticized for unstable, fragmented desktop UX.

AI, agency, and the future UX

  • Some hope AI will disrupt incumbent big tech and act as a translator between human intent and machine operations (“augmented” or “calm” computing).
  • Others fear further loss of human agency: automation and AI may deepen dependency and shallow engagement.
  • A speculative vision emerges: humans interact mainly with AI agents; the web becomes a backend of APIs, with “adversarial prompt engineering” as the new dark pattern.

Open questions

  • How to actually enable non‑experts to create “folk” or personal software remains unclear.
  • Renaming “user” is seen as insufficient; commenters argue misaligned economic incentives must change.