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A Thinking Person, a.k.a. Cogit8R
Personal blog · athinkingperson.comwritingphilosophy
A Thinking Person, a.k.a. Cogit8R is a personal blog at athinkingperson.com about writing and philosophy. Since 2012, 4 different Hacker News readers have linked it 4 times. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for posts on design history, such as the big green button on copiers, and on how measurement-driven priorities shape arts and education. Commenters cite it as a source.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Ask questions. Challenge assumptions. Think about things.
Most-linked posts?
- /2010/06/02/where-the-big-green-copier-button-came-from/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-10-30
What Hacker News says?
> People who can barely read and are scared by anything advanced will get the interface they can use best the first time they open the app It's certainly possible they can't read. But more likely they're perfectly intelligent and simply don't appreciate being forced to deal with unnecessary complexity to complete a simple task. (Someone else's comment reminded me of the CHI video of Allen Newell and Ron Kaplan, two…
Comment linking /2010/06/02/where-the-big-green-copier-button-came-from/
on “Free software scares normal people”Submitted Where the Big Green Copier Button Came From as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe better example for this design principle is the big green button on copy machines. The copier has many functions, but 99% of users don't bother with 99% of them. For a little history on this design, see https://athinkingperson.com/2010/06/02/where-the-big-green-c...
Comment linking /2010/06/02/where-the-big-green-copier-button-came-from/
on “Free software scares normal people”I think it all comes down to "what gets measured gets managed" of unknown origins[1] where if we have English and Math tests for middle and high school, we in turn value it more. Particularly during budget discussions. The opposite is true in university, though once you specialize, it's easy to see the other specializations as "not as useful" as your own, an entirely different bias perhaps. [1] http://athinkingperso…
Comment linking /2012/12/02/who-said-what-gets-measured-gets-managed/
on “Is De-Skilling Killing Arts Education?”