MacUser: If you could change one thing, what would it be? Jef Raskin: To not have people assume you can rank every-thing one dimensionally. Or have everybody realise that killing people is not a way to solve problems.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Raskin criticizes the tendency to simplify complex human issues into single metrics or rankings. He also highlights the absurdity of using violence as a problem-solving method.
- In plain terms
- Avoid reducing complex things to simple rankings and do not use violence to solve problems.
- What can you take from it?
- Resist oversimplification and violence in decision making.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you rank things without oversimplifying?
- When is violence ever a valid solution?
Another view
Some contexts require simplification to make decisions actionable.
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