Part 1Why are we here?

A story about simplicity

The first printer I bought was a fussy device. Setting it up involved fitting together several parts and going on an extra trip into town because the correct cable wasn’t included. When I returned, I had to read my computer’s manual to check some hardware settings, open up the printer case, and use a paperclip to set some switches. After a few tries I got it right. Then I had to install software onto the computer. The whole process took hours of mistakes, cursing, and painstaking work.

The same could be said of any number of encounters with technology over the years: setting up a mobile phone, plugging a laptop into a boardroom display, or reading the weather forecast on a webpage that takes three ...

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