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Optimizing for Feelings

browsercompany.substack.com

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Re: Optimizing for Feelings

#41

Post by leaflets2 »

blooalien wrote: post #39
blueflow wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Emotions are guidance, not binding. If you are not able to manage them on your own (an important aspect of adulthood), they will get into your way at some point in life. Yes, they are real, but acting on your emotions unconditionally is dangerous when you are in a position of responsibility or power.

I was raised to believe that emotions / "feelings" were something that happens to you (being human and all that) due to chemicals in your brain and body, and you cannot entirely control that aspect of things, but that your actions are indeed a thing you do have control over, and that falls entirely upon each individual human to control for themselves, despite any other factors such as emotion. While you may not easil…

> your actions are indeed a thing you do have control over,

And one's thoughts, which also affect the feelings

Meditation = a bit practicing being in control over one's thoughts?

Re: Optimizing for Feelings

#42

Post by civilized »

I really like this but it's slightly different from how I think. I don't think "quirky" and "unique" are all that essential. We don't fall in love with the tilt of the ceiling fan in the restaurant, we fall in love with something else, and all the quirky details get a halo from that. The halo is so powerful that bland can become its own kind of beautiful, as the Costco cult demonstrates. Browsers like Chrome and Firefox are nothing but a collage of different shades of gray rectangles and we love them.

I think what really matters is simple and almost tautologically obvious. Just... make your product really good at what it's supposed to be for.

Facebook sucks because it's a social network that isn't designed for people to be social. Chrome was great when it was introduced because it was an internet browser that made browsing the internet extremely fast, easy, and organized (tabs!).

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