One definition of Gnosticism is “The doctrine of salvation by knowledge”. The Gnostics however only reserve their salvation for the special few who are privileged not only to view this special knowledge, but also to understand, practice and implement it. Why then has the computer industry always been a thoroughly Gnostic church?
It has always been easy to draw comparisons between computing and religion. The divisions between PC users and Mac devotees can be as passionate and fundamental as those between Hindus and Sikhs and the internecine warfare amongst PC users as they fight for the merits of Microsoft versus Linux, or Outlook over Lotus Notes, can rival anything as bloody and violent as the Christian reformation had to offer. As with most religious doctrinal arguments however; the real loser in these disputes is always the poor; the masses in the pews, or in IT’s case the humble user.
The computer industry has always adopted the attitude that; “In order to be a user you must learn, understand and then implement our special knowledge”. Users, in the religion of the IT it seems, must always conform to the strictures of the rules and doctrines of their chosen Operating Systems (OS) or application. The OS and the applications that run on them always seem to be written by the expert, aimed solely at the cognoscenti, with the average “user in the street” being forced to keep up. Why is it never the other way around?
The industry would argue that as the systems become more and more complex and sophisticated, the interfaces and controls provided to use them must also grow more complex and sophisticated too. This has not been the case, however, in two of the most user intensive industries on the planet, both of which have a “User Base” far in excess of those using computers.
Our global telephone network is, without argument, the largest and most pervasive IT system on the planet. The complexity of the system and the increasing amount of sophisticated services it offers to the individuals that use it are obvious to all; however the user interface could not be simpler. Pick up the receiver, check for a dial tone, enter an 11 digit number and; “Hey Presto” you are connected. You don’t need to know anything about how the underlying system works; all you need is the ability to push a button.
Automobiles too are today hugely complex and sophisticated systems compared with the Ford “Tin Lizzy” of yesteryear. However, actually operating the modern car is a much easier task than it was even ten or fifteen years ago. You just turn the key, put it in “Drive”, and off you go. The traction control, the ABS and the Engine Management Systems, not present on the cars of yesterday, all play their part but without forcing the user to take on a whole bunch of new skills to implement them.
Not only has the computer industry forced people to adopt an ever more complicated user interface, where getting the user up to speed has failed, it has replaced education with a network of “Expert Priests” or (forgive the expletive) “Consultants”. Just as with the heresy of Gnosticism the masses are increasingly excluded from access to the most sacred mysteries, or the salvation of actually being able to use the stuff, by the complexities of “specialist knowledge”. Users don’t want to have to learn new techniques just to use a computer, access the internet or program their VCR.
I think that it worth pointing out that for many potential IT users even using a mouse (and the complexities of understanding the difference between an icon and a shortcut; not to mention mastering the double click) is considered the learning of a new technique too far. This resistance is not Ludditeism. The mass of ordinary folk want to be part of the broad IT church, they just feel excluded from it by an unfamiliar and unfriendly user interface.
From within the security of the IT industry it is safe to imagine that we are in the majority, or if we aren’t now we will be when the “saved” are counted. Surely everyone knows how to use a mouse? The majority are familiar with a QWERTY keyboard? Everyone knows the way files are saved in folders and folders are stored within each other? The truth is, however, that there are many more people out in the real world for whom those things which we take for granted, are mysteries as deep and impenetrable as Transubstantiation, the Immaculate Conception, String Theory or Schrödinger’s cat.
In the 17th century society forced some elemental changes on the European Christian church, forcing them to remove some of the more obvious barriers, like Latin texts, altar rails, and the strictures that only “professional priests” could administer the sacraments. All this meant that the church was forced to change its user interface from one of sacred mysteries and specialist knowledge, to one the ordinary people could understand. More fundamentally, to achieve these changes, people were forced to challenge the very way people think. Doctrines and things which had for hundreds of years had been taken as “gospel truths” had to be examined and, in some cases overturned.
These reforms (hence the period being called The Reformation) lead to an explosion in exploration, art, science, politics and social changes, which we called The Renaissance, which in turn has given us many of the benefits of the open society we enjoy today. Surely it is high time for the designers of the user interfaces, application controls, and so called “help manuals” that increasingly make up the everyday fabric of our modern world, to be shaken by some Martin Luther or John Calvin from their cosy positions as the dispensers of “special knowledge” to a point where they stop producing arcane mysticism and give us something that ordinary people can understand and use.
Users today want access to IT for all. They want access to the Internet, the use of email, digital cameras, printers, scanners, PC's and all the rest, to be as easy as making a phone call or driving to the grocery store. Let the brothers and sisters of the broad church of IT rise up and demand a new and better way, let us cry out for prophets and programmers who can give us salvation through technology solutions that are as simple to use as the box they came in.
