On Wed, 26 Sep 2001 Fleeberz at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 2001-09-26 7:15:47 PM, gafisher at sprynet.com writes:
> 
> >The implication that there was something bad in the interface
> >because it was intuitive after second or third attempt strikes
> >me as the comment of someone who doesn't want to take chances,
> >but taking chances is the foundation of most learning.
> 
> As is often said, the only intuitive interface is the nipple; everything else 
> is learned.
[snip]

And when one says it, one is saying something that is (likely) false, or
at least misleading, about the nipple.

Many babies need some assistence and guidence with latching on. They have
reflexes, of course, and there's an amazing feedback loop.

But, for some understanding of "learned" there's some sort of
"learned" behavior there.

"Intuitive" doesn't mean "unacquired" or "obvious". Hell,
"obvious" doesn't mean "obvious" (for some sense of obvious). After all,
we *miss* obvious stuff *all the time*.

Logic joke: A logic prof was working through a proof for a class and at
one point she said, "...and the steps between here and here are
obvious...". A student asked, "Are they really so obvious?" The professor
looked at the board. And looked at the board. Then, startling the class,
she smacked her had to her forhead and walked out the door.

45 minutes later she rushed back in and said, "Yes, it's obvious!"

Cheers,
Bijan Parsia.