The Perils of Simplicity

March 31, 2009

Michael Osinski’s software helped create the morgage-backed securities that have undermined our banking system. He reflects on the easy manipulation of systems we don’t wholly understand:

The power we all hold in our hands is shocking, yet it’s controlled by a few swipes of a finger. The drive to simplify the user’s contact with the machine has an inherent side effect of disguising the complexity of a given task. Over time, the users of any software are inured to the intricate nature of what they are doing. Also, as the software does more of the “thinking,” the user does less.

How do we reconcile this “shocking” power with the simplicity enabled by modern software? As more and more human systems submit to control by software, how do we avoid rendering what’s supposed to be too difficult or too dangerous all too doable?

Osinski’s story is worth reading.