“Discovery” on the internet

The problem with what’s deemed “discovery” in software and internet design is that it rarely requires any effort or commitment from the ‘discoverer’, the individual supposedly discovering something new to them. The user is passive. It’s not even like noticing a leaf floating down stream. No more could you ‘discover’ a drop of water as you stand in the overwhelming outpouring of a fire hydrant.

In order for an epiphany to merit novel connections in the brain, it needs to feel as if you were meant to meet with that particular thing and at that moment. So it must feel new, it must be timely, and it can’t feel ‘expected’ even though you likely brand it later with the notion of inevitability. It must feel truly personal, not persona-ed by your big data categorization. Sure “people like this do things like this” generally, but the ones you didn’t see coming, that are wild and even out-of-character but still resonate with something in you, something outside the reach of your marketing archetype, those are the ones that stay with you. Algorithms are not surprising, not anymore. They’re the norm and therefore they are expected. Delight comes from defying expectations, delivering the experience you didn’t even know you wanted (like Steve jobs introduction of the iPod).

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