Interfaces

Because I’m an engineer, I notice and think about interfaces a lot: touchscreens and buttons and dials and switches for all sorts of devices and gadgets. Designing the interface correctly counts for a lot with a product, because it’s the thing that the user touches, sees, hears. It’s where the rubber meets the road. (OK, bad metaphor… It’s actually where the hands grab the steering wheel. The tires and the road are handled by a different department.)

Anyway, when we put down our phones and get out of the car and walk out into the natural world there cease to be interfaces as we usually think of them. It’s not like trees are designed so we can climb them or lakes so we can swim in them. The idea of an interface, no matter how well a stick or a rock fits in our hand, becomes substantially less relevant.

Until you consider your body. Your body is the thing you use to interact with the world—the only thing you have to interact with the world, I might add. It is your world-interface, and it is the best one you will ever own. Your body is the gateway to all of the sights, sounds, textures, tastes and smells of the Earth.

The best technological experiences can feel magical for our eyes and fingertips, but it’s only because our eyes and fingertips are astonishing in their capabilities to begin with.