Fire and Ice

Most of the software on the market today was created by machines for machines—not for human beings. If we're to get human-centered software, we need a total revolution in software design. We need to overthrow the absolutistic, hierarchical, mechanistic, abstract and a-temporal software of the current marketplace.

Battling for the soul of software designers today are two incompatible philosophies. One philosophy, which dominates today's industry, is absolutistic, hierarchical, mechanistic, a-temporal, abstract, atomistic, and centered on machines. The other philosophy is de-centralized, non-hierarchic, non-mechanical, temporal, concrete, organic, and human-centered. Which one will produce the software for your children and grandchildren?