Reading this response made me think about how much and how little has changed since 2011. At the time, touchscreens were really starting to take over. The iPhone was still kind of shiny and new, and starting to set a trend, and the iPad had just started making its way into homes, schools, and workplaces. It was exciting. And yet, looking back from 2025, it’s almost prophetic how spot-on this rant was about where things might go. We did, in many ways, double down on the flat, glassy rectangles.
What really struck me was how much of this still applies today. In fact, it’s even more relevant now. Since 2011, we’ve added smart speakers, VR headsets, and now AI tools like ChatGPT and image generators like DALL·E. The author says Monet couldn’t have painted by saying “Give me some water lilies,” but with generative AI, that’s suddenly a real thing, and has become increasingly more relevant in debates on human participation; it’s both exciting and a little unsettling. It made me wonder: are we making creativity more accessible, or are we distancing ourselves from the hands-on, exploratory process that gives creative work its depth and meaning?
The rant also touched on something deeper, the idea that our tools shape how we think, learn, and grow. When we limit interaction to just tapping a screen or giving voice commands, we risk becoming passive users instead of active thinkers. Especially now, when so much of daily life is mediated by screens and digital assistants, it’s easy to forget how valuable physical engagement really is. In the end, this wasn’t just a rant about interface design; it was a call to imagine more ambitious, embodied futures for how we use technology. It made me reflect on my own habits and what kind of tech I want to see (and use) going forward.