[wpietri]

I really like this post; it's a nice look at at issue that comes up over and over again in designing systems.

One thing that occurs to me is that it relates to what part of a system I identify with. For example, I think very differently about a dictatorship if I imagine myself the benevolent dictator than if I think of myself as a citizen.

I also feel very differently about the different sorts of system depending on what I'm up to. When I'm mainly exploring a problem space, I want powerful tools, but when I'm building something to last, I want something safely constrained. In the former, I place my identity with the lone author, where the power to do the unexpected is vital. In the latter, I identify with those maintaining and debugging a system, where the power to do anything is a giant pain.