Magical Products With God-Complex
2024 Jan 18
See all posts
In content below; I think = current thinking and subject to change people
== most people
For a while now, I have consistently caught myself lost in the thought of
what the phrase, 'works like magic‘ actually means. Partially because
I am working on a high-potential product (Zyde) and I want it to be the
best it can be. And, of course, people use the phrase a lot, so I got
curious to know what it means. I never got a grip on it. Everyone slaps
the phrase on any new product feature, even if it doesn't give off the
‘magic’ feel. Or is it that any product that works == ‘works like magic’?
Well, here’s what I think:
How I came by what I think
A week ago, the introverted me randomly decided to go out for once on
Christmas Eve—just random walks, nothing much. I watched a couple of
YouTube videos that I'd downloaded and started the stroll.
Cold weather, tucked-in shirt, and me. After a couple of turns through an
almost empty street (as everyone was inside celebrating Christmas), I came
upon a crowd so focused on something in the centre == origin (if you
will). Whatever that thing was seemed to have piqued their interests on an
unimaginable level. So, you guessed it. I took an extra couple of steps to
find out.
I peeked over and saw a magician performing what seemed to be magic. Not a
big fan of magic. But I must say, the magic really caught my attention. I
stood there for close to an hour with the crowd. Thirty minutes in, it
occurred to me — My logical/rational self knew 100% that it was a trick
and nothing ‘supernatural’. After asking around, to my surprise (jokes on
me), most of the crowd also knew it wasn’t supernatural. But they
just allowed the novelty to be. It felt like we all allowed ourselves a
moment. Just enjoy, don’t think. Just enjoy. Just a moment of not
overthinking. It turned out to be one of the most amazing moments of my
entire 2023. It was truly surreal with all the adrenaline rush. I got home
and was still ecstatic.
Then it hit me. I had experienced magic. Can I now connect things and
finally understand what ‘works like magic’ really means? Maybe it's
all about the feeling. Of course, not the
‘adrenaline’ part, but that genuine moment where I didn’t have to
overthink. Just take it all in. Though I knew it was definitely a trick, I
didn’t want to decode it. I just liked that it was immaculate. The concept
finally started making sense to me.
Below are some products that I concluded are magical from my realisation:
Video games -/FIFA - Nobody wants to understand the codes and the game
physics that power it. We press a key on a gamepad /controller, and a
player on a screen can move its leg to hit the ball. How magical could
this get?
Air-conditioner - The average person(usually the majority) has no idea
about the principle of phase conversion’, and I could bet that 90% of
people going to read this piece don't even understand what it is.
Maybe, including you. Yes, you. The point is people don’t care, want to
care or have to care about how it works under the hood. We turn it on, and
it does ONE thing. Blow a cool breeze. And that’s that. A hot/warm room
immediately feels cold—a ‘magical’ product.
Internet Browsers /- Search Engines - when you type ‘www.google.com’ into
a browser, what happens? After seconds, we see Google’s website with all
its content on our screen. This is magical. So, let’s learn what goes on
under the hood. Your computer sends a request to the Domain Name System
(DNS) server. The browser then sends a request to the server to establish
a connection using the IP. The server receives the request and sends a
message acknowledging the request to establish a connection. At this
point, only a connection has been established. You are probably getting
bored; if you are not, you are among the few who like technicalities.
Well, another extra process goes on that can retrieve packets of Google’s
website code before the code is translated into something readable. All
this happens in a split second, and the above is just a summary.
Imagine if Chrome showed you all the above to your face before you finally
accessed ‘google.com’.
E.g. ‘ packet retrieval from 8.8.8.8 initiated’ or ‘Encryption initiated
via Secure Sockets Layer with 8.8.8.8’. Imagine how much of a weird
experience that would be. You’ll most probably stop using Chrome and
consider another browser. At that point, Chrome will still be a functional
browser. Gets you access to all the websites that other browsers do, but
the thing is, it will be appealing to only developers, who make up less
than 1% ( well, technically 0.36% ) and not the general public.
Browsers and Search Engines have scaled this much because they’ve done a
fantastic job hiding the technicalities. You don’t see what you don’t NEED
to know.
Keeps the novelty. Magical products!
You can also make a clear case study for Phone calls(How ISP/ Telecom
work) and Cars as being magical products.
I’ve been a strong proponent of the so-called ‘web3’ industry for a long
time now. Worked professionally in the space. Here’s what I think needs to
happen for the industry to scale:
Magical Products are what build the future.
I think current crypto products are like ‘Chrome, showing packet retrieval
from 8.8.8.8 initiated’. Appealing to less than 5% (Well, actually 4.2%)
of the entire population, yet throwing ‘onboarding the next 1 billion
people on-chain’ all over landing pages.
The reality turns out being that ~95% of the people (the remaining
population) probably don’t even know what ‘on-chain’ means or care to find
out. The product may be solving a key problem they are facing, and they
could be super loyal customers if they used the product. But the barrier
between where they are and where they could be is the ‘perception’. ”I
don’t know what on-chain and gas fee means. It's not for me.”
meanwhile, the product could enable them to have part ownership in a real
estate asset with as little as 1 dollar without having to sign any tedious
documents and with a click of a button, sitting on a couch from 10,000
kilometres away. And they would LOVE IT. A whole world of possibilities
gets locked away from them because of their ‘perception’ of what the
product does.
I realised a while ago that ‘what your product does’ and ‘what people
think your product does’ are two different things. And more often than
not, what people think your product does turns out to be more important
than you think.
I also believe education is the least of the problems with crypto. Of
course, the brain is constantly looking for patterns to learn from.
Synapses are constantly being modified. Sadly, to learn something is not
entirely up to the brain's synapes, especially when we are emotional
creatures, and we have something called ‘mood’ which is highly influenced
by externals.
People don’t like to learn. As much as we may want to believe otherwise,
learning FEELS hard, and it sucks to wander around in an unknown field,
especially when you’re at risk of losing money.
I think the product UI/UXs are the problem. Crypto products have to be
designed in a way that people don't need to know how it works. It just
naturally fits into the lives they are used to or at least not far away
from the life they are used to. Maya principle is required.
Conclusion
People don't want to know how it works. If 'gas-fees',
'transaction hash', 'block', and 'nonce' are
constantly slapped on people’s screens, not only does it remove the
god-complex (novelty) from it. It also makes most people feel dumb when
using your product. People don't want to see strange words that get
them confused. As humans, If we see strange words, we start to think that
maybe if we knew those strange words, then we could understand. Deep down,
we wish we didn't want to understand as learning feels uncomfortable.
That's why only a few people go on to search what 'block',
'gas-fee', and 'hash' means, and the rest just uninstall
the products and who knows how it's tagged in the brain — ‘weird’,
‘refrain’ could be an understatement, or a little worse: ‘ not smart
enough to use it’.
I think magical products aren't about making something that
doesn't exist. It is more about making something that may or may not
exist so good that it feels like an actual human being, that understands
what exactly you want to see or experience and provides you just that with
your palm in it's hands. It should just work and make people okay with
not knowing how it works.
The thought of understanding how that human works
feels impossible, even if it’s an easy concept under the hood. It
is the novelty and appreciation for the unknown.
I love that it works now—and it always works, and I don't want to know
how it works. Because I feel it will be really hard to understand. Focus
on the hole and not the drill -Wise man Nubi Kay once alluded.
With respect, Life is Good.
Magical Products With God-Complex
2024 Jan 18 See all postsIn content below; I think = current thinking and subject to change people == most people
For a while now, I have consistently caught myself lost in the thought of what the phrase, 'works like magic‘ actually means. Partially because I am working on a high-potential product (Zyde) and I want it to be the best it can be. And, of course, people use the phrase a lot, so I got curious to know what it means. I never got a grip on it. Everyone slaps the phrase on any new product feature, even if it doesn't give off the ‘magic’ feel. Or is it that any product that works == ‘works like magic’? Well, here’s what I think:
How I came by what I think
A week ago, the introverted me randomly decided to go out for once on Christmas Eve—just random walks, nothing much. I watched a couple of YouTube videos that I'd downloaded and started the stroll.
Cold weather, tucked-in shirt, and me. After a couple of turns through an almost empty street (as everyone was inside celebrating Christmas), I came upon a crowd so focused on something in the centre == origin (if you will). Whatever that thing was seemed to have piqued their interests on an unimaginable level. So, you guessed it. I took an extra couple of steps to find out.
I peeked over and saw a magician performing what seemed to be magic. Not a big fan of magic. But I must say, the magic really caught my attention. I stood there for close to an hour with the crowd. Thirty minutes in, it occurred to me — My logical/rational self knew 100% that it was a trick and nothing ‘supernatural’. After asking around, to my surprise (jokes on me), most of the crowd also knew it wasn’t supernatural. But they just allowed the novelty to be. It felt like we all allowed ourselves a moment. Just enjoy, don’t think. Just enjoy. Just a moment of not overthinking. It turned out to be one of the most amazing moments of my entire 2023. It was truly surreal with all the adrenaline rush. I got home and was still ecstatic.
Then it hit me. I had experienced magic. Can I now connect things and finally understand what ‘works like magic’ really means? Maybe it's all about the feeling. Of course, not the
‘adrenaline’ part, but that genuine moment where I didn’t have to overthink. Just take it all in. Though I knew it was definitely a trick, I didn’t want to decode it. I just liked that it was immaculate. The concept finally started making sense to me.
Below are some products that I concluded are magical from my realisation:
Video games -/FIFA - Nobody wants to understand the codes and the game physics that power it. We press a key on a gamepad /controller, and a player on a screen can move its leg to hit the ball. How magical could this get?
Air-conditioner - The average person(usually the majority) has no idea about the principle of phase conversion’, and I could bet that 90% of people going to read this piece don't even understand what it is. Maybe, including you. Yes, you. The point is people don’t care, want to care or have to care about how it works under the hood. We turn it on, and it does ONE thing. Blow a cool breeze. And that’s that. A hot/warm room immediately feels cold—a ‘magical’ product.
Internet Browsers /- Search Engines - when you type ‘www.google.com’ into a browser, what happens? After seconds, we see Google’s website with all its content on our screen. This is magical. So, let’s learn what goes on under the hood. Your computer sends a request to the Domain Name System (DNS) server. The browser then sends a request to the server to establish a connection using the IP. The server receives the request and sends a message acknowledging the request to establish a connection. At this point, only a connection has been established. You are probably getting bored; if you are not, you are among the few who like technicalities. Well, another extra process goes on that can retrieve packets of Google’s website code before the code is translated into something readable. All this happens in a split second, and the above is just a summary.
Imagine if Chrome showed you all the above to your face before you finally accessed ‘google.com’.
E.g. ‘ packet retrieval from 8.8.8.8 initiated’ or ‘Encryption initiated via Secure Sockets Layer with 8.8.8.8’. Imagine how much of a weird experience that would be. You’ll most probably stop using Chrome and consider another browser. At that point, Chrome will still be a functional browser. Gets you access to all the websites that other browsers do, but the thing is, it will be appealing to only developers, who make up less than 1% ( well, technically 0.36% ) and not the general public.
Browsers and Search Engines have scaled this much because they’ve done a fantastic job hiding the technicalities. You don’t see what you don’t NEED to know.
Keeps the novelty. Magical products!
You can also make a clear case study for Phone calls(How ISP/ Telecom work) and Cars as being magical products.
I’ve been a strong proponent of the so-called ‘web3’ industry for a long time now. Worked professionally in the space. Here’s what I think needs to happen for the industry to scale:
Magical Products are what build the future.
I think current crypto products are like ‘Chrome, showing packet retrieval from 8.8.8.8 initiated’. Appealing to less than 5% (Well, actually 4.2%) of the entire population, yet throwing ‘onboarding the next 1 billion people on-chain’ all over landing pages.
The reality turns out being that ~95% of the people (the remaining population) probably don’t even know what ‘on-chain’ means or care to find out. The product may be solving a key problem they are facing, and they could be super loyal customers if they used the product. But the barrier between where they are and where they could be is the ‘perception’. ”I don’t know what on-chain and gas fee means. It's not for me.” meanwhile, the product could enable them to have part ownership in a real estate asset with as little as 1 dollar without having to sign any tedious documents and with a click of a button, sitting on a couch from 10,000 kilometres away. And they would LOVE IT. A whole world of possibilities gets locked away from them because of their ‘perception’ of what the product does.
I realised a while ago that ‘what your product does’ and ‘what people think your product does’ are two different things. And more often than not, what people think your product does turns out to be more important than you think.
I also believe education is the least of the problems with crypto. Of course, the brain is constantly looking for patterns to learn from. Synapses are constantly being modified. Sadly, to learn something is not entirely up to the brain's synapes, especially when we are emotional creatures, and we have something called ‘mood’ which is highly influenced by externals.
People don’t like to learn. As much as we may want to believe otherwise, learning FEELS hard, and it sucks to wander around in an unknown field, especially when you’re at risk of losing money.
I think the product UI/UXs are the problem. Crypto products have to be designed in a way that people don't need to know how it works. It just naturally fits into the lives they are used to or at least not far away from the life they are used to. Maya principle is required.
Conclusion
People don't want to know how it works. If 'gas-fees', 'transaction hash', 'block', and 'nonce' are constantly slapped on people’s screens, not only does it remove the god-complex (novelty) from it. It also makes most people feel dumb when using your product. People don't want to see strange words that get them confused. As humans, If we see strange words, we start to think that maybe if we knew those strange words, then we could understand. Deep down, we wish we didn't want to understand as learning feels uncomfortable. That's why only a few people go on to search what 'block', 'gas-fee', and 'hash' means, and the rest just uninstall the products and who knows how it's tagged in the brain — ‘weird’, ‘refrain’ could be an understatement, or a little worse: ‘ not smart enough to use it’.
I think magical products aren't about making something that doesn't exist. It is more about making something that may or may not exist so good that it feels like an actual human being, that understands what exactly you want to see or experience and provides you just that with your palm in it's hands. It should just work and make people okay with not knowing how it works.
The thought of understanding how that human works feels impossible, even if it’s an easy concept under the hood. It is the novelty and appreciation for the unknown.
I love that it works now—and it always works, and I don't want to know how it works. Because I feel it will be really hard to understand. Focus on the hole and not the drill -Wise man Nubi Kay once alluded.
With respect, Life is Good.