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Poppycock. The concept of mechanical push (and pull) buttons have been long present in locks and alarm triggers long before electricity was introduced to gener

Poppycock. The concept of mechanical push (and pull) buttons have been long present in locks and alarm triggers long before electricity was introduced to general public.

gumby 4y ago
As the article points out.
- WaitWaitWha 4y ago
  Yes, but in my opinion, much of the mental exercise in the article and the book is based on how the electric push button was an entirely new concept.
  - dmix 4y ago
    I don't think the appehresion was so much of the button interface but of the 'black box' automation aspect of it. Where the button isn't physically triggering a function like a spring or lever, instead some 'magic' happens in the behind the scenes. The interface was no longer directly connected to a simple, easily understood sequence of actions. > At the end of the nineteenth century, many laypeople had a “working knowledge not only of electricity, but also of the buttons they pushed and the relationship between the two,” according to Plotnick. Those who promoted electricity and sold electrical devices, however, wanted push-button interfaces to be “simplistic and worry-free.” They thought the world needed less thinking though and tinkering, and more automatic action. “You press the button, we do the rest”—the Eastman Company’s famous slogan for Kodak cameras—could be taken as the slogan for an entire way of life. > Plotnick quotes an educator and activist from 1916 lamenting that pushing a button “seems to relieve one of any necessity for responsibility about what goes on behind the button.”
  - B1FF_PSUVM 4y ago
    > entirely new concept. The new concept was power amplification: a small effort causing a larger than "natural" effect. E.g. you were always able to press a button to tinkle a bell, but pressing a button and obtaining a sustained electrical ringing was new. Valves and transistors took it to the present stage, by cascading the effect of small inputs switching larger amounts of power from an external supply. (Yes, power amplification could be done mechanically before electricity with energy from water, weights, etc. but it was too cumbersome.)

Poppycock. The concept of mechanical push (and pull) buttons have been long present in locks and alarm triggers long before electricity was introduced to general public.

gumby 4y ago

As the article points out.

WaitWaitWha 4y ago
Yes, but in my opinion, much of the mental exercise in the article and the book is based on how the electric push button was an entirely new concept.
- dmix 4y ago
  I don't think the appehresion was so much of the button interface but of the 'black box' automation aspect of it. Where the button isn't physically triggering a function like a spring or lever, instead some 'magic' happens in the behind the scenes. The interface was no longer directly connected to a simple, easily understood sequence of actions. > At the end of the nineteenth century, many laypeople had a “working knowledge not only of electricity, but also of the buttons they pushed and the relationship between the two,” according to Plotnick. Those who promoted electricity and sold electrical devices, however, wanted push-button interfaces to be “simplistic and worry-free.” They thought the world needed less thinking though and tinkering, and more automatic action. “You press the button, we do the rest”—the Eastman Company’s famous slogan for Kodak cameras—could be taken as the slogan for an entire way of life. > Plotnick quotes an educator and activist from 1916 lamenting that pushing a button “seems to relieve one of any necessity for responsibility about what goes on behind the button.”
- B1FF_PSUVM 4y ago
  > entirely new concept. The new concept was power amplification: a small effort causing a larger than "natural" effect. E.g. you were always able to press a button to tinkle a bell, but pressing a button and obtaining a sustained electrical ringing was new. Valves and transistors took it to the present stage, by cascading the effect of small inputs switching larger amounts of power from an external supply. (Yes, power amplification could be done mechanically before electricity with energy from water, weights, etc. but it was too cumbersome.)