Brad Templeton introduces the concept of the Telepathic User Interface, and names some examples, such as the keyboard, videogames, and the automobile. The idea describes an interface that is so dead simple, or so oft-repeated, that it attains 'telepathic' status, requiring little to zero thought. He goes so far as to extend the keyboard 'TUI' to often include everyday CLI tools. I know for a fact I can type 'ls -al', 'less file<TAB>', etc, all blindly and without any thought going into what I'm doing, but I think that's a stretch for the more complex (and less repeated) commands. Which was the whole point, one would think.
Why don't all designers strive for this? Is this really that novel of a concept? People often aim to achieve interfaces that are 'easy' or 'intuitive', but why not go whole-hog and shoot for invisible or 'telepathic'?
What other interfaces reach this user-machine nirvana? Your iPod? The beer mug? Your TV Remote?
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