We spend a lot of time in man-made structures, and it makes us feel very
important, but it's easy to get so caught up that you can't see outside of
yourself anymore. At least that's how I feel. But when I look at these trees,
and I watch the water, I'm reminded that there is so much I do not understand,
and there's something about nature that makes that feel okay. I do not know why
the water turns to foam as it flows through the river, but I don't need a
reason. No one really does. We talk a lot about how the industrialized world
feels so inhuman, but I think it's exactly the opposite. Modern inventions are
scary because they *are* human, and we do not trust the humans that created
them. On the other hand, nature is calming because no one has chosen how it
works. The foam does not serve anyone. The foam cannot serve anyone.

The digital world is almost entirely human-made. The computationally-enforced
structures that pilot our everyday lives feel as if they are almost always
working against us. Medical care is not provided to people who do not fit neatly
into the systems thought up by their creators. Recommendation algorithms ignore
our desires and steal our time ([[attention theft]]). The Zig language doesn't
allow certain code styles because [they irritate Andrew Kelley].

It doesn't have to be that way. Imagine a world where digital systems work like
rivers, and grasses, and moss. Where our technology is governed by unbiased laws
of nature instead of the warped laws of Google. Where everything follows a
consistent logic, even if we don't fully understand it.

Typographer Karen Cheng has a wonderful concept of "tonal gray": it describes
the way that, in good type, all the letterforms turn to a consistent shade of
gray when you squint your eyes. Designing attention-grabbing, noisy fonts is
easy, but designing type for everyday writing can take decades. The writer
speaks, and the typographer must let their speach through without imposing on
it. It takes true mastery of your instrument to know how to play silence. I love
listening to people who do [landscape gardening], because they understand the
discipline it takes to make something that doesn't feel like it was made. It is
so much more difficult, but so much more beautiful.

We don't need to make our computers *more human* That's what already have. We
need to make computers feel more organic. Maybe then, they would be as calming
as the foam on a river.