Hacker News Reader

Comment by Dalewyn | Hacker News Reader

I tire of repeating myself in this thread, but: I can't read meters, at least not with the time and attention I can afford to spare while driving a car.

I don't care about research, because: I. Can't. Read. Meters. While. Driving.

Give me numbers. I can read them faster, we can all be safer. Fin.

View on HN

You don't need to read them, look at their relative positions on their dial and have an idea. This is how they work.

When I look at them, I have an idea of my speed within +/- 3KM/h and rev. within +/- 200 RPM. No read, just glance. I let my brain process.

I don't read my car's dials either. Temperature gauge even has no numbers, but three sections: Too cold, normal, too hot. The same dial even has some large, smart hysteresis programmed into it. If the engine doesn't move out of its tolerance, it always shows the middle, meaning "it's alright".

Same for speed, rev and fuel. I just look at the needle's position. Fuel is also esp. problematic because the best you can get is a guess. Unless you "guess and dampen", it'll just move/change all the time.

Let me put it this way:

It takes more brain cycles, for me, to look and confirm where the needles are pointing than it does to read a number.

I'm driving a car, I can't afford to look down for more than a split second. I can read numbers with a split second glance. I can't read shit glancing at a needle for a split second.

Let me put it this way:

You're not supposed to read them precisely, but pattern match it, and it takes less than a split second for most of us.

You might have an atypical brain, and I respect that, but most people's brain work that way.

This is why dashboards do not have "sea of green lights", but things light up when things go wrong, because it breaks the pattern and gets your attention.

Your brain is much more capable than you think. It can do much more things without you notice. Like you have a peripheral vision close to 180 degrees, and even if it's blurry, your brain processes that space for (pattern) anomalies, without you noticing.

My thought here is that if someone is clearly expressing that their brain processes stuff differently to what you feel is normal then it's best to avoid using phrases like, "Your brain is".

I think you've started off great with your comment about respect but rewording some of the sentences after that to clarify that you're talking about neurotypical brains might be better.

>I think you've started off great with your comment about respect but rewording some of the sentences after that to clarify that you're talking about neurotypical brains might be better.

Isn't that implied in most contexts? If I'm talking about legs' role in running, I don't need to clarify that I'm talking about normal legs, and not legs that are suffering from impairments/disabilities.

It is implied in most contexts, but not in one where the person is responding to a person who has expressed that they have an atypical condition. It can also come off as invalidating a person's lived condition/experience which is a bit rude.

They didn't claim that originally, they said it was just a historical accident because we didn't originally have the technology.

As a non-native English speaker, it's not my intention to be disrespectful or rude, or anything on the same line.

I'll not edit that comment to keep your comment and the context intact, but keep that in mind.

Thanks.

I find third-party language policing to be a barrier to effective communication.

If the (presumably adult, competent) person being replied to takes offense, they are perfectly capable of suggesting different phrasing.

That's really interesting. I observe miscommunication all the time and often feel it's great people just not quite clicking with how they express things.

The beauty of multiple sub-comments is that a 3rd party can put in a side note and allow the original parties to listen or ignore as they feel fit.

As someone who is neuroatypical, pattern matching is kinda what human brains are evolved for. I can't think of any type of condition where you can function effectively yet not pattern match. Hell, we have plenty of disorders and conditions and diseases where there's too much pattern matching going on.

Turned or "clocked" gauges [0] are used to further reduce cognitive load by turning the gauges so that the needle aligns to closely to a horizontal or vertical line when operating in normal conditions. If you notice that your gauges are not pointing "straight up" then you can take a second pass and actually read the indicated number on the gauge.

I understand that this is not helpful for things like vehicle speed but OP's point still applies.

[0] https://www.motortrend.com/news/hot-rodding-basics-why-do-so...

I never heard that before, fascinating. Thanks.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com