Ben Kraal
@bjkraal.bsky.social
Experience Designer, Researcher & Strategist. Former design academic but really a sociologist. Probably reading or thinking about cars.
Brisbane, Australia
www.benkraal.com
Brisbane, Australia
www.benkraal.com
Introduce yourself with 5 cars you’ve owned
1969 MGB roadster
1982 Mazda RX-7
1994 Peugeot 405 mi16
1967 Mazda 1500
1976 Renault 16TS
1969 MGB roadster
1982 Mazda RX-7
1994 Peugeot 405 mi16
1967 Mazda 1500
1976 Renault 16TS
Introduce yourself with 5 cars you’ve owned
1980 Volvo 242 GT
2005 Volvo XC70
1993 Mercedes 190 E 2.0
1998 BMW 328i Touring
1979 Citroen CX 2400 Pallas
1980 Volvo 242 GT
2005 Volvo XC70
1993 Mercedes 190 E 2.0
1998 BMW 328i Touring
1979 Citroen CX 2400 Pallas
Introduce yourself with 5 cars you’ve owned
1972 Alfa Romeo GTV
2001 MINI Cooper
2005 Mercedes A-Class
2009 BMW 330i Touring
2016 Skoda Yeti
A hard choice! I could do another 5 that are just as diverse.
1972 Alfa Romeo GTV
2001 MINI Cooper
2005 Mercedes A-Class
2009 BMW 330i Touring
2016 Skoda Yeti
A hard choice! I could do another 5 that are just as diverse.
December 5, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 cars you’ve owned
1969 MGB roadster
1982 Mazda RX-7
1994 Peugeot 405 mi16
1967 Mazda 1500
1976 Renault 16TS
1969 MGB roadster
1982 Mazda RX-7
1994 Peugeot 405 mi16
1967 Mazda 1500
1976 Renault 16TS
Reposted by Ben Kraal
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
It occurs to me that the gmail “turn off AI” thing is worse than you think, because if you turn it off and your correspondent hasn’t, then Google gets access anyway.
November 22, 2025 at 7:16 AM
It occurs to me that the gmail “turn off AI” thing is worse than you think, because if you turn it off and your correspondent hasn’t, then Google gets access anyway.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
Here's a rule of thumb: If "AI" seems like a good solution, you are probably both misjudging what the "AI" can do and misframing the problem.
>>
>>
October 11, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Here's a rule of thumb: If "AI" seems like a good solution, you are probably both misjudging what the "AI" can do and misframing the problem.
>>
>>
Take it from me: super weird is where it’s at.
Thinking about becoming more normal. Might just get super weird instead
September 24, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Take it from me: super weird is where it’s at.
D is objectively the correct answer.
just observing that if you drew these lines on a globe you would get a goddamn mess
September 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM
D is objectively the correct answer.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
I keep saying that "improving productivity in front of a bottleneck cannot increase output, although it may decrease it". A hard won insight from manufacturing which people for some reason resist applying to service and administrative jobs.
September 10, 2025 at 9:07 AM
I keep saying that "improving productivity in front of a bottleneck cannot increase output, although it may decrease it". A hard won insight from manufacturing which people for some reason resist applying to service and administrative jobs.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
Almost every time I teach interview data analysis, someone asks if they can use software to automate it. The point is to understand the data, not to produce a report. Learning takes time and messiness.
September 8, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Almost every time I teach interview data analysis, someone asks if they can use software to automate it. The point is to understand the data, not to produce a report. Learning takes time and messiness.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
So the LLM synthesizes a result from various sources (that may be made up or misquoted) and then you "double-check" the sources?
Sounds like the LLM is using you as research assistant.
Sounds like the LLM is using you as research assistant.
September 8, 2025 at 1:55 PM
So the LLM synthesizes a result from various sources (that may be made up or misquoted) and then you "double-check" the sources?
Sounds like the LLM is using you as research assistant.
Sounds like the LLM is using you as research assistant.
I'll just read these open tabs and that way I will have less tabs open, he said.
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
September 6, 2025 at 11:41 PM
I'll just read these open tabs and that way I will have less tabs open, he said.
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
programming computers is socio-anthropology actually
September 5, 2025 at 9:14 PM
programming computers is socio-anthropology actually
Reposted by Ben Kraal
Alternatively, we could spend a lot more time with 80-yr-olds of to see what their lives are like. Empathy is a humanity problem, not a tech problem. You don't have to simulate what you can ask, especially when the challenges a demographic faces are varied and complicated by lived experience.
What Being an 80-Year-Old for a Day Teaches You About Aging
Plus, drone swarms, space habitat makeovers and AI literacy, in this edition of The Future of Everything newsletter.
www.wsj.com
September 5, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Alternatively, we could spend a lot more time with 80-yr-olds of to see what their lives are like. Empathy is a humanity problem, not a tech problem. You don't have to simulate what you can ask, especially when the challenges a demographic faces are varied and complicated by lived experience.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
“A billion dollars… are not necessary for [a] lavish lifestyle. The only thing that that amount of wealth is necessary for is the domination of others. [At] a certain point, wealth shifts from being smthg that enables freedom to smthg that can only be used to take freedom away from the public.”
All the Things That You Need a Billion Dollars to Buy Are Bad
One way to think about inequality.
www.hamiltonnolan.com
September 4, 2025 at 2:25 AM
“A billion dollars… are not necessary for [a] lavish lifestyle. The only thing that that amount of wealth is necessary for is the domination of others. [At] a certain point, wealth shifts from being smthg that enables freedom to smthg that can only be used to take freedom away from the public.”
Reposted by Ben Kraal
I don't get how people don't realize that a technology that replaces junior and entry level positions in a field destroys that field.
There's no skipping steps. You have to be a junior before you can be a senior, and if you don't have senior people, you don't have a field.
There's no skipping steps. You have to be a junior before you can be a senior, and if you don't have senior people, you don't have a field.
Remember, kids: A real big goal of "AI" is to entirely sever capital from labor, and no, there will be no universal basic income, you can all just starve and die, thanks
www.axios.com/2025/08/26/a...
www.axios.com/2025/08/26/a...
AI is already taking jobs away from entry-level workers
Software and customer service are most at risk right now and could be the canary in the coal mine.
www.axios.com
September 1, 2025 at 4:03 AM
I don't get how people don't realize that a technology that replaces junior and entry level positions in a field destroys that field.
There's no skipping steps. You have to be a junior before you can be a senior, and if you don't have senior people, you don't have a field.
There's no skipping steps. You have to be a junior before you can be a senior, and if you don't have senior people, you don't have a field.
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Modor:
August 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Modor:
In “the Double Diamond is meaningless” news, I just found a bunch of our proposal collateral that has the first two stages reversed.
August 27, 2025 at 11:40 PM
In “the Double Diamond is meaningless” news, I just found a bunch of our proposal collateral that has the first two stages reversed.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
the most useful thing LLMs can is force us to do is to reconsider the way we use linguistic dexterity as a proxy for intelligence
August 26, 2025 at 11:41 AM
the most useful thing LLMs can is force us to do is to reconsider the way we use linguistic dexterity as a proxy for intelligence
Reposted by Ben Kraal
Half the designers on LinkedIn, who want to use swastikas the way your Uncle Charlie uses the n-word, are thrilled that “design finally has a seat at the table.” Nevermind that the table is in a Nazi restaurant. Thankfully, @danhon.com lays out the truth: newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s20e...
s20e06: Not About How it Looks
0.0 Context Setting It’s Monday, 25 August 2025 and a hot, sunny day in Portland, Oregon. I got back late last night from a family camping trip (it was...
newsletter.danhon.com
August 26, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Half the designers on LinkedIn, who want to use swastikas the way your Uncle Charlie uses the n-word, are thrilled that “design finally has a seat at the table.” Nevermind that the table is in a Nazi restaurant. Thankfully, @danhon.com lays out the truth: newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s20e...
Reposted by Ben Kraal
Anyone who wants slightly more coherent thoughts on the appointment of America's Chief Design Officer, congratulations: you can now read them in the latest episode of my newsletter:
s20e06: Not About How it Looks
newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s20e...
s20e06: Not About How it Looks
newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s20e...
August 26, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Anyone who wants slightly more coherent thoughts on the appointment of America's Chief Design Officer, congratulations: you can now read them in the latest episode of my newsletter:
s20e06: Not About How it Looks
newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s20e...
s20e06: Not About How it Looks
newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s20e...
Reposted by Ben Kraal
Beware the Normelbaum!
August 26, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Beware the Normelbaum!
My algorithmic playlist just went from Taylor Swift’s “Ready for it” to “Blood of the past” by The Comet is Coming.
Chef’s kiss. No notes.
Chef’s kiss. No notes.
August 26, 2025 at 9:55 PM
My algorithmic playlist just went from Taylor Swift’s “Ready for it” to “Blood of the past” by The Comet is Coming.
Chef’s kiss. No notes.
Chef’s kiss. No notes.
Recently, at a meetup:
- The guest speaker: “you should consider the wider impact of your design work”
- a question from the audience: “what’s the ROI on that?”
- The guest speaker: “you should consider the wider impact of your design work”
- a question from the audience: “what’s the ROI on that?”
August 20, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Recently, at a meetup:
- The guest speaker: “you should consider the wider impact of your design work”
- a question from the audience: “what’s the ROI on that?”
- The guest speaker: “you should consider the wider impact of your design work”
- a question from the audience: “what’s the ROI on that?”
Wait til they hear about how YouTube still works if you don’t have an account.
And is creating a “shadow” account for you even if you don’t have one.
And is creating a “shadow” account for you even if you don’t have one.
📢 The decision means under-16s will not be allowed to have active YouTube accounts or subscribe to YouTube channels when the social media ban comes into effect.
Confirmed: YouTube included in Australia's social media ban despite legal threats
www.sbs.com.au
July 29, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Wait til they hear about how YouTube still works if you don’t have an account.
And is creating a “shadow” account for you even if you don’t have one.
And is creating a “shadow” account for you even if you don’t have one.
Reposted by Ben Kraal
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?
- Asking people what they want is a very bad way of learning about that they actually want.
- Most product, service, and policy decisions made in the world do not understand this.
- Asking people what they want is a very bad way of learning about that they actually want.
- Most product, service, and policy decisions made in the world do not understand this.
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?
Human experience is primarily affective.
Logic tells us fuck all about the world.
Brain states tell us fuck all about experience.
Statistics is a measure of responses to a question asked.
Take your pick.
Human experience is primarily affective.
Logic tells us fuck all about the world.
Brain states tell us fuck all about experience.
Statistics is a measure of responses to a question asked.
Take your pick.
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?
You absolutely can lie via data & math & everything about how you present data is an argument for how to interpret/understand it
Everything we know is founded on best guesses & analogies
All technoscience is enmeshed with human values
You absolutely can lie via data & math & everything about how you present data is an argument for how to interpret/understand it
Everything we know is founded on best guesses & analogies
All technoscience is enmeshed with human values
June 17, 2025 at 8:42 PM
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?
- Asking people what they want is a very bad way of learning about that they actually want.
- Most product, service, and policy decisions made in the world do not understand this.
- Asking people what they want is a very bad way of learning about that they actually want.
- Most product, service, and policy decisions made in the world do not understand this.
You have been kidnapped and a character from the last tv show you watched is coming to rescue you
who is coming to save you
who is coming to save you
June 12, 2025 at 7:29 AM
You have been kidnapped and a character from the last tv show you watched is coming to rescue you
who is coming to save you
who is coming to save you