• null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    I often use scanner / printers as an example. Its like a robot with a very specific and easy job - feed the paper through one sheet at a time. They’ve been around for 40 years, mass produced, they still cant reliably do that one thing.

    With a lot of tech, it seems like solving the first 90% of a problem is easy, then the next 5% very hard and expensive, but the last few percent is impossible.

    We see this with so many things - printers, roombas, self driving cars.

    • utopiah@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      With a lot of tech, it seems like solving the first 90% of a problem is easy, then the next 5% very hard and expensive, but the last few percent is impossible.

      Definitely, that’s why I do prototyping. The first 90% is super fun and empowering! It’s exhilarating. You start to believe you could do anything. Then… the remaining 90% get harder, and harder, until you’re done it and the very last 90% is even harder! /s