3. The Critical Engineer deconstructs and incites suspicion of rich user experiences.
I found this tenet interesting because it relates to my work as a UX designer and neuroscience student, and has further implications for fields like VR. Maybe this is a stretch, but it reminds me of Baudrillard's writings on Simulations and Simulacra, and their social and political consequences.
From a commercial standpoint, the more immersive the user experience, the more profitable it is. As humans, we are attuned to subtle environmental differences that might signal danger, so we are excellent at distinguishing artificial environments from real ones. We become frustrated when an experience with software doesn't match up with mental models.
In most cases, frustration works against us. We want better UX for systems like transportation, education, or hospitals, to increase standards of living across the world. But for 'leisure' products like social media, we are paying with our attention, and paying with the data that tells advertisers what we'll pay attention to. In this situation, a richer UX means more control over our attention. It also means we have to work harder to determine which things are 'true' and what constitutes 'reality.' For example, with deepfakes, the immersive and realistic qualities of the technology are exactly what makes them so dangerous.