[ale] Is this True?

[Ben Coleman]

On 6/17/2026 3:01 PM, Michael Hirsch via Ale wrote:
> Wow, what a grumpy old man!
> 
> I think he's half right.  The percentage of users who are power users is 
> going down, but that is because the number of users is going up and 
> appreciating 100% of the populace (except my mother) while the number of 
> power users is holding pretty steady.  I think.  I have no hard data to 
> back that up, but I do meet young people at work who know a lot.
> 
> I think there are a fairly small number of people with a natural 
> affinity for technology at that level.  It used to be that all computer 
> users were of that type, but now everyone is a user, but the power users 
> are still out there.

I suspect this also ties in to what the old Programmer's Stone website 
referred to has 'packers and mappers'.

The site was a result of an investigation into why some programmers 
would be 10 times as productive as others.  Their conclusion was a 
difference in learning styles.

Some people learn by memorizing small, concrete 'information packets'. 
They may learn them in order, but they don't tie them together.  These, 
they dubbed 'packers'.

Other people learn by making mental maps of information.  It takes a bit 
longer, initially, but once a mapper has set up mental structures for a 
subject, they can typically hoover up related information at an 
astounding rate.

This is, of course, something of a simplification, and is more a 
spectrum than an either/or.  But I've found it useful for certain 
insights.  (Those of you familiar with MBTI will probably recognize this 
as the Sensor/Intuitive axis.  I find 'mapper' more descriptive, as 
'intuitive' tends to give some people the impression that an 'Intuitive' 
learns by some mysterious internal intuition).

Thing is, there seem to be more packers than mappers, and as as more 
people get involved with technology, the more you can expect 
manufacturers to cater to packers, who need to be told exactly what to 
do, rather than figureing it out for themselves.

Ben
-- 
Ben Coleman oloryn at benshome.net | For the wise man, doing right trumps
http://oloryn.benshome.net/     | looking right.  For the fool, looking
Amateur Radio NJ8J              | right trumps doing right.