Friction is not failure. In human systems, it may be the mechanism through which meaning gets made.
Two pieces I read today that have been in conversation with each other.
Sean Voisen’s Design for Lingering argues that abstraction violates the principle of lingering. Lingering, much like slowly burning incense, creates the time and texture where meaning can take shape. Speed erases it.
Then I read Vaughn Tan’s essay(s) on re-designing AI tools to increase friction and bring back meaning making. His “Confidence Interval” system uses LLMs not to make things easier, but to slow us down, deepen our reasoning, and teach discomfort as a form of thought.
Only at the end did I realise he’s also the creator of the IDK cards, which I actually have. Felt like a serendipitous reminder that maybe friction really is where meaning lives, and lingering is the necessary condition for it.
That thread runs through all my recent work on connection vs. abstraction, especially in The Limits of AI in Social Change.
Originally written for LinkedIn on 15 October 2025. View original →
Gautam John 
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