Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine

Overview
Donald Norman argues that technology should amplify human cognitive strengths rather than aim to replace them. He reframes tools and systems as "cognitive artifacts", external devices and representations that transform the nature of human thought and memory. Rather than treating intelligence as a singular property housed inside a person or a machine, he emphasizes the partnership between people and the tools they use, showing how thoughtful design can extend reasoning, perception, and skill.
The book balances historical perspective, psychological insight, and practical critique. Examples span from simple artifacts like maps and written records to complex automated systems, and each example is used to reveal principles for creating technologies that make people more capable, not less. Norman challenges the then-dominant view that automated systems should strive to be self-sufficient, insisting instead that machines should be collaborators that respect human limitations and leverage human strengths.

Cognitive artifacts and external representations
A central concept is that external representations, diagrams, notes, instruments, and interface elements, change cognitive tasks by offloading memory and transforming operations. External artifacts can reduce mental workload, make abstract structures visible, and permit new forms of reasoning that are difficult or impossible to achieve in the head alone. Norman shows how such artifacts fundamentally reshape human thinking, enabling higher-order cognitive work through simpler, more accessible steps.
He also examines the qualities that make external representations effective: they should be visible, interpretable, and aligned with human perceptual and conceptual capabilities. When representations are poorly matched to human needs, they can obscure understanding and create errors. When well designed, they become extensions of cognition, allowing people to manipulate ideas and data in powerful ways.

Design principles and human-centered technology
Norman sets out design principles that emphasize compatibility with human abilities: systems should support discovery, provide clear feedback, use natural mappings, and preserve the user's ability to intervene and understand. He argues for interfaces that prioritize "knowledge in the world", visible cues and records, over forcing users to memorize procedures, because real-world cognition is distributed across people, artifacts, and environments.
This human-centered approach rejects the notion of design that seeks to minimize human involvement. Instead, Norman advocates for cooperative systems that make human goals easier to achieve by scaffolding thought, presenting information in usable forms, and making errors recoverable. He stresses that design choices shape how people think and learn, and therefore designers bear responsibility for enabling rather than undermining human competence.

Automation, skill, and brittleness
Norman is wary of automation that removes skill and situational understanding from users. He documents how excessive automation can produce brittle systems that fail unpredictably when conditions change, and that can erode human expertise through disuse. The result is a paradox: systems intended to be safer or more efficient can create vulnerability by leaving users unable to detect or correct problems.
To avoid these harms, he proposes designs that maintain human engagement and provide clear, comprehensible status information. Automation should be graceful, reversible, and transparent, allowing people to retain an understanding of system behavior and to step in when needed. The goal is resilient interaction, not blind delegation.

Legacy and implications
Norman's framework remains influential for interface design, human-computer interaction, and debates about artificial intelligence. His insistence that tools should enhance human attributes continues to guide designers facing increasingly powerful algorithms and automated systems. The book reframes technological progress as a question not of replacing humans but of deciding how technologies shape human capabilities and societies.
Its enduring message is a moral as well as practical one: good design protects and amplifies human intelligence, creativity, and judgment. By focusing on the interplay of artifacts and minds, the book directs attention to the choices that determine whether technology will make people smarter or poorer thinkers.