&#62; <i>But ordinary, everyday people don't want to infer how a system works. They don't want to think scientifically, and they won't invest any effort in building a mental model of how the device really works.</i><p>That's not true ... "everyday people" (whatever that means) always have a mental model of how something works (be it a computer, a car or a washing machine) ... that's how humans think, the problem is that their mental model is usually different from reality.<p>And you can almost always put blame for this on the interface or on the education given to them.<p>It's like you're saying I should know how the internals of my car works (lots of science in there too). Well I don't ... all I know is how to drive it, and I've had problems because of that ... but it's not like I care. If it ends up bugging me so much, I'll search for a smarter car.<p>Regular users are lazy indeed ... some of them just don't get it, others are doing just fine for their day-to-day needs. Those that are doing fine, like my wife, tend to have a good teacher nearby ... so the only meaningful way of countering their laziness is through proper education.