This is one of the best lines from a movie. It set the attitude which later lead to the man-machine battles in the little known 1989 movie, Moontrap, staring Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov), and Bruce Campbell.

Astronauts on the Moon discover an old machine-Cyborg race crashed long ago. Sort of like the Borg, they integrate machine and people parts into creatures bent on assimilation or destruction.

Regardless of the movie’s merits, this line is an important principle to always keep in mind. I absolutely believe machines are supposed to serve us, not the other way around.

Man-machine interfaces should be designed to make it easier for us, not for us to accommodate them. When you look at the interface of the program or device you are currently using, ask yourself, if you can think of ways of making it easier to use, why couldn’t the software engineer who wrote the interface, or the product manager who wrote the specs and released the product.

As informed consumers with high standards, we should all insist on machine that work for us. We should not have to take any $#!T from any machine.

Watch the scene where this classic line is first introduced:

Watch the trailer from Moontrap: