end-user error

I will readily admit that I can be very lazy when it comes to electronics and tend not to pay attention, constantly surprised by the extra features the camera or the DVD player is capable of, for example, and I am reluctant to ever touch the settings on the central heating. The controls, however not excusing me from my want just to bang on buttons until the desired result is achieved or not familiarizing myself duly with the protocol, do not seem to me simple, intuitive or logical. This one slightly overwhelming dial on the hot water tank makes me think of the instructions forward-thinking scientists designed for the Voyager spacecraft so that an alien intelligence could receive the messages from Earth, the star Sirius (*), the lunar phase (•), the base of the natural logarithm (℮) as it approaches the mass to energy equivalence (E)… What does it all mean?