i think the issue with this "average human being" vs. "you" thing is one of writing a techinical or descriptive article (as opposed to a short story or a "how too" article or something similar) is the use of the "second person".  it is often frowned on by the profs i had in college to put in personal pronouns into a techinical or descriptive article.  it's a matter of style, i agree, but i also think that the use of personal pronouns can almost always be avoided.