I want to build software that broadly empowers people to do more of what they want to do (with reasonable constraints of course). Things like finding content that never would have been found otherwise, preserving attention rather than draining it, and protecting Slack are all important to me.
The current tools for thought research scene is oversaturated with broadly identical productivity tools and note-taking apps. It would be tragic for my “research” to result in yet another standard to-do list app.
Currently, my primary aspiration within those broader goals is to eventually build new mediums based off core primitives which are themselves based off some fundamental insights on cognition.
Gaining these insights requires understanding idea generation and striving to do serious work both as a tool for thought creator and in separate authentic contexts.
Powerful quotes that have influenced my vision
”A means of increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems.” https://www.dougengelbart.org/content/view/138
”the very use of it would change the thought patterns of an entire civilization” http://worrydream.com/refs/Kay%20-%20User%20Interface,%20a%20Personal%20View.pdf
”Software design so often focus on the first few hours of someone’s experience. Yet what you really want is to max out the experience someone is having in their thousandth or ten thousandth hour of use. Pianos seem designed primarily for experts and only incidentally for beginners. If you were designing the piano with modern software design practice in mind it would have 8 white keys, no black keys, and no pedals. It’d be easy to play some simple songs, and that’s it. What we’re really looking for is ideas which can be the foundation for long-run improvement, with an extraordinarily high ceiling.” https://michaelnotebook.com/bbms/
“A context in which the user can have new kinds of thought, thoughts that were formerly impossible for them” https://numinous.productions/ttft/