December 11, 2020
I came across a fantastic deep dive interview with Alan Kay. I had no idea he was married to the original writer of Tron. That’s one of those amazing ‘sounds-about-right’ world building details.
Mobile computers, he says, have turned out to be mind-numbing consumption devices — sophisticated televisions — rather than the wheels for the mind that Steve Jobs envisioned.
He has a point. I suppose it’s the fate of all new technology to be popularised and adapted for entertainment. Edison built the Phonograph for recording messages but it was playing music that really drove demand.
It’s clearly not a question of raw computing power. We have enough cloud compute to teach machines to play DotA. It’s a question of what software/hardware can truly do to enhance human capabilities. What if you could hire a software engineer solely to automate and assist your everyday life?
Framed in this way somethings are immediately obvious. Solutions are highly dependent on the individuals and their needs. A 25 year old living alone has very different requirements from a family with kids or a retiree. Still there are some obvious places to start:
Grocery shopping bot: Fill cart with usuals, finds available delivery time, alerts user to adjust and confirm.
Unified Calendar across family members / friends, birthdays, events
Knowledge management: Google / Wikipedia
Expense tracking
Work: Calendar/Email/Comms ( Interesting that this mostly exists )
Jobs bot: Scrapes LinkedIn, Indeed, GlassDoor, etc for jobs that meet criteria like salary. Lookup profiles when needed.
Investment bot: Upon receiving salary, transfers set amount to investment account split by predefined asset allocation strategy. Notifies user of portfolio value daily, possible opportunities based on chosen criteria.
Health tracking dashboard: Sleep, Diet, Weight, Exercise, Heart Rate, etc
Curated newsfeed based on Twitter, Instagram, interests, work, investments, etc
The thing that jumps out at me is that most of us have all of this in some form or another. The main value add is in consolidation, filtering out the noise and timely reminders. Our bicycle for the mind is a digital butler to help with information overload helping us avoid mindless consumption.
“I understand there’s a guy inside me who wants to lay in bed, smoke weed all day, and watch cartoons and old movies. My whole life is a series of stratagems to avoid, and outwit, that guy.” - Anthony Bourdain