I haven’t blown it yet

By posting this, I have just saved myself $5,000. I’d like to state that up front to keep the intent of the last post top of mind. And to prevent any latent urge not to post due to some perfectionist hesitancy: the battle today is half won for I have posted another half baked idea...

I went for a walk today. I took the dog and meandered through an unfamiliar neighborhood. I took a picture of a strange building. And, no, I will not look up its story. No Wikipedia. I’m certain there is one, and its history is likely vaguely interesting. The world is a deep and broad ocean of the vaguely interesting. X Protection X

What is more meaningful from that walk was the conversation I had throughout. I had headphones on and tested the voice feature in Claude iOS. I had a conversation with robot, with clanker. (My review: much improved than it was 3 months ago when I tested it last. Its cadence is notably slow - which turns out super helpful when wind picks up or other chatter intrudes on the conversation) I spoke on whatever came to mind. And it largely served as a verbal mirror for my thought. After the walk, I had a transcript of the conversation saved and then a prioritized summary. You can find the summary here.

This may seem like a pretty elementary use of hyperbolic technological innovation (AI & tech.) But in conversation people among various walks of life over the last few weeks, I note two things:

• it’s more commonplace that people don’t use AI at all - it’s more of a news item or cultural phenom
• It’s the elementary uses of these tools that provide their greatest traction and utility

But if the next guy can’t even be bothered to tinker with these things, what’s the point? The spaceship in the attic quietly gathering dust.

If you can nail down the simple and atomic things, you will do well. All the remarkable people you’re aware of, came into your awareness by doing just that. I will deem myself remarkable to myself by posting this. Today, I took the dog on a walk in the city and talked to my phone.