an unstructured distillation of my taste, various bouts of inspiration, and thought tunnels.

What I’ve been thinking about recently

thoughts on new interfaces

*hacking incomplete/uncertain environments to increase information advantage and decision making — and the human interaction layer to enable this.

Why: Too often, systems assume reliability scales linearly with more data, as if data were discrete and absolute (this is a philosophy carried by many big data companies). But in dynamic systems (anything from battlefields to live sports) data is rarely absolute. This perspective is dangerous in scenarios where we can never get the full operational picture — we are left in an endless hamster wheel of collecting more data.

Tailwinds: In the military, we rarely have a complete picture of the enemy yet strategies are built on unrealistic assumptions and brute-force scenarios. In space, simulation engineers spend dozens of hours curating assumed data about the lunar landscape. In tech at large, we are still stuck hand labeling data. The root node is unnecessary brute-force design of scenarios.

How: This problem is fundamentally an interface challenge. If we can no longer assume we have all the data, we must embed uncertainty as a fixed part of the equation. Current simulation software has a system brute-generate data first, then test the system on a user approach. The next interfaces will evolve more towards co-adaptation: Humans fill in knowledge gaps and AI uses this to evolve the behavior/features over time.

If you work in this space (or adjacent), or are thinking about the same problems, please reach out.*

brands

I enjoy things that are raw and stripped to its essence.

• moth fund — analogy of moths that are away from the spotlight. i.e. elevating unspoken or unflashy ideas that linger in the background. brands that are niche, not necessarily universally appealing.
  • an analogy for spotlight: building companies to stay on trend (ex: SF founder mode hype).
  • an analogy for moths: experimenting with something without immediate ROI because you deeply enjoy it (ex: making art with no promises of high pay nor public recognition).
• public transit trains in ny & dc — (though I dislike it as a form of transportation), I admire its raw and primitive nature. not polished or packaged up in pretty benches or wallpaper.
• this japanese resturaunt in torrence w no sinage (name disclosed) — raw interior (holes in the wall, bare bone utensils, low publicity), unrecognizable. I like how it strips experience to its crux. not the flashy visuals and brand incentives. stripping the experience of dining to its essence — a shared meal with friends.
• substack — raw thoughts that dont need polish. evolution of thought in real time.
• patagonia — low-aesthetic. durable. raw. functional.
• military field gear — influence conveyed through fashion. stripped to its raw functional units without unnecessary pizzaz

taste

• Scandanavian - design philosophy follows the idea of “lagom”: finding the godilocks equilibrium between beauty and function
  • In architecture: natural elements (wood, marble) are exposed in their natural form. Ex. We imagine trees to be tall and vertical — thus we commonly see furniture pieces follow the same form factor. thin wooden panels (alternating in color and texture) creates the impression of separation — even if the space itself is one giant rectangule
  • In music: atmospheric music. distilled to essential beats and rhythm
  • I also love how Minecraft was adapted from Swedish / Nordic tradition
  • My favorite coffee shop in nyc :) La Cabra
• raw utilitarian beauty, stripped of excess. distilled to its essence — whatever is absolutely necessary to accomplish a task. you can easily point to a set of principles that make it beautiful. I think there should be a level of explainability about why something is beautiful on top of intuition.
• aesthetics of influence that rally crowds around an idea