16 Comments
founding

Didn’t know that about tags creating URLs. Thank you!

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author

Chaos forward, order backward! You mentioned you were reading back through your old posts; curious to see which patterns emerged. Each of those could have a tag.

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What have you found to be the most important dimensions of a good idea?

- Tangibility, Frequency, Capability, Bilitybility --> does it sit and center well in the brain, does it mutate other functions of said chair, post mutation does it iterate, post iteration does my capable function improve. Layman self to Manlay self "the good idea should self satisfy itself aka if it feels good it is good", and while that conceit is solidly false, the feeling is real (cue Cheryl Lynn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54HSk7-q960)

Thoughts on Apple’s Vision Pro?

- talk me out of calling it the Applebation Mask. As a man consumed by psychedlic reality it is somewhat uncomfortable to me to give over my psychosis to a product engineered to help people look at even more screens inside of a screen. One of the early reviews I read said that looking over videos taken from the device felt like returning from the afterlife. TV has zombified me enough to know better than to go deeper into the fiber connected frequency of death. I can't wait to buy courtside Warriors tickets on this.

What most irks you about February? (Super Bowl Ads? Valentines? The 29th?)

- i think it is a little rude that of all the months that get leap years this is the only one. We should give the other eleven month special non-annually recurring days. I am proposing June 26.5th happens every eight years and we make it MeepMeep day and folks can only talk like Beeker or The Roadrunner. August 99st happens every '01 of each century and includes two extra months (named Barry & Terry). The extra months are a bit much and overstay their welcome, but mankind comes to appreciate their quirkiness and it all leads to a sitcom deal (B.L.T. aka Barry Loves Terry). The sitcom does ok but gets cancelled after two seasons but there is home for a reboot the next August 99st.

Favorite log?

- Logarithm - especially at a funky tempo !

...welcome back king...what was the most surprising and delicious snack of your travels?...

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author

- Bilitybility: a word's ability to be a -bility

- Damn, I'd love to see you do a VR post. Good stuff in here. I'd always thought spatial computing could be a force for good, but turns out the computing elements of this thing are quite undercooked and all the entertainment functions are mesmerizing.

- I vote to put you in charge of the calendars.

- Best snack: 2:46 pm — Just had a traditional Cretan cheese pie that might have been the best one I ever had. It had both Feta and Mizithra cheese, with honey and truffle oil, rolled into churro-shaped phyllo dough, with sesame seeds on top.

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...drooling over that food description...i need it...definitely going to do some VR at some point just need to find $5K and a rum delicious enough to get one of these mallglasses onto my mug...the reviews on it are so interesting both what it can and can't do...i just can't get over that it is such a non solution to no-problems...dystopia continues to be the kingqueen of our roaring 20's because distraction is yielding the highest profits...the amount of drooling i am seeing for rewatching a birthday party makes me wonder about our abilities to imagine on a whole...

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founding

I'm waiting for chao to get his vision pro so I can be that friend who magically shows up at his door to try it...

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You can try it for free at the Apple Store! You have to make an appointment.

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founding

Oh!! Thanks for the tip Liz ☺️ hope you are doing well!

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Yayaya np but it sounds like chao’s exclusive demo would be more fun haha I hope you’re doing well as well :)

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founding

sadly all the appts are already taken in the bay area!!! I let my friends in other states know though, they will likely have a better shot..

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Re Visión Pro, I think this tweet is on point https://x.com/kylebrussell/status/1753767565392748626?s=61&t=HRDzOGPe5kRPb51K-pDD8w The important thing is to focus on people’s reaction and it’s clearly leaving a mark. The main question now is how does this feeling hold up with time. Is a great execution and a brilliant screen enough to bring on a new set of people that use XR regularly?

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author

Good point on early adopters justifying their own purchase. I've been leaving a bunch of thoughts on the AVP in my logs in case you're interested. Currently have one, but I'm leaning towards returning it. It is a flash of novelty and wonder On Day 1, but feels like there is a logistical, perceptual, and psychological strain to using it consistently.

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Feb 13Liked by Michael Dean

It seems like it's making you feel many strong emotions. And it seems it's like that for most people. I think that in itself is already very interesting. Still feels like a coin toss whether there's something here or not.

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I have to disagree with the centralised Substack - which I *would* say, having separated mine into two a month ago. They are different sides of me, with different tones of voices, subjects of interest, two brands. Rather than being a personal brand, this feels more effective.

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author

There are definitely cases where having a split between personal & business makes sense, but I've found the more fracturing that happens, the harder it is to maintain. It depends on your goals too. If you're optimizing for audience growth around a very specific idea, then you'll find most success with sharp positioning and on-topic posts. My strategy is to have a long-term home that encapsulates the evolution of my voices and interests, with the option to branch into more focused sites in the future (I bought EssayArchitecture.com knowing that in 1-2 years, it might make sense to break that out).

Thanks for sharing David, and curious to hear more of your thoughts here.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts Michael. Perhaps my (misplaced?) desire for coherence overtook my avoidance of fracturing. I find my two Substacks are quite different as "containers" - one is straddling personal development / political empowerment, the other is quite a wide umbrella for general intellectual interests (leaving the possibility of doing philosophy, architecture, or any interdisciplinary fun beyond). Time will tell how sustainable this is.

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