A living collection of notes, ideas, and reflections from Doug Belshaw.
From The Salmon of Doubt:
We are stuck with technology when all we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognize something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.
I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
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When reading this post I couldn't help but think about Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) which I think is the perfect fit for an organisation made up of humans and AI agents. I've written about VSM numerous times as part of my postgraduate studies into Systems Thinking.
…I'm sure there's a way I could automate this, but I keep track of projects by copy/pasting the number of hours spent on projects from Toggl into a spreadsheet. The trouble is that this then needs formatting into something that the spreadsheet (in this case, Proton Sheets) can deal with.
…As a thought experiment, all things being equal, I think I'd rather go to China than the US at the moment.
It's just the arbitrariness and uncertainty of it all; one of the most powerful countries in the world taken over by an unpredictable narcissist.
…This is a test note.
This is good in relation to my upcoming zine:
These are the emerging ways that friction brings meaning to our lives:
- Friction creates memorable experiences
- Friction invites reflection
- Friction invites responsibility
- Friction raises awareness
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I really like the idea of an e-ink monitor for writing. I've got an A4 size reader that I've paired a keyboard with before to sit outside in the sunshine, but it was more of an experiment.
Ideally, I'd like a laptop that could which between a regular screen an e-ink screen at the flick of a switch.
…The best engineers I've ever known wrote less code, not more. They deleted things. They simplified. They understood that the goal was never the code itself. They solved problems, they made the system reliable, and they served the user. Measuring developers by output volume, whether that's lines, commits, or tokens, mistakes the exhaust for the engine.
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