Subconscious

Subconscious explores the intersection of technology, philosophy, and systems thinking to understand how digital tools and concepts like artificial intelligence, cryptographic signatures, and decentralized protocols can enhance human thought, agency, and collaboration. It delves into the evolution of tools for thought, the nature of feedback loops, and the potential for individual sovereignty in the digital age.

Technology and Society Artificial Intelligence Decentralization and Cryptography Philosophy of Mind Systems Thinking User Agency and Identity Software Design and Development Evolution of Communication and Collaboration

Top posts of the year

And their main takeaways

LLMs break the internet. Signing everything fixes it.

1974 implied HN points • 25 Apr 23
🕹 Technology AI Cybersecurity Networking Web Development
  1. LLMs can manipulate the internet in various ways, but signing everything with cryptographic keys can help combat these issues.
  2. Cryptographic signatures provide a foundation to rebuild trust online and ensure authenticity.
  3. Building webs of trust through self-sovereign keys, reputation, and attestation can enhance security and collaboration in the digital world.

Tools for thought: the first 300,000 years

1658 implied HN points • 10 Jun 23
🕹 Technology History Artificial Intelligence Computer Science Communication
  1. 300,000 years ago, humanity started leaving messages in rocks and clay, allowing thoughts to outlive individuals.
  2. Throughout history, humans have continuously discovered new tools for thinking, such as language, art, and technology.
  3. The shared brain of humanity has evolved over time, with increasing collaboration and technological advancements, setting the stage for thinking together to address global challenges.

Protocols as Weberian Bureaucracy

1342 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Innovation Artificial Intelligence
  1. In small groups, people are self-organizing, but beyond 150, cooperation needs more than instincts.
  2. Power in organizations can be organized as charismatic authority, traditional authority, and rational-legal authority.
  3. Bureaucracy may seem slow and impersonal, but it scales power distribution through rules, which can approximate fairness.
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Tools for thought in your OODA loop

947 implied HN points • 23 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Tools for Thought Cognitive Science Artificial Intelligence Knowledge Management
  1. The OODA loop consists of observe, orient, decide, and act, crucial for agency in a cybernetic system.
  2. Fast transients and maintaining awareness are key to disorienting adversaries and maintaining agency.
  3. Tools for thought expand awareness, build memory, and increase bandwidth for synthesis, essential for navigating complex environments.

Create good problems to have

829 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Innovation Tech Culture Community Building Complex Systems Social Networks
  1. Create good problems to have after the flywheel is already spinning, during rapid growth, which motivates the ecosystem to solve problems.
  2. Avoid building perfect technology as it leads to front-loading work, needing an ecosystem flywheel, and inability to anticipate scale problems.
  3. Creating good problems to have encourages co-evolution with the community and provides opportunities for others to contribute.

Concept design in three easy steps

710 implied HN points • 19 May 23
🕹 Technology Design Software Apps Concepts Engineering
  1. View software design as shaping functionality, understand what it should do first before how it does it or how it looks.
  2. Break down app functionalities into modular concepts, each with its own behavior and actions, combine existing concepts creatively.
  3. Design concepts to function independently, sync actions to ensure smooth interaction, focus on how concepts fit together to improve usability.

Noosphere at Summer of Protocols

631 implied HN points • 13 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Internet Decentralization Web
  1. The web was originally envisioned as a decentralized wiki for collective intelligence.
  2. Tim Berners-Lee's book 'Weaving the Web' offers perspective-shifting insights about the early days of the web.
  3. Enquire, a precursor to the web, had features like bi-directional links and semantic triples.

Freedom to exit

2 HN points • 05 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Ownership
  1. The freedom to exit means you can take your data and leave without anyone stopping you.
  2. Three ways to ensure data ownership are through decentralized protocols, local-first data, or legal agreements.
  3. Projects focusing on user-controlled data should utilize decentralized protocols, local-first data, or legal agreements to ensure data ownership.