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Capabilities × motivation × access | thesephist.com

thesephist.com · 1,023 words · saved by 1 readers

I think a lot about building tools, especially software tools. My favorite way to think about tools is as a force multiplier of human effort. A better tool multiplies humanity’s effort and willpower by a higher factor to effect more change on the world in whatever direction we desire. In my case, very often that direction of change is towards building even better tools. This is the magic tools building tools – it leads to a positive feedback loop, because we crank up our productivity multiplier and use it to make our tools ever more effective. It exponentially speeds up the rate at which we innovate both our tools and everywhere else in society. But how exactly do we design better tools? What are the directions to which we should push the status quo of tools, to increase that force multiplier? I think the power of a tool is the product of three quantities: the new capabilities it grants to those who wield it, the extra motivation it brings to a task, and how much more accessible the to

I think a lot about building tools, especially software tools . My favorite way to think about tools is as a force multiplier of human effort . A better tool multiplies humanity's effort and willpower by a higher factor to effect more change on the world in whatever direction we desire. In my case, very often that direction of change is towards building even better tools . This is the magic tools building tools - it leads to a positive feedback loop, because we crank up our productivity multiplier and use it to make our tools ever more effective. It exponentially speeds up the rate at which we

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