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Analogies are dangerous
Analogies are powerful tools that help us understand complex concepts by connecting them to more familiar ideas. By identifying shared features between different domains, we are able to abstract away much of the details and focus on the crux of an idea. They are a form of shorthand that helps us grok new ideas quickly. But they are also dangerous. And for founders, an over-reliance on them can lead to motivated reasoning and false starts. Analogies have a sneaky way of supporting our underlying assumptions, and the longer we use them the harder they can be to replace.
ChatGPT could never....
I've been playing around with AI chatbots for the past month or so. From my experience, these tools are great for quickly exploring unknown concepts. They provide digestible overviews for the ELI5 type questions that would be otherwise cumbersome to answer (outside of asking an expert directly). While these models excel in their breadth of knowledge, when it comes to depth, they still have a ways to go. This may be because I'm asking the wrong questions, but it also seems like itâs a function of how these models work.
Gaming crews hit different
Growing up, I loved video games; from real-time strategy (RTS) and role-playing games (RPG), to puzzlers and first-person shooters (FPS)âgames like Halo, Call of Duty, and GoldenEye were formative in my childhood. Going to LAN parties with friends, where people get together in the same place to play video games, was a favorite way to spend our weekends. But after college the responsibilities of adulthood pulled me away from gaming. And it wasnât until an old gaming friend shot me a text over the holidays that I decided to jump back in.
Comfortably uncomfortable
This year, I started skateboarding. Not a common hobby to pick up in your 30s. I found skateboarding because of my 7 year old daughter, Bo. She likes to ride anything with wheels. Bo has autism and finds the movement regulating. She started with a scooter, then moved to roller skates, but it was at her cousin's house that she discovered a skateboard, and that has become her favorite way to roll. As someone who didn't grow up skateboarding, if I was going to be keep up with her, I needed to learn ASAP. So I watched some Youtube videos, bought a deck from my local skate shop, and went to a nearby parking lot. The first few times out were brutal. In short, I was horrible at it. But in spite of my scrapped knees and tarnished pride, I quickly fell in love with skateboarding.