Bits and Bobs 1/19/2026

Dijon jams.

  • Dijon jams.
    • His music comes from live improvisation with friends - no verse/chorus obsession, no rigid structure.
    • Songs are moments pulled out of the jam and refined just enough to survive.
    • That's the model:
      • You can plan meaning in advance, or you can create conditions where meaning appears.
      • The trick is catching it before it evaporates.
      • We need room to jam - and a system that knows what's worth keeping.
    • This video of him and his friends jamming is one of the best music video productions ever.

Polish triggers emotional resonance

  • Polish triggers emotional resonance
    • It's not just about how it looks, it's about:
      • interaction quality
      • flow and usability
      • motion and feedback
      • clarity of intent
      • data you can trust
    • Polish is what makes a product feel considered. Like someone cared enough to remove the friction before you noticed it. When polish is right, the product doesn't just work, it feels alive.

Platforms (like Shelf) that hold people's taste shouldn't express their own.

  • Platforms (like Shelf) that hold people's taste shouldn't express their own.
    • Our job is to build the stage. Or, more literally, we're just a Shelf.
    • Curation is fine. Editorial is fine. But it must be legible as people speaking, not the platform declaring taste from on high.
    • When a platform starts asserting what's "good," it stops being a host and starts being a critic.

ChatGPT, now with Ads.

  • ChatGPT, now with Ads. Duh.
    • So the tool that knows everything about you and is too good at making convincing arguments is going to start to be incentivized to sell you things? Great…
    • When a tool mediates thinking itself, monetizing attention should give us pause.
    • NEA thinks we'll see new "neo-ad networks purpose-built for AI applications" - an AdSense that sits across LLM-based experiences.

Am I on the defensive with the algo?

  • Am I on the defensive with the algo?
    • Each interaction with an algo shapes not just what the algo learns, but who we understand ourselves to be.
    • Identity formation occurs through both collaboration with and subversion of the systems meant to know us.
    • I find myself engaging in defensive curation, deliberately misdirecting my algo through strategic performances of false preference to protect the sanctity of my curated selfhood, preserving an authentic core from algorithmic intrusion while maintaining the illusion of transparent engagement.
    • Or is it less "defensive" and more "offensive" or fun and playful or, maybe, a more active and engaged version of "changing the channel," one that is finely tuned and operates in real time?