Meaning is slow.
Meaning is slow. Optimization is fast. Fast twitch feedback loops are about optimization not creating meaning.
Topic: feedback loop
63 chunks · 41 episodes
Topic summary
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A short read on the topic's time range, peak episode, and strongest associations. Use it as the quick orientation before drilling into examples.
- feedback loop appears in 63 chunks across 41 episodes, from 2023-10-02 to 2026-04-13.
- Its densest episode is Bits and Bobs 9/16/24 (2024-09-16), with 5 observations on this topic.
- Semantically it travels with llms, compounding value, and ground truth, while by chunk count it sits between infinite software and Anthropic; its yearly rank moved from #34 in 2023 to #60 in 2026.
Over time
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Observations
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The primary evidence view for this topic. Sort it chronologically when you want concrete examples behind the larger pattern.
When the feedback loop is long and expensive you'll cling to any signal you have.
When the feedback loop is long and expensive you'll cling to any signal you have. You'll lean into superstitions. Including things like taking offhand comments from execs a...
Vertical products start with their median customer.
...strength in numbers. Horizontal platforms have multi-layered, multi-dimensional feedback loops, which scale with the combinatorial possibility of the building blocks. They scale much faster, allowing the platform to continually ratchet up the ...
A default stance: Assume everyone is good at what they do and doing what they think is best.
...yourself "They're an asshole" or "They're an idiot" it terminates analysis. The feedback loop to learn is snipped and stops being a learning loop.
Evolution works across a long feedback loop integrating approximately over all variance in that loop.
Evolution works across a long feedback loop integrating approximately over all variance in that loop. All actions that happen between the organism being conceived, and when it successfully repr...
Systems on the cusp of criticality are where interesting things happen.
...cality are where interesting things happen. Similar to the nested chain mail of feedback loops, always spinning. Ready to be perturbed and cascade that information; a dynamic equilibrium.
The more investment that happens before a thing achieves viability, the more likely it never achieves viability.
...ity. More investment typically takes more time. Time to completing a real-world feedback loop is critical. More investment means more time means longer loops to feedback means less likely to be viable when you finally interact with the ground ...
Quilts of interlocked loops of different scales create a resilient, evolving fabric.
...tion implies this multi-scale chainmail of mutually reinforcing and influencing feedback loops.
A design pattern with humans in the loop: 4-up evolution.
...e they like the best. 10 blue links is a kind of version of this, but without a feedback loop that puts you at a new similar decision immediately. If the search results were good enough, you click a link and are satisfied and don't come back. ...
Minecraft and things like it allow users to incrementally get deeper into it, with no cliffs.
...gn a lo-fi system, you can make it easy to tinker and experiment and get a fast feedback loop.
At the beginning of the web with slow bandwidth, experimentation was harder / slower.
...proves, higher bandwidth experimentation (including video!) gets easier. Faster feedback loops: more experimentation: more users climbing up the ladder of savviness in an open-ended tool. in the future we'll look back at ChatGPT and be like "w...
The right UX for LLM based experiences is enchanted artifacts.
...ences is enchanted artifacts. A chat is too squishy. It has a fast, recoverable feedback loop. "No, not like that, like this…" But it's hard to get any kind of structured / durable output. An app is too hard. If the thing doesn't work, there's...
Where does innovation in the system happen?
...e does innovation in the system happen? If at the infrastructure layer you have feedback loop speed problems. If at the higher layer you have coordination / messiness problems.
A clear distillation of some cybernetic principles from Gordon Brander:
...tic principles from Gordon Brander: "If the error rate is too high, tighten the feedback loop. If the variety is too low, loosen the feedback loop."
If savvy users can fix a product failure case, that gives the potential for a self-bootstrapping quality system.
...ly. This basic pattern is captured in an old essay of mine, [ITW] Self-hoisting Feedback Loops A viral ecosystem with these kinds of loops can get huge amounts of momentum.
In many AI products today, the ceiling is set by the LLM's quality.
...then the user can pop open the hood and fix it. This then gives a self-hoisting feedback loop to improve the quality for all users. This latter approach is significantly more resilient for a cutting-edge technology with variable quality. The A...
Chat is not the right paradigm for LLM apps.
...man in the loop to correct and guide. "No, not like that, more like this…" This feedback loop makes them viable even when the answers aren't perfect. If you take a prompt that works great in a chat and jam it into an app shape it doesn't work,...
If you give too many resources to a team, they'll extend themselves beyond the bounds of their ability without realizing it.
...u're in a scarcity environment, it's much harder to get out over your skis; the feedback loop is tighter. Googlers typically don't understand how to do anything in a scrappy, scarcity mindset given how resource-rich the environment is. The pla...
Close your feedback loops!
Close your feedback loops! Indicators of quality of the feedback: how many steps are you thinking ahead, and does it loop back? An OODA loop without the loop is bad. Closing ...
Our brains are very good at melding with tools, incorporating them into our mental map as an intuitive extension of ourselves and our agency.
...ntal map as an intuitive extension of ourselves and our agency. The shorter the feedback loop / lower the error between intention and outcome, the faster and higher fidelity the merge.