The potential for dynamic webapps existed before the word "Ajax."
...ation to happen, and expectations to change. The possibility was there, but the schelling point wasn't.
Topic: schelling point
73 chunks · 53 episodes
1.8x burst in 2024 Q2
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Peak quarter intensity across the topic's active span. Higher values mean attention was concentrated into a shorter stretch rather than spread evenly over time.
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.
- schelling point appears in 73 chunks across 53 episodes, from 2023-10-02 to 2026-04-27.
- Its densest episode is Bits and Bobs 4/1/24 (2024-04-01), with 3 observations on this topic.
- Semantically it travels with network effect, coordination cost, and coordinate, while by chunk count it sits between mental model and infinite software; its yearly rank moved from #39 in 2023 to #24 in 2026.
Over time
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Raw mentions over time. Use this to see absolute attention, not relative rank among all topics.
Observations
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The primary evidence view for this topic. Sort it chronologically when you want concrete examples behind the larger pattern.
Coordination cost needs to be paid if there isn't a schelling point.
Coordination cost needs to be paid if there isn't a schelling point. Coordination costs are huge. Schelling points make it go from large to ~zero. All it takes is a point everyone can agree is good enough. What counts...
Your files aren't in Obsidian.
...to worry about the incentives of Obsidian's creators. That makes it an emergent schelling point for an ecosystem. No one finds Obsidian's control to be a deal-breaker, because it structurally does not have any. Arguably it would have even less i...
Schelling points have to be sharp.
Schelling points have to be sharp. Diffuse things don't have schelling points. People who are already convinced can find a diffuse thing compelling; but people who a...
Meaningful state tends to accumulate around schelling points in an ecosystem.
Meaningful state tends to accumulate around schelling points in an ecosystem. In the same origin paradigm, if that schelling point is one origin's turf, they then accumulate the power. They can hold that data ...
For a schelling point to stay coherent in an ecosystem, everyone has to agree it's reasonable relative to the value of the ecosystem.
For a schelling point to stay coherent in an ecosystem, everyone has to agree it's reasonable relative to the value of the ecosystem. At the beginning, everyone thinking i...
Imagine a folksonomy for private tags.
...the use, and use that instead. This allows the community to emergently discover schelling points. But that doesn't work in private contexts. If I create a new label in Gmail, I can't draw on the wisdom of the crowd on what a good ontology is. Im...
Sometimes refactoring something into a schelling point creates unforeseeable value.
Sometimes refactoring something into a schelling point creates unforeseeable value. For example, maybe you have a number of bits of functionality spread out across some scripts. Then you refactor it into ...
A platform that people find to be a bit better than alternatives and also has a fundamental bonus becomes a schelling point
...to be a bit better than alternatives and also has a fundamental bonus becomes a schelling point Even if it's only a little bit better, if it has a fundamental bonus (e.g. open, values-aligned) then everyone picks it and it starts developing obvi...
A named milestone switches from default divergent energy to default convergent.
...target and why. Which of these things help achieve that goal?" A milestone is a schelling point created by a leader to cut through coordination cost. A milestone is an assertion that "this collection of projects add up to more than the sum of th...
Steven Levy laments "the crash of the idealism that originally drew founders—and me—to the tech revolution."
...ealism didn't die, it just got scattered. The Resonant Computing Manifesto is a Schelling point for people who never stopped believing. The manifesto isn't proposing something new—it's trying to recover what got lost. This is a homecoming, not a...
A way to resolve disputes in society long ago was an oracle.
...at the oracle would tell you the answer. It was really just a way to discover a schelling point that isn't best but just one everyone can agree on to solve the tie. Related to my old Schelling Points in Organizations..
Ontology is a top down process of curation.
...nomy is an emergent process of accumulation. An emergent process of discovering schelling points. Similar looking results, but wildly different resilience and adaptability.
A few reflections Claude and I had thinking about valuation "multiples" as an emergent phenomenon.
...he transaction price is where these different models find their overlap. Like a Schelling point in game theory. Not that everyone agrees on "true value," but they converge on a price that allows exchange. Private/early stage: wide variance, high...
Scenius requires a kind of scaffolding.
...mick like bringing a baby picture. For example, the cigarette break is a social schelling point for a short discussion. Cigarette breaks force subsets of people into an interaction that wasn't transactional and not curated.
Sometimes the right conventions can unlock explosive latent potential.
...imes the right conventions can unlock explosive latent potential. They act as a schelling point. "Just do it this way and everything will mostly just work." Ruby on Rails was a convention for using Ruby. Skills.md is a convention for organizing ...
In a time of despair, the beacons of hope become schelling points.
In a time of despair, the beacons of hope become schelling points. Schelling points allow coordinated action. In a time of darkness, even a dim light can be a beacon of hope.
Enterprise companies need more top-down strategy than consumer companies.
...t strategy for an extended period of time. Which implies someone who can make a schelling point that would stick.
What people believe is what matters.
...of interdependent beliefs and expectations about what others believe. Rules are schelling points, they help set the default of how people think a given situation will evolve. But they are just a default.
With LLMs, the benefits seem to have shifted decisively to typed languages.
... far outweighs their cost when LLMs are the ones programming. Is TypeScript the schelling point language? It's ubiquitous and flexible.