Lesson 8: Defining New Capabilities

(0:02 - 0:27)

This is arguably the most important conversation that we're having, the most important topic. New capabilities. New capabilities are the superpowers that you're giving to our customers, to our market, to our world, to our planet, back to animals, to machines even.

(0:30 - 0:51)

And these new capabilities are super important. Most of the time, people think of new capabilities, they just call it new features. And so a lot of product teams, founders, inventors, engineers, even designers, like everybody is just like feature stuffing.

(0:51 - 1:03)

More features, more features, more features. And I think it comes from this idea of a consumer utility, which we've defined in the far past through a different sort of thing. If you search, you can probably find it.

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Consumer utility is Google. It's a search box that's universal that everyone on the planet can use. It is almost as fundamental as electricity or oxygen or water or air.

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And it gave you a new capability, which is you can discover and organize and find all the world's information at your fingertips at the speed of light. New capabilities, though, instead of a feature, like what if, what if we define this as helping you discover a new feeling? Or a feeling that you just can't get that you've been seeking and desiring. This is a feeling.

(1:56 - 2:36)

This feeling is real. This is the feeling created by the universe, and it has a calming effect. I believe that we are entering an era where peace, calm, with bits of excitement for fun, but searching for, finding, and establishing that deep peace and calm in your life, which feels like the deepest sigh you've ever taken, free of stress, free of worry, free of anxiety.

(2:36 - 3:04)

That is the ultimate luxury item. That is the ultimate wealth. When you can just be, let go, have nothing pulling on you, no one, no thing, no job, no outside force, just the ability for you to be okay in this space of calmness and peace without anything else.

(3:06 - 3:27)

For better or worse, the internet is, let me put it this way. If you do nothing on the internet, you post nothing, you just view, maybe you don't visit it, you are invisible. It is probably the worst design mechanic of the internet and of social media.

(3:27 - 3:47)

If you do nothing, you are invisible, which means the absolute core foundational mechanic of the internet itself is to create, to be seen, to push something out there. The only, even music has to come from somewhere. You sit, you listen.

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The closest we could maybe get is me sitting here. You could, these trees, water comes from our ecosystem. You don't need to water this long.

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It gets watered by nature, by the very nature of this planetary ecosystem. Can we provide that new capability to a species where you are watered without you having to do anything for you sitting in your peace and in your calm? How do we even package that? This is the closest I've gotten to that so far. So then let's wind the crank all the way up.

(6:03 - 6:09)

Let's wind it up. Now we're in a parking lot. I've got bills.

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I've got things I need to do. I've got a house. I've got kids to feed.

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I've got debt I need to service. I have customers who are clamoring for things to help them because they need to rush their business, get their things done. How would we practically transition this calmness? I think it's much of the same.

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We're in this growth at all costs mindset. I just don't want to worry. I don't want to have to log in your thing and do anything.

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Can't you just do it for me? That's the promise of these AI agents. The fear, of course, is that if you just come in and do all this work for me, then what value do I have? Why would you pay me? As a reviewer, as a shaper, perhaps, I think there's a lot of that. I think it's this guide the river.

(7:08 - 7:44)

And for these probabilistic systems and these open systems like the Wisp Network and Bitcoin Lightning, where you don't have direct control, it's more like release control to maneuver things in a positive way and get compounding enlightenment on a force level. It means you have to let go. And so what is a new capability that we can give to our community? And it's a feeling.

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It's a feeling of safety, of calmness, where you can literally come as you are and be yourself, and it's OK. It's a judgment-free zone. It's a safe place for real talk.

(8:00 - 8:23)

And through that, through that, more physical, tangible features can develop. So a text box doesn't become a scary place where you're going to steal my data and create your own model. Flip this around.

(8:23 - 9:01)

Let's look at it through the lens of AI, which, depending on how you count, I've been involved in for 30-odd years because I studied theoretical mathematics and was doing some of this stuff in middle school. This idea of this one universal algorithm to rule them all, but the antithesis and the opposite force of that is like a personalized AI. And look at Rolls-Royce, the craftsmanship, the bespokenness, the one-on-one consultations where we sit down for three hours and we go through.

(9:02 - 9:40)

We start with someone who understands the essence, and we start with what is a memory or an emotion that you had that's very strong, that gives you a positive feeling that you can remember, still remember to this day you hold on to. How can we take that emotion and choose the colors that we have, the materials, the woods, the grains, the flow of things, the stitching itself, like the movement of the car and the suspension level? So we create an environment for you such that you can live in that emotion space. And that's craftsmanship.

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That's working with your hands. That's a deep care. And applying that deep care to sitting down with you and crafting a tool that is uniquely your own that helps you through whatever mechanism you want to help with.

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And you're not going to do that at scale just by like, let's slap a recording device on everybody and make a pen or a phone or a pencil or like glasses. And we're just going to like take in all this data, and it's just completely impersonal, and there's zero connection. That is not how we do this.

(10:20 - 11:06)

We do this individually and find that, foster that connection, foster that very real essence where you can just be and your personal guide understands the core essence of what you're seeking and helps you not seek anymore, either by achieving it or helping you realize that that's not actually what you're working for and that you're actually cool right now with exactly who you are. And maybe you're doing all the right things and you're the right person and you're just in the wrong environment with the wrong people. It's worth thinking about.

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So, new capabilities. I believe the winners in the future will create a more personalized approach. And if that win isn't a sign of hands clapping or agreement, let's say, I don't know what is.

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So, let's take the signs and the synchronicity for what it is and, I don't know, what else we got? Like, let's give it a shot, right? Otherwise, we're just feature stuffing and it's more of the same and it's fake authenticity and it's just more shoving, like, products down and services down people's throats that they don't want, need, care about. It doesn't actually help things. So, let's find a new path.

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Let's find a new lighthouse and then try our darndest and attempt to fulfill those principles and those ideals. I'll never get there, but damn if I'm not gonna, like, try to figure out what those principles are, try to construct a lighthouse and then work towards it. What else are we gonna do, you know? Like, why else are we here? What's the point? So, that's the mindset and my question then is, like, where are you? Where's your headspace? What's your mindset? Do you completely disagree with this? Is there something there? Should we, like, delve deeper? I don't know.

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You tell me. So, anyways. New capabilities.

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Put those shades back on. All right. Have a good one.