John Stone

Building @trove_dad on paternity leave | Product @ Intuit | Old to Twitter, new to tweeting

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

NEW POST: Generative AI was supposed to make us faster and more effective.

But in systems that rely on visible effort as a signal of quality, it’s often making them worse.

In my new essay, “Friction Was the Feature,” I explore:
-- How coal production in the 19th century explains AI's impact on knowledge work
-- How cheaper words lead to inflating outputs instead of better outcomes
-- How https://t.co/1WbTQqVmlA is a canary in the coal mine for this “loss of signal” problem
-- How we might redesign hiring, admissions, and other fields around proofs instead of prose

If you’ve ever felt like you’re drowning in words but not seeing the systems around you improve, I think you’ll enjoy this.

Link below 👇

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@patrick_oshag https://t.co/SyTz0G1peX

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@gabriel1 Set up text-replacement shortcuts for your email, address, and other key phrases you commonly type on a phone. Email in particular saves a ton of time on login forms

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@businessbarista Asking all baby-related questions, typically via voice mode with baby in hand. ChatGPT 5 Thinking mode has been tremendous.

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@juliarturc There was tons of alpha in being a great googler. Using quotation marks effectively, etc. Adding “reddit” to the end of queries. Even having intuition on which links to click on based on their previews.

Was a big multiplier of effectiveness for 15+ years.

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@xwanyex https://t.co/OOHgx6Y0wL

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

NEW POST: Generative AI was supposed to make us faster and more effective.

But in systems that rely on visible effort as a signal of quality, it’s often making them worse.

In my new essay, “Friction Was the Feature,” I explore:
-- How coal production in the 19th century explains AI's impact on knowledge work
-- How cheaper words lead to inflating outputs instead of better outcomes
-- How https://t.co/1WbTQqVmlA is a canary in the coal mine for this “loss of signal” problem
-- How we might redesign hiring, admissions, and other fields around proofs instead of prose

If you’ve ever felt like you’re drowning in words but not seeing the systems around you improve, I think you’ll enjoy this.

Link below 👇

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@jessicamalnik @seanfrank Haha I love that. Although a decent LLM would pass the test too

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@jessicamalnik @seanfrank Can you say more? Whatre some examples?

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@seanfrank “Effort” as a signal of candidate quality has completely broken with Gen AI.

An interesting Econ paper just came out on this. Just wrote a post:

https://t.co/C6FOfuAtNa?

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

https://t.co/017KVyNrKE

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

NEW POST: Generative AI was supposed to make us faster and more effective.

But in systems that rely on visible effort as a signal of quality, it’s often making them worse.

In my new essay, “Friction Was the Feature,” I explore:
-- How coal production in the 19th century explains AI's impact on knowledge work
-- How cheaper words lead to inflating outputs instead of better outcomes
-- How https://t.co/1WbTQqVmlA is a canary in the coal mine for this “loss of signal” problem
-- How we might redesign hiring, admissions, and other fields around proofs instead of prose

If you’ve ever felt like you’re drowning in words but not seeing the systems around you improve, I think you’ll enjoy this.

Link below 👇

[John Collison @collision]

As you become an adult, you realize that things around you weren't just always there; people made them happen. But only recently have I started to internalize how much tenacity *everything* requires. That hotel, that park, that railway. The world is a museum of passion projects.

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@morganhousel heading to Hawaii tomorrow for our first vacation with our 5mo baby and need a vacation read. I'm super stoked for your next book, what's the chance I could get an advance copy for Kindle?

I already preordered it, if that matters. Happy to review it too or whatever people do with advance copies

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@ryancarson Count me in

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

A better healthcare system could just be life insurance that pays out exponentially more the younger you die.

Align incentives so the longer you live, the better financially they do.

Plenty of complexities, but seems like a better model than present. Is this legal to build?

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@garrytan I kinda gravitate towards messages with all lowercase for this reason. Feels authentic. Human

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@Cobylefko So nice.

If only we didn’t make this illegal to build elsewhere

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@signulll and it’s not necessarily a good thing. Confines create meaning; constraints breed creativity.

No one needed infinite scroll, it was just the best way companies could capture more scarce attention to drive profits.

Will infinite everything be any better?

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@businessbarista Love this deliberate ordering of priorities.

I built an app to help dads be more intentional & preserve precious moments with their kids. Texts you a journaling prompt 2x per week, you reply with a photo + reflection

Would love your take >> https://t.co/oF8ssJhgGM

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

This absolutely broke my brain

[Midnight Maniac Sri @sridatta]

'water is transparent only within a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum,

so living organisms evolved sensitivity to that band, and that's what we now call "visible light". '

(found via HN)

[John Stone @JohnStoneBlog]

@MarkKnd https://t.co/oF8ssJgIRe