Justin Chen

Designer @Ford Universal EV. Previously @Tesla @Uber

[Emma Steuer 🧚🤖 @emmysteuer]

Unfortunately I’m not young enough to know everything anymore

[Dylan Field @zoink]

When execution is cheap, design and creativity are the edge.

[Franz von Holzhausen @woodhaus2]

After nearly 18 years I can stop working on Model S and X. We put so much love into these products, but will continue to pour that into the future products. Thanks to everyone who believed in and supported these cars through the years. We strived for the best and will never stop. Saying goodbye to something great and making room for something even greater!

[Justin Chen @thinkdft]

@ianzelbo Heck yeah! Hope we can catch up again when you get back out here

[Justin Chen @thinkdft]

@OOSScot Sound effects were sublime 😂

[2001 Live @25YearsAgoLive]

Apple introduces the iMac G3 Special Edition in wildly-colorful Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian patterns.

[Yun-Ta Tsai @yunta_tsai]

Hard work and having fun are not mutually exclusive. They are vectors that can multiply.

[Jim Farley @jimfarley98]

The Universal Electric Vehicle platform is one of the most audacious and important projects in @Ford’s history. What's exciting to me is not just what we’re making – a fantastic new truck and family of vehicles – but how we’re doing it. By chasing physics, not competitors. Watch this deep dive from Alan Clarke and his team to see a peek behind the curtain at American innovation in action. This is how we will compete and win against China and the rest of the world. https://t.co/gZSAKTlBCX

[Sawyer Merritt @SawyerMerritt]

NEWS: Ford has announced that its upcoming ~$30,000 mid-size electric truck will have 48v architecture and have 15% more aerodynamic efficiency than any other pickup truck on the market today.

EV truck info:
• LFP battery (prismatic). Structural battery, a first for Ford. LFP Battery made in Michigan.
• New regen-braking design that saves $100 in battery cost.
• Ford says "if the same battery was married to the aerodynamics of the most aerodynamically efficient mid-size gas truck in the U.S., we believe our new electric truck would have nearly 50 miles or 15% more driving range. And a 30% improvement at highway speeds."
• Truck uses unicastings (gigacastings)
• Reduces parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to dock in the plant & 15% faster assembly time.
• Side mirror body size is 20% smaller than a conventional mirror, adding ~1.5 miles of range.
• New tire wake design: "We guided the front tire wake directly toward the rear tires, effectively "hiding" the rear wheels." This adds 4.5 miles of range.
• Wiring harness is more than 4,000 feet (1.3 kilometers) shorter and 22lbs kilograms lighter than the one used in their first-gen electric SUV.
• The new midsize truck is forecasted to have more passenger room than the latest Toyota RAV4, even before you include the frunk and the truck bed.
• The new midsize truck will have a targeted 0-60 time of 4.5s.
• Completely redesigned EV architecture
• Deliveries start in the U.S. in 2027 with a target starting MSRP of $30,000.

Ford: "If we succeed, we will have a family of vehicles that we expect to compete on price with the best in the world, including gas vehicles. We used a Formula 1-inspired development cycle to develop this vehicle. We shifted our focus toward a "fail fast, learn faster" mentality."

[Ryo Lu @ryolu_]

software is still about thinking

software has always been about taking ambiguous human needs and crystallizing them into precise, interlocking systems. the craft is in the breakdown: which abstractions to create, where boundaries should live, how pieces communicate.

coding with ai today creates a new trap: the illusion of speed without structure. you can generate code fast, but without clear system architecture – the real boundaries, the actual invariants, the core abstractions – you end up with a pile that works until it doesn't. it's slop because there's no coherent mental model underneath.

ai doesn't replace systems thinking – it amplifies the cost of not doing it. if you don't know what you want structurally, ai fills gaps with whatever pattern it's seen most. you get generic solutions to specific problems. coupled code where you needed clean boundaries. three different ways of doing the same thing because you never specified the one way.

as Cursor handles longer tasks, the gap between "vaguely right direction" and "precisely understood system" compounds exponentially. when agents execute 100 steps instead of 10, your role becomes more important, not less.

the skill shifts from "writing every line" to "holding the system in your head and communicating its essence":

- define boundaries – what are the core abstractions? what should this component know? where does state live?
- specify invariants – what must always be true? what are the constants and defaults that make the system work?
- guide decomposition – how should this break down? what's the natural structure? what's stable vs likely to change?
- maintain coherence – as ai generates more code, you ensure it fits the mental model, follows patterns, respects boundaries.

this is what great architects and designers do: they don't write every line, but they hold the system design and guide toward coherence. agents are just very fast, very literal team members.

the danger is skipping the thinking because ai makes it feel optional. people prompt their way into codebases they don't understand. can't debug because they never designed it. can't extend because there's no structure, just accumulated features.

people who think deeply about systems can now move 100x faster. you spend time on the hard problem – understanding what you're building and why – and ai handles mechanical translation. you're not bogged down in syntax, so you stay in the architectural layer longer.

the future isn't "ai replaces programmers" or "everyone can code now." it's "people who think clearly about systems build incredibly fast, and people who don't generate slop at scale."

the skill becomes: holding complexity, breaking it down cleanly, communicating structure precisely. less syntax, more systems. less implementation, more architecture. less writing code, more designing coherence.

humans are great at seeing patterns, understanding tradeoffs, making judgment calls about how things should fit together.

ai can't save you from unclear thinking – it just makes unclear thinking run faster.

[Andrej Karpathy @karpathy]

Agency > Intelligence

I had this intuitively wrong for decades, I think due to a pervasive cultural veneration of intelligence, various entertainment/media, obsession with IQ etc. Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce. Are you hiring for agency? Are we educating for agency? Are you acting as if you had 10X agency?

Grok explanation is ~close:

“Agency, as a personality trait, refers to an individual's capacity to take initiative, make decisions, and exert control over their actions and environment. It’s about being proactive rather than reactive—someone with high agency doesn’t just let life happen to them; they shape it. Think of it as a blend of self-efficacy, determination, and a sense of ownership over one’s path.

People with strong agency tend to set goals and pursue them with confidence, even in the face of obstacles. They’re the type to say, “I’ll figure it out,” and then actually do it. On the flip side, someone low in agency might feel more like a passenger in their own life, waiting for external forces—like luck, other people, or circumstances—to dictate what happens next.

It’s not quite the same as assertiveness or ambition, though it can overlap. Agency is quieter, more internal—it’s the belief that you *can* act, paired with the will to follow through. Psychologists often tie it to concepts like locus of control: high-agency folks lean toward an internal locus, feeling they steer their fate, while low-agency folks might lean external, seeing life as something that happens *to* them.”

[Justin Chen @thinkdft]

@iriscleung @SMSeddy These slap 😍 great work @iriscleung @SMSeddy

[Jared Isaacman @rookisaacman]

Too many still think of China as it was decades ago instead of the accelerating peer it has already become. China has immense second-mover advantage and they are not afraid to take on the big, bold projects that once defined America...they built a 16 GW dam in 4 years, rapidly ramping all forms of power to meet demand including nuclear (you don't even want to compare timelines or cost between USA and Chinese plants), a ~380 mile water tunnel under construction, the largest ultra-high-voltage grid moving power efficiently, 25,000+ miles of high-speed rail, a planned 100 PW laser, they achieved a record fusion plasma demo, a tested quantum-encrypted satellite network, they for all purposes own global shipbuilding to influence trade, AI on the cheap, operational Mach-30 wind tunnel, already fielded hypersonics and atmospheric waverider weapons, sixth-gen fighter prototypes on display, humanoid and armed robodogs manufactured at scale and a space program with imminent reusable tech, fresh lunar samples (including from the far side of the Moon) and a space telescope project with a FOV 300× Hubble’s and expected at a fraction of the cost. Not to mention, they have line of sight on a moon landing in far less time and lower cost than the 100B we have invested over the last 35 years.

This is the first true geopolitical competitor we have faced since the start of the Cold War--and we don’t want to lose.

[Brooke LeBlanc @brookeleblanc]

Whether you think you can, or think you can’t…you’re right!

[Justin Chen @thinkdft]

@BLKMDL3 What makes you prefer Michelin PSS over PS4S?

[Justin Chen @thinkdft]

@ianzelbo “No Credit Check” screams scam + preying on the most vulnerable 😢

[Justin Chen @thinkdft]

@ianzelbo This CANNOT be real. Ain’t no way. 😵💀

[Justin Chen @thinkdft]

@TESLA_winston Yes! A huge difference. But even better if you install the double pane highland glass. Also, don’t forget to apply mats in the wheel well liners