Clearing out the idea closet (47 projects on my backlog)

(⏱️ read time: 3 min)

Hi all!

1) Apparently "eating my hair if I broke my promise" crossed the line from funny to actually unhealthy & disturbing.  So, I won't use self-punishment for failing to get AI Safety Part One out this month.  Again.

Instead...

. . .

2) I wrote a 20,000-word(!!!) mega-post summarizing all the projects that have been on my backlog for the last few years!

🧹 CLEARING OUT THE IDEA CLOSET (47 Projects on my Backlog)  🧹
💡 (47 sections × ~2 min each, can be read in any order.) 💡
😬 (it is 90 minutes reading in total, though.) 😬

Here's a random sample of fun drawings I made for it:

So if you want a smörgåsbord of ideas ranging from game theory to virtue ethics to dystopian satire to nerdcore music to bad puns... well, bon appetit!

Let me know which projects you want most to exist! Or tell me any other thoughts you have on 'em.

. . .

3) I want to ship less-polished, smaller projects more frequently. So I extracted one section from the above mega-post, and published it on its own:

❎ Why don't brackets matter in multiplication? (3 min read) ❎

I'm pretty happy about this, coz it features a never-before-seen visual proof! (as far as I know)  Here it is below, though it'll make more sense with the article:

I hope, two decades from now, when I teach my kid algebra, they'll find this delightful & intuitive, instead of believing "yup math is just a bunch of boring, random-ass rules."

. . .

"If the treatment isn't working, question the diagnosis."
~ (quote Ali Abdaal quoting his mentor)

I've beaten myself up for 12+ months about the AI Safety series, always promising Part One will "be out next month", every month.

AI Safety Part One will be out whenever it's out.  In the meantime, please enjoy random short fun unpolished explainers & simulations I'll post whenever.

It's good to, finally, after years(?!), feel like I'm having FUN with projects again.  Methinks I misdiagnosed my problem as "not enough willpower", when maybe it was "not enough fun".

It's head-slappingly obvious when I put it that way, but... god, I missed that.

Having fun.

See you next month!

Cheers,
~ Nicky Case