Stumble upon in January 2026

AI tries to make everything easy… convenient, but life without discomfort is not something to desire. The label ‘PC compatible’ is a reminder of how complex (inconvenient) things can be.

I can’t help but feel stupid with all the AI hype. What is it that everybody else sees that I cannot? So, obviously, it warmed my heart when Rich Hickey wrote a (sarcastic) “Thank you”-letter to AI. At least, being stupid together with Rich isn’t the worst thing I can think of.

A forced segway is that AI offers convenience, but:

Annoyance, inconvenience, and unpredictability are not flaws in community. They are the cost of entry.

Read Everyone wants a village, but no one wants to be a villager by The Minority Report Publication (Kasper Benjamin Reimer Bjørkskov?)
— truly inspiring writing. It made me search for the author’s name, which led me to the talk titled How to turn minority insight into majority action at the IDG Summit 2025.
Also worth a watch.

Reading What is a PC compatible? by Matthew Garrett was a trip down memory lane. The first computer I had almost unbounded access to was an 80386. But Matthew’s story about the PC, all the way back from the 8086 chip, was fascinating.