100 tweets on "what if it were good tho?" (for @threadapalooza 2022) Assigned to me by the @visakanv voice in my head when I asked actual-Visa "wanna gimme a topic?" Feel free to request things to make good! Aiming to do 100 different products/apps/systems/services etc.
100 tweets on 'what if it were good tho?'
103 tweets · December 2021 · 595 likes · 7 retweets · read on Twitter
1. What if Google Maps were good tho? 📍 instead of just a thing at the end for "rate these directions" you'd just be able to say (out loud ofc) > "yo google maps I needed to be in the right lane here & you didn't tell me til too late" Then it knows *where* the issue is.
2. What if smartphones were good tho? 📲 - a couple extra hardware buttons on the side that can be programmed to do all sorts of useful things - PROPER red-nighttime mode -
3. What if headphones were good tho? They could *also* use a few extra buttons to do programmatic things, like 👍ing the now-playing song. Voice commands suck because audio has to duck.
4. What if music players were good tho? I have a long thread on music management (below) but related to the previous idea, if I made a Spotify-like app, it would make an autoplaylist of *every song you turn the volume up on* 🔊
5. What if water bottles were good tho? I've had some pretty good ones here actually! Desiderata: - top unscrews in <2 twists - not tippy: bottom should be flat! - fits in cupholder etc Not vital but nice: - my current one's lid has a pretty good sippy thing - carabiner loop
6. What if fridges were good tho? More ways to reach stuff in the back so it doesn't go stale, or to rotate stuff through. Not certain how to do this but I swear it must be more possible than has been achieved so far. Hard to iterate on such infrequent purchases tho.
7. What if dating apps were good tho? Bring back the old okcupid! Literally just revert the codebase to 2012. But sure, okay, integrate new ML stuff, more powerful Q system, and allow people to plug other content into the magic algorithm like their twitter profile or writing.
8. What if zoom / video-chat were good tho? - manual & shared organization of faces into the same positions - panel: highlight N speakers at once - "allow everyone to record in rooms I host, I trust my friends ffs" setting - easy ability to tag sections of recordings for later
9. What if therapy were good tho? Memory reconsolidation & coherence empathy are necessary components for good therapy (which exists!) but they're *also* necessary components for good friendship and good parenting, and thus we can transform society:
10. What if university were good tho? Lots already good: campuses (😍), team projects, attitudes of excellence, friendly competition, experts,. Tap more curiosity & self-energized motivation by ditching grades for meaningful projects. Should seek out class to answer *own Qs*.
11. What if social media were good tho? Would not be ad-based. Fundamental misalignment of incentives. With that solved, easy to start allowing user way more power to control own feed on various scales, to tune into a particular mood or topic, and not get hooked scrolling etc.
12. What if email were good tho? I like @heyhey's anti-staleness thing where things disappear once looked at rather than queuing up. Email is nice for long-form correspondence but this is SUCH a diff mood from rapid inbox-zero-ing More thoughts: intertwingled.blog/#/app/malcolmo…
@heyhey 13. What if the gym were good tho? Haven't gone long enough (5 days recently) to have strong opinions on this, but let's see... Well, it's a diff level of abstraction, but having a friend to debug resistance with (and get encouragement from!) seems pretty vital to me. Try it!
14. What if banks were good tho? For awhile I've dreamed of a room at a bank where they lock you in then bring out the quantity of cash equal to your balance, & you can actually hold it all in your hands (or scrooge mcduck in it) 🤑 Number-on-screen is literally hard to grasp!
15. What if keyboards were good tho? I love my split keyboards (kinesis freestyle 2)... I'd love an extra modifier key... I got the Twiddler onehanded chorded keyboard and it was cool but too hard to know if my typing was actually getting saved to my phone etc. Fix that and 🤩
16. What if laptops were good tho? They'd have built-in stands or some way for the screen to slide up to a higher position. OLED screen with hardware red-only mode for nighttime peace of eyes.
17. What if power adapters were good tho? We're getting to this with usb-c laptops. It'd be amazing to have fully interchangeable computer chargers. Way easier to move devices around easily that way. Also usb adapters that emit a high-pitched whine should be returned for refund
18. What if operating systems were good tho? I like @tristanharris's & @andy_matuschak's Qs of how operating systems could support well-being & sanity. Main thing from my perspective is to better support deep focus with OS-level single-tasking contexts.
@tristanharris @andy_matuschak 19. What if browsers were good tho? (v related!) Tabs Outliner ext is a great start for archive+context, but also needs a tinder-for-tabs mode where you get one old tab at a time, to take action on or archive. Is now the moment to write that reply? Y/N.
@tristanharris @andy_matuschak 20. What if writing in cafés were good tho? I have a high-quality split keyboard (Kinesis Freestyle 2blue) that I love. The splitness makes it very portable (fits in some hoodie & jacket pockets). Typing on phone is way more focused than on computer!
@tristanharris @andy_matuschak 21. What if indicator lights in general were good? Any devices that might ever be in a bedroom etc would have way fewer blue lights and more red & yellow & green lights, to minimize melatonin fuckery at night. (Night lights should never be blue or (even "warm") white.)
22. What if small-talk were good tho? It always is if you consider that every interaction with another being is like two eyes of god beholding the cosmos & seeking depth-perception in their view by making sense of the similarities and differences.
23. What if breakfast were good tho? Depends on what you think it's about. I like fasting til noon-2pm; easier to focus before food on my mind. Ymmv but this has been great for me. As for *what*, I eat something quick (eg yogurt) unless friends around to chat with or cook for.
24. What if icebreakers were good tho? My friend Mary recently showed me a great one: - partner up A & B - A spends 45s saying things about B, all starting with the sentence stem "I don't know" (eg "idk if you're single") - B spends 45s answering as many as B can - switch
25. What if YouTube were good tho? It would open to a clean SEARCH screen not some random autoplaying shit. Motherfuckers keep trying to addict me even though I pay to not have ads so there's no benefit to me watching Shorts for an hour.
26. What if digital advertising were good tho? It would be way less. The idea that people won't pay for the product is silly. If they can't pay... they also can't buy the shit being advertised to them. If the thing is best, people will pay. Or some % will for poweruser tools.
27. What if umbrellas were good tho? ☔️ Tough balance. I have a tiny $15 one that suits me. Could be stronger but it'd be pricier thus sadder to accidentally leave somewhere. Oh! An easy way to have it hold itself up. Obvi. Chest/shoulder strap. Exists 👇 (dunno if good tho)
28. What if fast food were good tho? (pick 2: fast, healthy, c̶h̶e̶a̶p̶) Curries probably healthy compared to ff burgers; just ladle from simmering pot. Harder to eat than a burger tho. Ok: frozen veg microwaved/fried is healthy & quick. Plus less-processed meat/cheese/bread.
29. What if public transit were good tho? US could become more like Asia etc. Clipper card in SF also v good for standard payment etc. But what else? Could it be fun? - lil desks for typing at - areas or special badge for people who want to socialize - silent disco channels
30. What if consumer culture were good? Switch from conspicuous consumption to proud patronage. If you've got extra money, show me what art you're making possible in the world, or stuff it. Develop your taste so you can choose who to support.
31. What if plastic waste were good tho? Solve with carbon taxes & tariffs. Use $ as a deposit? Nah, then would have to guard dumps. Not that worried tho: seems to me that sooner or later we'll develop a bacterium that (maybe with an additional chemical) can metabolize plastic.
32. What if housing were good tho? We need way more housing in most cities. Demand>supply is the only reason it costs as much as it does. More apts/condos with short-term guest spaces so that people can easily host friends/family without having extra rooms. Common space.
33. What if read it later apps were good tho? Inflow usually exceeds outflow. Choice overwhelming. Generate "what to read now" based on: - time available - friend ♥️s or recent tweets - topics of own recent tweets (relevance!) - & other magic + easy tweet-highlight-with-link UI
34. What if cycling were good tho? I mostly don't cycle. Hmm... what would get me to? I really liked being able to take my scooter inside with me rather than detour to lock it up... could I do that with a Brompton bike? Not sure I'm really on the forefront here.
35. What if socks were good tho? Hm. I'd like a magic sock machine where I can dial a color/pattern/cut/material. For the last 5 years I've worn mismatched solid color small socks (usually same palette as my shirt) but it was hard to find same cut all colors. Now I want merino.
36. What if marriage were good tho? What is marriage for the individual-as-economic-unit era? We don't know yet. Must scale beyond 2 lovers/coparents. Internal support roles (eg "housewife") are valid and awesome for those who want them (& this needs legal support). Big topic.
37. What if city transport were good tho? I had "public transit" above, but let's see... I would honestly love to see a lot more paths and car-free areas. Cities would be a bit more like campuses. Parking at edge of downtown with frequent fast shuttles to core.
38. What if conflict resolution were good tho? It would involve honoring each of our distrusts, recognizing we're both seeing things each other isn't, tapping the value for each of us in resolving it (love or peace) & getting help from adjacent folks to find creative win-wins ❤️🔥
39. What if long-distance relationships were good tho? They'd involve more passive awareness of what each other is up to - maybe with a shared video room lobby that friends wander through en route to calls - maybe using complice.co to see what the other is doing:
40. What if videogames were good tho? Many are & can teach people better than school, in all directions. Ask @LordChisholm for recs based on what you're wanting to learn. I'd love to see a videogame designed for real-time play between Earth & Mars with lightspeed delay.
@LordChisholm 41. What if movies were good tho? Oh man. Such a shame that such repetitive plots & archetypes just keep getting remade. Does the public need better taste? Or do screenwriters need to have more unusual life experiences? Take a Nietzsche book & try to convey it in a film.
@LordChisholm 42. What if tv shows were good tho? It would be magic to have a tv channel that anyone in the world can tune into that demonstrates real culture in action at high levels of development: - real integral business meetings - noncoercive parenting - experts having discussions
@LordChisholm 43. What if music were good tho? Similarly I really really wanna see more meaningful & precise music. Love songs about polyamorous complexity. Anthems that convey the world's challenges and inspire taking action. Nondualist music that isn't just monist. (I'm working on this!)
44. What if ovens were good tho? ("cooking" too vague) They would have REAL KNOBS so we don't have to debase ourselves using those awful touchy buttons. Muscle memory & consistent feedback! maybe saveable/adjustable presets so we don't have to remember temperatures & cooktimes
45. What if recipe books were good tho? I have no idea haha. I just always improv. Tho my sister has said "if you improv then write it down, now it's a recipe" so I guess I'd like to have a simple way to record my culinary adventures, rank them & add notes for variations to try.
46. What if curtains were good tho? I haven't surveyed what's available, but I know I want one thing: blinds that can go nearly pitch dark at night, but then automatically open for dawn (or at like 8am when dawn is at 5am). I wanna wake to light, but cities aren't dark at night!
47. What if closets were good tho? Hm. Many kinds of clothing can be compressed without damage or loss of order, so you could make a set of drawers that smoosh things down as they slide in.
48. What if cupboards were good tho? Some places have cupboards above the sinks, where wet dishes can drip/air dry while already put away 🤯 There's also fancy hinges etc that dampen momentum and prevent slamming, which is pretty cool. I don't think I've got anything new here.
49. What if art that you hang up were good tho? Most people don't know that for like $2 you can print any image as a medium-sized poster at a kinkos etc! I did this when broke in uni. Make it fancy with this minimalist magnetic gravity-powered frame: raminnazer.com/products/happe…
50. What if male fashion were good tho? idgaf about *fashion*, but re style: it would be nice if there were a wider range of clothes shapes made for men's bodies. What could formal be that's not a suit? What could casual/comfy be that's not sweatpants?
51. What if razors were good tho? I've heard that more blades isn't the answer, the issue is actually the blades getting caught because they can flex on stuff? I haven't tried out eg Henson (on the left below) but the logic makes sense. No original take here I guess!
52. What if beds were good tho? The cuddle mattress (below) is *almost* a good idea. Main issue probably that you can't easily put a sheet on it, which 🙄 There's only one arm area tho, so you could just have basically a queen bed sideways + additional pillow region.
52. What if bookmarks were good tho? If you share a bookshelf with other people, try printing out custom bookmarks for each person. This serves multiple roles—in addition to keeping separate places while reading, you can leave them in to reveal who has read which books:
53. What if books were good tho? They're pretty great already tbh. I'd like to make a case that most nonfiction should have an index; basic hypertext shit. Table stakes. Also, whereever possible (and it isn't always) dense tables of contents!
54. What if anxiety were good tho? This video clip makes the case that panic attacks come from trying *not* to panic; that embracing your anxiety and truly welcoming it is the way to deeper calm. So "what if anxiety were good tho?" may be the answer!
55. What if paranoia were good tho? This is called security mindset! Well, sort of. I suspect someone with mild paranoia would do well in an opsec job, but too much paranoia is, well, too much. Most paranoia is dream mashupy; gotta recalibrate: malcolmocean.com/2021/06/dream-…
56. What if low energy levels were good tho? Can be "I need chill/play". But also I have some dull moods like "I wouldn't enjoy ANYTHING right now!" So then I'm like "okay, how about you do this thing that I need to do that I usually wouldn't enjoy then?" and oddly this works!
57. What if low impulse control were good tho? You can only ever do things now. Some impulses are worth controlling (eg urge to pee when in public) but if you get an impulse to DO anything at all meaningful or creative, take it now while it's hot! Just do it! Now! No todo list!
58. What if discourse were good tho? I feel like we're all prototyping that here! Conscious upward-spiral memetic evolution happens when we amplify memes we actually like, including meta-memes about how to meme, like this one. For more on meta-memes: malcolmocean.com/2021/11/thinki…
59. What if Discourse were good tho? (the forum software) It's decent; could use better threading though. (Weird that threading means something diff on twitter vs comment "threads") I'd like to see a forum built on top of twitter, so buried gems can be retweeted (~=blockrefs)
60. What if addiction were good tho? Addiction is in some sense the actually-best solution someone has to their situation—their fears & pains & shames. Given an adequate safe learning environment, people generally unlearn them & come out understanding something about motivation.
61. What if torture were good tho? A friend of mine said he learned a ton from his 1st ayahuasca: it was the only possible way he could have safely experienced so much pain & panic without either: - having been able to say a safeword & just end it - losing major trust in people
62. What if air travel were good tho? @vgr has a great bit about the manufactured normalcy fields of air travel... I think it would be cool if there were some options for actually-exciting air travel. Probably too smol market ☹️ There are zero-g flights that don't go anywhere.
63. What if airports were good tho? Airports are magical liminal places-out-of-place. They'd be a good place to host events/conferences, since (I think?) nobody would have to pass customs in order to attend. Make an airport with FUN & meaningful layover options (idea for 🇮🇸?)
64. What if flat pack furniture were good tho? Lasercut saves on weight and makes the design visually appealing:
65. What if smartwatches were good tho? Oooh. I want to be able to quickly & RELIABLY input data into them. Should have knob + 5 programmable hardware buttons with combos available, to do these without looking: - ♥️ song - save previous 30s of audio - log habit - log mood - &++
66. What if leaf blowers were good tho? As a non-user of leaf blowers, I mostly want them to be QUIET. @Knipps lmk if there are other ways leaf blowers are not already good and I will think of ways they could be!
@Knipps 67. What if termites were good tho? ...sorta confused by this suggestion. Good for who? For termites? For ecosystems? For humans? What is the telos of termites? Oh, maybe we could train or breed or gmo termites into 3D printing us some cool (or even useful) structures!
@Knipps 68. What if coordinating call times were good tho? I want a system where with a queue of people/convos, then at a given moment I can say "I'm potentially free right now" & mutuals who are also free can easily get matched into having the convo, *right now*. Spontaneity is life!
@Knipps 69. What if prickles were goo tho? You're looking for Dzogchen 🙃
@Knipps 70. What if threads were good tho? They'd have side-branches. No reason that replies couldn't be able to be popped out to the right, rather than having to scroll to the bottom to see the replies to a mid-thread tweet! Show avatars of the users to know if footnote vs reply.
@Knipps 71. What if blogs were good tho? They'd also have inline comments (& suggestions for close peeps). I'm hoping @memexgarden will release a plugin eventually. They'd somehow better support updating old posts with revision history. Basically google docs, but not larping paper.
72. What if the internet were good tho? Super broad. I've talked about browsers & social media already... I think what I want is federated bidirectional links. Pingbacks but good and operational on block level (sentences/paragraphs) not just posts.
73. What if pingbacks were good tho? Pingback = automatic comment some blog platforms make on each other when they link. They'd recognize quotes & show up inline (like QTs) and would allow for live transcluding of other sites' blocks.
74. What if parenting were good tho? Hoo boy. There's a lot of lit here, some shit & some beautiful. How To Talk So Kids Will Listen is great. Coherent noncoercive parenting is possible by parents who've done their own untangling and understand living control systems.
75. What if covid prevention methods were good tho? In 50 years people will look back and go 🤨 at how little we were doing to each have healthy immune systems. It's part of a whole mess of unhealthy lives & non-holistic h̶e̶a̶l̶t̶h̶sickness-care tho so hard to name leverage pt.
76. What if crypto investing were good tho? Hm. It used to be hard, but now it's ~easy. Oh! It's hard for friends to manage a portfolio together, or for me to delegate my crypto purchases to a friend. (Could my friend mint an ERC-20 token that maps onto their holdings? hmmmm)
77. What if organized religion were good tho? It would somehow keep lineage and social & meaning-sharing aspects, while rapidly evolving towards what's actually deeply resonant for ppl & more psych/cultural developed. Xmas eve ceremonies feel fake to me because nobody believes.
78. What if single serve snacks were good tho? Could have single serve snacks of veggies. I make these myself by ziploc bagging broccoli & cauliflower, but it's a bunch of work at home and sometimes it languishes before I remember to actually prep it for snackage.
79. What if backyards were good tho? (ended up being also suburban neighborhoods) Shared backyards make for a tiny park. Whole blocks could be designed & zoned for this (~=campus). sharingsolution.com/2012/08/26/sha…
80. What if the DMV were good tho? They (in ON) tested me on exactly how many demerits I'd get for each infraction. Bonkers—fake. Instead, before you get a license, someone should gentle place hands on your shoulders, look you in the eye, & make sure you *get* cars kill people.
81. Supermarket checkout lines? The obvious thing here is having one queue with many checkouts; makes it way faster for everyone and removes choice. And instead of tabloids & candy... I don't want to get paternalistic but if I ran a grocery store it would have something better.
82. What if doctor check-ups were good tho? Waiting room could be full of useful self-diagnostic tools, self-massage equipment to try out, weird foods to sample to see if you're deficient in a vitamin, & other similar stuff.
83. What if emergency medical response were good tho? Maybe they already have some of this, but there's probably room for improvement in having paramedics grok the basics of emotional coherence and trauma therapy so they can better hold people's process.
84. What if beauty pageants were good tho? Beauty is real and not evenly distributed and celebrating it is good. However, it's hardly a single dimension. Maybe have separate competitions for each of the kibbe body types (or some better framework) to bust the averagerianism.
85. What if food labelling were good tho? You wouldn't be allowed to put "no nitrates or nitrites added (except those naturally occurring in celery juice)" Nitrates = nitrates! Doesn't matter if they're "natural"! Don't anti-educate people in chemistry by implying a difference.
86. What if primary school education were good tho? Bodily autonomy and PCT-based Responsible Thinking Program for helping kids learn how to organize their own experience without disrupting others. Way more play (physical &+), way less passing tests. Curiosity-driven learning.
87. What if middle school education were good tho? Kids age 12-14 would apprentice or start small businesses instead of school. Legitimate (peripheral) participation, contributing something to society & being young adult, rather than spending all day being like HORMONES 😳
88. What if high school education were good tho? Similar to my uni tweet above I'd have everyone starting businesses or working on real projects, but with classes etc available in order to help them answer questions that arise in the course of their work. No frontloading.
89. What if prison were good tho? It would be more like a responsible thinking classroom. Keeping prisoners from disrupting others while they figure out how to organize their own experience in ways that are workable for others. Cruelty begets cruelty.
90. What if war were good tho? Good war is primarily defensive; we need weapons to keep others from taking advantage of us. If war were good, it would involve removing an enemy's capacity to attack us with minimal death to either side's citizens. Explored in David's Sling novel!
91. What if awkward introductions were good tho? They would contain a recognizable humor and meta-okayness on one side, that would ease the tension for the other side. This tweet comes to mind:
92. What if business cards were good tho? Either: - no card: I recently heard about NFC biz cards you can boop directly into a phone's contacts list - art: eg @SarahAMcManus's amazing trippy hexaflexagon cards. all the cards in this pic are the same: 😵💫🤯
@SarahAMcManus 93. What if talent shows were good tho? I was at one recently with friends & it was a great way to encourage a culture of excellence & mutual appreciation. A place where showing off is the thing to do! I feel like the "make 100 things" culture on here is similar.
94. What if video hosting/streaming services were good tho? Built-in remixing: everything is a remix! TikTok has it to some degree, but it's very limited. Ability to say "if what this gal is saying here [clip] and this experiment here [clip] are true, then ..." with bidi-links.
95. What if all sensations were good tho? I found a sort of meditation that does this. I sort of gently see if I can reframe each thing I notice in my experience to find the pleasure in it. (Not denying any pain, just *focusing* on the pleasure)
96. What if Twitter gif search were good tho? It would allow pinning your favs, or searching gifs from within tweets you've liked.
97. What if Twitter mutual-management were good tho? You'd be able to easily filter for who people have in common, including seeing who someone follows who follows you. Filter own followers by location, bio keywords, &+.
98. What if Twitter search were good tho? More keywords (has:poll, has:gif) and OCR tagging for screenshots. Search tweets & DMs with the same query. Regex search if it's not cost-prohibitive (I would pay $10/mo just for this!) A few other ideas here:
99. What if Twitter notifications were good tho? Add QTs tab (or to Mentions), obv. Make notifications more convo-oriented. Cluster together a dozen replies to one particular thread or subthread. Do NOT under any circumstances add "mark unread". That's a fast-track to todo list.
100. What if Twitter Quote-Tweeting were good tho? It would support MultiQTs, so you can connect 2-4 existing thoughts into one thought, interlinkedly. I actually just published a whole blog post on this, complete with design mockups and reasoning: malcolmocean.com/2021/11/twitte…
Done! Thx @SeishinWrites @brother_nin @tdoggyholhol @tnorthcutt @notesbyalake @ElodesNL @strangestloop @Knipps @CarnunMP @HephaistosF for giving me >100 its about which I could ask "what if it were good tho?" 🙏 Without them I'd've been scouring my kitchen drawer for objects 😂