Oli retweeted
I can’t stress enough how little an idea matters compared to the agency of the people executing the idea.
I have had the privilege of knowing and sometimes even working with some of the most successful people (by various metrics).
The difference between mediocre and excellent work and outcomes is predominantly one of agency.
In practice this means: they dont wait for things to happen to them they go out and make things happen for them.
They don’t wait for someone else to do something, for someone to teach them, for someone to give them the path, etc. They just go out and find a way to do it.
I think the single biggest superpower these people have is the realization/belief that the world around them is completely mutable. Most everything that happens is because a person made it happen.
I used to tell people to look around the room you’re sitting in. Look at everything. Every noun. It almost all exists because a person willed it into existence. Nothing is stopping you from doing the same.
I see people online all the time dismissing someone else’s success because “I had that idea first” or whatever. I mean… yeah? If so then the difference is… you. So a bit of a self own whenever I hear that.
Number one tip: act with agency.
I'm finding myself working on about three different things at once these days. I don't know if it's more productive, but I'm convinced it's more tiring.
Oli retweeted
Boris sat down with Spotify VP of Engineering Niklas Gustavsson.
Spotify ships 4,500 production deploys a day, and 73% of PRs are now AI-assisted.
Yesterday I went to the first event of London EdTech Week, the Global Startup Mini Summit. It was my first education conference, and maybe the first time I’ve been in a school since I left mine!
🧵Two topics really stood out to me....
Human interaction is more important than ever.
There was a lot of discussion about whether technology can create more space for interpersonal skills, connection, confidence and collaboration, rather than education being so heavily focused on knowledge acquisition and retention.
To me that raises a bigger question: what is education actually for now?
There seems to be growing recognition that the current curriculum is not preparing young people for the future they are heading into. And many students know this too.
AI is, unsurprisingly, everywhere.
Students are using it. Teachers are using it. Schools are experimenting with it.
We are in a transition period where teachers are using AI to create tasks, students are using AI to complete them, and teachers are using AI to mark them.
This is a view into the future
Imagine every pixel on your screen, streamed live directly from a model. No HTML, no layout engine, no code. Just exactly what you want to see.
@eddiejiao_obj, @drewocarr and I built a prototype to see how this could actually work, and set out to make it real. We're calling it Flipbook. (1/5)
Built my first Android app in 10+ years today.
I wouldn’t have taken this on without today’s AI coding tools. It became clear quickly I could let Codex drive and learn nothing, or work as a pair—reviewing, discussing, challenging. Slower, but far more rewarding.
Good to see the UK government finally investing in AI.
I hope they take the opportunity to back companies solving strategically important problems not just the obvious VC bets.
If done right, this is a great step to build capability in the UK & Europe, rather than outsource it.
I spent a few hours this afternoon trying out Ruby on Rails for the first time.... I like it so much quicker to work with than the JS frameworks I've used in the past.
The OpenAI API is both impressive and infuriating at the same time. It can generate amazing responses, but it also likes to change JSON key names at random just to keep you on your toes.
