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With few exceptions, all of the places and the people you’ll interact with in the next five years already exist. That means there are relationships that have not yet started, paths that have not yet crossed, and stories that have not yet unfolded. These connections are waiting, like seeds, ready to grow when the right…

Our attention isn’t just something we pay, it’s all we truly have to give to one another. In an age where digital systems constantly compete for our focus, our attention has become both increasingly valuable and increasingly fragmented. The irony doesn’t escape me. While we’re building machines that can process thousands of connections simultaneously, we’re…

Commonly we think of joy coming from big moments: graduations, promotions, weddings, vacations. We are conditioned to believe that happiness requires grand gestures or significant achievements. We save our happiness for the weekend, for after we get the promotion, for when we finally move into that bigger house. We’ve created “joy checkpoints”, designated moments when…

People want to be good: But there is a serious disconnect with the tools and infrastructure given to people to grow their relationships. We build highways to connect cities, yet struggle with developing deep and true relationships. When people feel heard, they feel valued. It’s that simple, yet that profound. In our rush to solve…

I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life, where the rhythm of seasons isn’t just a change in weather, it is a fundamental truth about how things work. Each year is predictable here: winter drags until it doesn’t, spring shows up eventually, summer arrives right when we need it, and fall eases us back into the…

From my experience there is a strong correlation between people who sit in the middle seats on airplanes and how interesting they are. You can even add in an extra dimension of time in seat and how necessary the route is. For example, people who fly on the middle seat to Hawaii from the lower…

In computer networking information is transferred primarily through packets. These packets, standardized since the 1980s, contain key data such as the destination and travel across networks of routers, switches, and computers to reach their intended destination. Networks have built-in redundancies, if packets are lost they are automatically recovered. Since we don’t own every router the…

Around us are anti-human systems that were put in place with good intentions but often work against humans. They can make individuals feel like they did something wrong or blame themselves when things go wrong. Examples of these systems include: The world doesn’t have to exist this way. We can redesign these systems so their…

When I was a kid my parents had cable TV that came from the wall and hooked directly into the TV through a copper wire. Sometime between 2008-2010 we had to “upgrade” to digital cable which required getting a cable box with a new remote for every TV in the house. We’d no longer get…

We’ve developed numerous ways to connect with others online. However, there’s a noticeable gap in the tools available for fostering meaningful connections. I am proposing a three-tiered framework for understanding and developing social products, with a focus on the underdeveloped Tier 2 and Tier 3 categories. Tier 1: Direct Two-way Connection Apps Tier 1 consists…