Following curiosity

I used to kill ideas before they had a real chance.

Every spark of curiosity met the same mental gate: Is this worth my time? What’s the opportunity cost? Can I even do this? The auditor in my head would run the numbers and most ideas would die right there.

Then something shifted. Not because AI models got smarter, but because the marginal cost of curiosity drops close to zero.

Building a prototype used to mean weeks of coding. Now it’s an afternoon conversation with Claude or v0. I explore weirder ideas. And I take ridiculous swings because ideas cost almost nothing.

The math changed. When exploration is cheap, you stop rationing curiosity. When you can afford to explore bad ideas, you stumble onto good ones you’d never have planned. Instead of hoarding best guesses, splurge on exploration.

For myself, this freedom to explore without commitment is quite liberating. What about you?

Very apropos of my last post. I don’t have as much experience with coding as Rich, but I appreciate the sentiment and found myself drawn to more quick coding ideas I’d have struggled with in the past.

When the cost of curoisity is low many of us can follow the urge to tinker and play.

Via Rich Tabor.