Rethinking Tools: The Nature of Computers

Anjan Katta (X) is Founder and CEO of Daylight, a new type of computer company.

Having a conversation with Anjan is a bit like trying reign in a wild animal: his horsepower, wide-ranging philosophical interests, and unbelievable depth in the areas he cares about make him one of a kind. Fortunately, all of that energy is being channeled into his life's work, Daylight Computer Company. Daylight's mission is to build a computer that amplifies our humanity. That starts with Daylight's first product: The DC1, a tablet that combines the power and functionality of an iPad with the screen of a kindle. Anjan has been building Daylight for seven years across extensive research on screens and hardware, many near deaths, and mission-driven motivation.

Anjan sees computers as a "magical medium" that we're in relationship with, unlike other tools. Unfortunately, "optimization of the means, yet confusion of goals" has led the technology industry to building hardware and software that sits in what he calls a "messy medium." With devices that can do anything and everything, they often fail to empower us toward the vision Steve Jobs called the bicycle for the mind.

Throughout, Anjan and I discuss a philosophy toward life, career, design, and creating meaning that I hope will inspire you, whether you work on technology or not. May we all aim to get closer to ourselves and our humanity.

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Timestamps:

• (0:04): Hampton

• (1:57): Anjan Intro
• (3:54): A Bicycle for the Mind and The Computer: Tool or Medium?
• (13:15): The Core of the Computer as a Magical Medium: Relationship
• (16:39): The Waterslide/fall of Agency and Humanity as Nature's Generalists
• (27:35): What drove Anjan to Computers
• (33:00): Building the Non-Inevitable and Confronting Silicon Valley's "Optimization of Means, Yet Confusion of Goals"
• (39:25): Wandering Toward Daylight: a Computer that Doesn't Feel Like Other Computers
• (51:02): Is Daylight paternalistic? The messy middle and the Case Against "sporks" or Sh*tting Where You Eat
• (59:51): The Ultimate Messy Medium: The Phone as Our Main Relationship to the World and Starting Over with a More Simple Tool
• (1:08:04): A Magical Companion: The Primer, Dynabook, or "Hobbes"
• (1:13:31): Starting with Light
• (1:17:32): Daylight as "basically Just a Screen" & Applying "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology"
• (1:28:18): High Resolution Decision Making: Designing with Intuition and Developing the Right Kind of "Feel"
• (1:40:24): The Four Dimensions of Daylight's Vision
• (1:58:08): Growing as a Person and a Leader
• (2:07:08): Growing Daylight the Company/Organism: Three Principles
• (2:12:42): Competition, Scaling Daylight, Why Someone Should Work There
• (2:17:45): Lighting Round: Paravel – Interactive Fiction App Developed for Daylight
• (2:19:54): The Evolution of Books
• (2:21:20): Most Influential Books on Anjan
• (2:23:43): Is AI making Us More Human or Less Human?
• (2:29:38): Boredom, Authenticity, and Integrity
• (2:32:06): Faith and Spirituality
• (2:33:04): What Anjan Has Learned from His Parents and What He's Forgiven Them For
• (2:34:38): Lilo and Stitch
• (2:35:50): The Most Important Thing

All links and references and full transcript available at dialectic.fm/anjan-katta.

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