Espresso Shots 12-7-25

It's that time again for my weekly update, which includes a short collection of noteworthy finds, posts that inspire, as well as a few reflections from the past week or two. I'll aim to land these in your inbox by the weekend, in time to pair with your morning coffee (or your preferred cup of inspiration).

The Latest Drippings ☕️

• The Man Who Built the Cloud Isn't Done Teaching.. This past week, Dr Werner Vogels gave his last AWS RE: Invent talk, where he handed out printed newspapers in which he was 'warning developers about verification debt' and a message that I think resonates: 'AI generates code faster than humans can understand it. The work is yours, not the tools.' What particularly resonated with me, and which he put very eloquently, was how this is akin to the renaissance in some ways, and talked about a few ideas to focus on to navigate this era. 'The five qualities: Be curious. Think in systems. Communicate with precision. Own what you build. Become a polymath.' Love it.
• The Resonant Computing Manifesto. 'Launched today at WIRED’s The Big Interview event, this manifesto encourages a positive framework for thinking about building hyper-personalized AI-powered software - while avoiding the attention hijacking anti-patterns that defined so much of the last decade of software design.' The framework provides additional thinking akin to where Dr. Vogels was referencing: 'The manifesto proposes five principles for building resonant software: Keeping data private and under personal stewardship, building software that's dedicated to the user's interests, ensuring plural and distributed control rather than platform monopolies, making tools adaptable to individual context, and designing for prosocial membership of shared spaces.' Read it at the Resonant Computing Manifesto.
• Satellites Keep Photobombing the Hubble Telescope, and It's Getting Worse. While I've been watching with interest the adoption of things like Starlink and Amazon's LEO, the effect this is causing on our ability to watch the stars is staggering. 'Cheaper launch costs and the proliferation of telecommunications satellites like Starlink’s have opened up a Pandora’s box of new challenges in space. Satellite trails, which look like streaks of light, were already detected in 4.3 percent of images taken by the Hubble between 2018 and 2021. The number of satellites orbiting Earth has grown from 5,000 in 2019 to more than 15,800 today, according to the European Space Agency. That number could reach as high as 560,000 if currently planned satellite launches proceed over the next 10 years or so.'
• I Put My Brain on a Diet. Over the last year, I've been a supporter of What The Fuck Just Happened Today as a good way to reduce the noise from the news hype cycle. It's an excellent service (that's free if you want) that is self-described as 'A sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news.' But the author of this post goes a step further, where he decided to take a full-on stop of the news. Interesting results in there, and could be a fun experiment. I also added the book mentioned in the post, Stop Reading the News: A Manifesto for a Happier, Calmer and Wiser Life, to my reading list.
• The Math of Why You Can't Focus at Work. A really enlightening post on the importance of uninterrupted time. 'How do we go from the bad day to the good one? It comes down to three numbers: how often you’re interrupted, how long it takes to recover, and how much unbroken time your work requires.' Over the holiday break, I may try to figure out some way to automate this - very curious what my average week looks like.
• Interest Is Everything. This post on The Imperfectionist was a fun read on the distinction between interest vs interesting. 'When you're procrastinating on a project, wondering why your outwardly successful career doesn't feel as vibrant as it could, or feeling stuck on a difficult life-choice, it’s worth asking if you’ve forgotten the importance of building your days, as far as you’re able, around what actually interests you.'
• Imperfect Notes. I've never been a great notetaker, despite my love for notebooks and my 'burn the ships' thinking around PKM tools. Winnie has some great thinking on a different model for notes: 'simply embrace writing imperfect notes and storing them imperfectly. We should not see them as permanent structures but rather as something organic – they are constantly in flux, and we can edit or prune them later. Embrace partially written notes, breadcrumbs, and even poorly written notes.' In addition, she has some interesting thoughts around the variety of different styles of notes she needs to take; definitely something I'm going to revisit when I have some headspace. Hat tip to werd.io for the link.
• Casual Loops. We're all stuck in loops, so I really enjoyed this simple and wonderful idea: 'Create a crack in the surface, just big enough for fresh air to get in. Give life a chance to talk back.'
• The Loop. Speaking of loops, here's another one: 'innovation is a continuous loop of dreaming, seeking help, setting and exceeding expectations, dealing with adversity, admitting errors, and adapting the plan, encouraging one to try again.'
• All Your Problems Are People Problems. Systemic thinking has become a massive part of my mental model lately, so here's some good thinking in this post around people and processes. 'The first thing you can do to start fixing your system is to insist on accountability so that the Thing Just Doers cannot degrade the system any further than they already have. The second thing is to understand that the system is made up of people, and the people are exhausted.'
• Disagree and Let's See. A good, thoughtful post on committing to something. 'Committing to something you disagree with is an emotional contortion that is hard to do in practice. But the work of every team is a series of experiments at its heart, and by changing the onus from let’s commit to this thing we don’t all agree with to let’s try it and see what happens, we move from steamrollering dissent to mutually agreeing on an experimental hypothesis and testing it. You’re learning based on agreed criteria.'
• How to Stop Being So Easily Offended. It seems obvious, but it's crucial to recognize why you're easily offended. A few years back, I talked about Icebergs, but it's a great reminder that people don't often wake up and think 'how can I make this persons shitty today' and 'others aren't thinking about you as much as you think they are.'
• The Cult of Therapy. As usual, Scott Galloway is armed with data; this time talking about Therapy Culture. His point is not about therapy helping or not, 'therapy has a lot to offer', but more about the TikTok and online social influencers pushing a narrative to sell services.
• Fading Affect Bias. I love this cognitive bias index and was reminded recently that pain fades over time. 'Fading affect bias (FAB) is a cognitive bias whereby the emotional intensity associated with negative memories diminishes more rapidly than the emotional intensity of positive memories. This phenomenon suggests that over time, people are more likely to remember the past in a more positive light, allowing them to maintain a more favorable self-image and psychological well-being.'
• A Love Letter To The People Who Believe In People. Closing out this week with a call out to being enthusiastic. 'Being a fan is all about bringing the enthusiasm. It’s being a champion of possibility. It’s believing in someone. And it’s contagious. When you’re around someone who is super excited about something, it washes over you. It feels good. You can’t help but want to bring the enthusiasm, too.' Feels like the world needs more champions of possibilities as we approach 2026.

Amor Fati ✌🏻