i lacked the spells and incantations

these past couple of days, i’ve been trying to do a little more cad design, making things i eventually want to 3d print.

i didn’t lack the ambition. i didn’t lack the desire to make something and will it into existence. i just didn’t have the spells and incantations i needed to make it at the level i wanted to.

i lacked the vocabulary.

and for the first time in a while, i really had to learn.

i had to learn about what makes 3d printing possible, how to make parts more efficient and durable, and how to think about the real world. i had to develop the words to describe curvature and shape, and what i wanted those things to feel like.

it’s made me appreciate things so much more. i’m starting to understand why the curves on apple devices are so beautiful, and how much work has gone into them. i appreciate the physical space around me more, and what it takes to build the things in it.

i keep coming back to this idea that ai really is magic. we’re all magicians and mages now, but we still have to learn the spells and incantations.

the more i work with it, the less i believe that the advent of ai will cause us to stop learning. for me, it’s been the opposite. having the ability to make something has made me want to understand it more deeply.

language isn’t unique to humanity, of course. but i think our ability to find the words for what we want is going to carry us further now.

if you have the courage and the ambition to want something, you can start learning the spells and the incantation to bring it into the world.