Editor’s note: Internet 2025 became the perfect context for our Co-Founder to unveil a list of internet terminology he has been keeping in secret for many years. He has been quietly adding to this document since a conversation about Webmasters dragged on in the year 2007. We expect to add more items as we continue with this issue. Let us know if we are missing anything by writing here.

Do you

see

“Sorry Dan, I disagree. All I see is a niche product.

This isn’t as groundbreaking as it seems and I don’t think it will scale.”

During a recent debate, one of our members made a strong counter-argument to against Dan’s fanboying enthusiasm. Given our observance of Chatham House Rules, their name has been redacted.

Here’s my thing. We’ve seen this movie before, right? The early adopters got the Google Glass in 2013. Modern users can get the Ray Ban glasses from Meta. Is the market penetration on either of these devices massive? No, and they are not even close to as expensive as the Vision Pro.

I’ve thought about these technologies and this hardware for a long time. I just don’t see a world where a ton of consumers are wearing these headsets and having meaningful experiences.

There are a lot of headwinds consumers face even if they want this. Price is the most obvious one. The second is access to experience. There are still limited options for a consumer to truly experience the amazing spatial video the Vision Pro offers. The third issue is more important: this is a fundamentally isolating and solo experience. People want to watch the big game together. They want to watch a movie together. This does not allow that. It erases community from the experience. No matter how cool the hardware is (and goggles aren’t cool and will never be cool), people want to be with other people.

Sorry but this isn’t it.

Hear me out

Let’s get a little inefficient

in the AI era

Dan Gardner

Co-Founder & Exec
Chair of Code and Theory
Co-Founder,
ON_Discourse

From the editor: Our co-founder spent the past 20 years designing to remove friction, only to see how AI stands to push it too far. Do you think he has a point?

Technology, if you really think about it, is an evolution of removing friction from everything that we do. Successful brands offer their customers value and build their staying power by leveraging technology to remove friction.

AI is just another piece of technology with the potential to remove even more friction. Taken to an extreme, it’s easy to imagine the perfect AI-driven experience: no friction. Whatever you want or need is available exactly when you want or need it. A perfectly frictionless experience.

Friction points let customers
recalibrate ahead and realign
with the brand in a more direct
and human way.

Think about the Humane Ai Pin launch video. There is a moment when a book is offered in front of the Pin with a directive to buy it. Which store? At what price? Is there a membership plan associated with the retailer? The assumption in that video is that the consumer is in some kind of a rush to buy.

We’re not there yet, but we’re getting close. 

When you’ve removed all friction, there’s no moment left for decision making. Brands could no longer need, or even allow the customer to make decisions anymore.

If we were to reach such a point, brands would need to learn where and when to add friction back in. In a world of no friction, the trend of removing friction would have to reverse. This is where good brands will distinguish themselves.

Good brands will define ideal friction points for their customers. Friction points let customers recalibrate ahead and realign with the brand in a more direct and human way.