Scaling Down the Ambition
What if the overhang isn't one big problem, but many small ones? A research journey from global desalination to underserved communities—and what I found there.
MetaResearch
1772:Nitrous oxide discovered
1844:Used for pain relief — 72 years wasted
1921:Insulin isolated — dying children walk out of wards
2022:AI breaks through — now what?
The gap between possible and actual
(is where opportunity hides)
In January 1922, doctors walked into a ward of dying diabetic children and began injecting them with insulin. One by one, the comatose patients woke up. Parents watched their doomed children stand and walk out. The treatment had existed for months, lab to bedside took less than a year.
Seventy years earlier, nitrous oxide sat unused while patients screamed through surgery. Same knowledge gap. Radically different response. The difference wasn't technology, it was recognising the overhang.
Right now, AI is creating the largest technological overhang in history. For the first time, the tools to investigate hard problems are subscription-priced. This site is my attempt to figure out what that means—and who might be able to help. Read more →
I'm Will—a developer whose daily work now involves constant collaboration with AI. That experience keeps surfacing the same question: what becomes possible when the barriers to meaningful contribution collapse?
This site is where I explore that question—mapping domains where the overhang is significant and where different kinds of people might genuinely help.
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Latest blogposts
Mapping the gap between what's possible and what exists—and sharing what I find along the way.
A Working Theory
On technological overhangs, the gap between the possible and the actual, and why I am mapping the large problems and occasionally building for the small ones.
AITechnologyOverhang
Small-Scale Desalination and Distributed Water
Large-scale desalination produces freshwater for $0.27-0.41/m³. 2 billion people lack reliable water access. The gap between what is technically possible and what is actually deployed is institutional, not technical. Where are the opportunities for contribution?
AvenuesWaterClimate Adaptation
Standing on Shoulders: The Landscape
I'm not the only one thinking about technological overhangs and how individuals can contribute. Here's what already exists—and where this site fits.
MetaResources
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