Let's bring whimsy back to the internet. MY PERSONAL SITE: https://xitter.cf/t.co/JRqz9vScQt CONTACT: josh@lambertmail.xyz
Centreville, Alabama
Joined December 2008
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"A year ago, this project would have been out of reach for a company our size. Firmware work on an embedded LTE radio is the province of chip vendors and specialist consultancies: an ARM system on a chip, a vendor kernel module with no source, a custom image format with its own headers and checksums, and a NAND flash that punishes mistakes. We run towers. We do not keep an embedded reverse engineering team on payroll."
joshlambert.xyz/blog/toss-a-…
Josh Lambert retweeted
Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas
Josh Lambert retweeted
What does Hans Zimmer throwing a piano down a flight of stairs have to do with design?
I've been reflecting on Claude/AI's basic function of "regression to the mean" and what that means for product design today. Two thoughts right now.
1. A lot of times I see this stated as a negative, but regression to the mean isn't always bad.
If I'm driving, I sure as heck want other drivers to "regress to the mean" and drive in their lane like everybody else. If I'm listening to music, I sure want the musicians to have their instruments in tune with each other. And in design, Jakob's Law says users expect consistency across their web/app experiences.
If Claude comes up with something that is a "regression to the mean" but is perfectly suitable for what needs to be done and also lines up with your intentional, trained, judgement-informed vision for the interface, that's great! Roll with it. Regression to the mean can be the right thing in many cases, so leverage this.
2. Instead, focus your attention on areas outside the mean.
Hans Zimmer threw a piano down a flight of stairs for his score for Sherlock Holmes, and the off-key, out-of-tune result provided real character to the soundtrack that there wouldn't be otherwise.
Because Claude/AI regresses to the mean, it results in safe decisions. Nice borders, nice radii, nice icons.
You (as the designer) need to let it regress to the mean in certain areas where you (as the designer) knows that's the right thing, and focus your attention on the areas where moving outside the mean will make the product so much stronger.
This means focusing on honing judgment, crafting unique character, fine-tuning micro interactions, maybe adjusting the border Claude suggested (but not the radii) or iterating your design.md file, bringing in amazing gradients, delightful illustrations, custom animations, unexpected design decisions that were difficult to pull off before AI, focusing on more user testing, and so forth . . . things that aren't the mean and that bring character, delight, and craft to the work.
"The emperor did not need a statue in Rome. Everyone there already knew who he was. The statues went where the empire was thinnest. Where a subject might go a week without thinking about who ruled them. The further from the capital, the more the monuments mattered."
joshlambert.xyz/blog/2026/04…
"I have probably watched Jurassic Park twenty times. It took me an embarrassingly long number of those viewings to realize the film is not really about dinosaurs. It is about what happens after you build the miracle. Three things go wrong on that island, and I have done all three of them."
joshlambert.xyz/blog/2026/03…
Hot minute since I've had a pipe session with a confidant. Before - it was with my father-in-law. He passed in 2017. Legend of a man. Hell of a rock in my life, I still think about him a lot.
I didn't realize how much I missed those times until I did this again last night with another friend, confidant, and fellow WISP operator.
This bowl of tobacco was smoked for you, Derek. Keep Heaven company until I get there buddy. I miss you. Thank you for all you did in raising my wife. And thanks for listening to my younger and dumber self.
❤
I see rhyming symbology everywhere. Can't help it folks!
joshlambert.xyz/blog/2026/02…
Hey @QuickenLoans - this sucks. Y'all have been so good at customer service. Unfortunate to see the embrace of the A.I. slop for front line customer service. Nobody wants this.
I swear I am living in Stardew Valley down here. Doing this New Years Celebration hosted by the Main St. group tonight on our town square.
