Suggest edit — If I Ran

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---
imported_by: wikihub-q7gz
scraped_at: 2026-01-30
source_gdoc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oEHLAsjH6aR8V2yb36P9_jO6fcWZcKlroa8XCKKW5oE
source_url: http://ifiran.jacobcole.net/
title: If I Ran
visibility: public
---

[[ifiran]]

started by jcole@mit.edu

What I would do if I ran various companies

[Yahoo](#h.b25zlmuff4ux)

[Facebook](#h.psgeiv62iwzq)

[Twitter for ideas http://ideaoverflowideplan.tk/](#h.7qrcslf9eoy0)

[Quora](#h.mhiesvf4npnb)

[LinkedIn](#h.3q8ivbwhywx)

[Asana](#h.l3l8l7g3w1md)

[Google](#h.mrqx8w25hlhx)

[Workflowy / Fetchnotes](#h.cyblac3nas4e)

[MindMeister](#h.g7qcwcgrdbm0)

[EdX/Coursera/Greylock Hackfest/other big hackathon](#h.b56o2iuzxldg)

[SeeClickFix/Governments](#h.2e42j9g2i1fg)

[Github](#h.pfgxqunjka50)

[Any Big Company](#h.dhcdp8pr9mi6)

[Government](#h.g49jzqjx576x)

[MA Gov by Person X](#h.yaisazimy1kx)

## Yahoo

People come to yahoo when they mess around on the Internet. This is a perfect insertion point for the [http://whatshouldido.tk/](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K4W5KlwqFDcvTlZu3Ru40JmiNOnweUOaADTLb5cutlg/edit) workflow –

“Jacob’s internet” -- my own structured, “digested” version of the internet in regular format, just as <http://homepagegen.tk/> is a “digested” version of people’s homepages. This could be the first step towards strong AI. It also resonates with the company’s original vision as

a portal, “David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" “The word "yahoo" is an [acronym](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym) for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle".[\[13\]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!#cite_note-13) The term "hierarchical" described how the Yahoo! database was arranged in layers of subcategories. The term "oracle" was intended to mean "source of truth and wisdom",” ~Wikipedia

## Facebook

1. have a way for people to put “tags” or “keywords” for themselves -- words that, if someone mentioned them, they would want to talk with them -- a la http://mitpeople.tk/

2. “facebook for project/idea sharing,” "social networking for hackers" -- that is, facebook for your play life

(check out this quora answer I gave on the subject <http://qr.ae/IJCxF>). Expands on HackSphere; realizes IdeaOverfow

TL;DR: I think that "facebook for project sharing" is one of the most important "low-hanging fruit" projects yet to be done currently in existence.

Feature request: A way to share projects a la homepagegen.tk/

It amazes me how many (even technical) people I know don't have a homepage, often because they feel a need to make it fancy, and  they miss out on the incredible life-organizing capacity creating a centerpoint for oneself on the web can have.

I think facebook is poised to solve part of this problem by lowering the barrier for people to make these homepages tremendously. Indeed If I were Mark Zuckerberg, I would actually recenter facebook around project sharing in a structured way. Imagine if right next to the photos link was a box where you could input all the projects/writings/art/music -- everything -- you've created that you're proud of in the format of [homepagegen.tk](http://minimalisthomepages.tk/) . It would help me gain a sense of what everyone I care about's doing. It would help people self-reflect and take pride in their work. It would be amazing to explore from an anthropological perspective: what's everyone at MIT doing? Everyone at Stanford? Everyone in America? Everyone in Iran?

Most importantly, this information would enable the matching of people who are working on synergistic projects, which I believe is a tremendous step towards creating a world where we all work together to meet our collective goals.

Eleanor Roosevelt remarked that "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." The internet is full of tools to help discuss people and events, but lacks a real medium for discussing ideas and sharing projects (realized ideas), which is what I care to talk about most of all. We need to go about resolving this deficiency, and I believe Facebook could lay the groundwork for doing so tomorrow.

Poke me if you have further questions as to how this could be done, at jcole@mit.edu.

See also [IdeaOverflow IDE (Idea Development Environment)](http://ideaoverflowideplan.tk/) which is a tad outdated.

For your reference and amusement, here is a copy of my comments section at the bottom of [homepagegen.tk - Google Drive](http://homepagegen.tk/)[ ](http://homepagegen.tk/)

- “You're right, having an easily editable web page does make you want to post things on it. I need to make it shinier. Thanks for making me make one!” ~Semon Rezchikov, ex-Thiel Fellow
- 
- “jacob this thing is damn addictive and i dont think its supposed to be. this whole space thing. i keep wanting to update it with something”
- 
- “I hypothesize that if everybody made a minimalist homepage, there would be no more terrorism, or at least it, and war, would dramatically decrease -- you could see the people on the other side as humans, and also have a medium for your voice to be heard, and a mechanism that causes you to refocus on what in life you are proud of”
- 
- “Wow! The process of making a minimalist homepage is a form of computer-aided meditation. I think it is a first step at a digital solution to the Existential Question: What are we doing here anyway’? Well, let’s first map out literally what everybody is doing, and then go from there! ”
- 
- [Sam's Space](http://trezitorul.tk/) is a masterpiece of minimalism. It is a perfect minimalist homepage. It is an example of a bare-bones, human-readable schema for creating a projection of yourself into digital space that puts no pressure on you to take time or be fancy.
- 
- Possible future domain name: “Project.me” - a minimalist homepage is a mapping of your projects. It’s also a projection of your self into digital space. Finally, it’s the centerpoint online for “project me,” the project of yourself, e.g. Project Jacob. This is a subproject of “project Earth” which we are all working together to achieve
- 
- Another possible domain might be "proud.of" -- because fundamentally, this is a map of things people are proud of.
- 
- If I were Mark Zuckerberg, I would restructure facebook to center it around project sharing in a structured way.
- 
- “A tremendous step forward in the project of including people in what Kafka called the ‘circle of humanity’”
- 
- I totally agree with \[a friend\] that the look isn’t fundamentally different than HTML lists. My goal is to be able to enable people to make a homepage with absolutely 0 coding though, perhaps because the groups I'm most interested in having go through this workflow are people who are very much in need of turning their life around or gaining inspiration. I would love to have prisoners getting out (or going in?) or homeless people in a shelter apply this self-reflective workflow to themselves and, through it, come to see themselves clearly and become inspired and continually reminded to make a life change.
- 
- What also is very interesting to me is that the vast majority of my super high-achieving friends lack even simple homepages. Sometimes they're of the "i'm going to make it super pretty or not make it at all" mentality. Sometimes they just don't feel it's that important. Giving people a way to respectably make a super minimal homepage empowers them to reap the benefits of having a homepage sooner. Creating a list of all homepages that lets them see that "all the cool kids are doing it" gives them pause and makes them think "I wonder why all these smart people are doing this?" which inspires them to follow suit. Finally, seeing the structure of categories on the [template homepage](http://trezitorul.tk/)/other people's homepages invites people to see what's lacking in their lives and facilitates the project of educating them (or rather, of them educating themselves). Maybe by looking at [my homepage](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WL_sPn8rcMigt6ula7_mxmrgjO91u7PPPMO_dW-c8EY/pub), they'll realize they've never written a poem (or haven't written one since elementary school), which is something I feel sorry for anyone who hasn't done (lol is that grammatical?). They'll become aware of the previously unnamed gaping holes in their lives that are leading them to feel dissatisfaction.
- 
- (It is as Heinlein writes: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.")
- 
- ...but my real question is: how many of you have a homepage? And how on earth would I have found it w/o googling furiously? I want to see what you guys are all up to! At the very least, you can make a minimalisthomepage and add a link to it to the list. (If you already have a homepage you can make your minimalist homepage contain a single link to your actual homepage. But it is valuable even for those with homepages already to make a minimalist homepage as well, as that way you can attempt to fit yourself into a consistent structure and see yourself in relation to others.)
- 
- So actually, how many of you don't have homepage at all? And equally relevant is the question: how many of you have a homepage that I don't know about despite my googlestalking abilities?
- 
- Gives perspective on yourself on your pursuits
- 
- Lowers the activation barrier for making yourself a homepage!
- 
- Lowers the activation barrier for posting stuff!
- 
- Counteracts Dostoevskian Underground Psychology by helping people take pride in their work!
-

- Learning the workflow of making a simple website with Google Docs gives me a new super quick programming-free way to prototype ideas for websites; it lowers the activation energy for my creativity!
-

- [Minimalist Homepages - Google Drive](http://minimalisthomepages.tk/) direct link: \<[Minimalist Homepages - Google Drive](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AAja2VvhYSuTUYB-aLbjoBvWvCFLk-hww32upwqysqk/edit)\>

Twitter

## Twitter for ideas http://ideaoverflowideplan.tk/

## Quora

Quora for ideas http://ideaoverflowideplan.tk/

## LinkedIn

Project sharing a la <http://homepagegen.tk/> dot tk

## Asana

Interface for collaborative ideation a la http://ideaoverflowideplan.tk/

Way to display ideas/project progress a la Outlinr.tk

Apply to run intercontinental tele-hackathons a la Tanzania-MIT Hackathon <http://tzmithackathon.com/>

Press: Untapped Internet Potential http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/features/popular-features/21246-telehackathon-internet-untapped-potential

## Google

Make memorable names for docs, as in the <http://homepagegen.tk/> dot tk workflow. Easier way to make docs link to each other as a coherent site, like I try to do with <http://mitdoc.tk/> . See also [outlinr.tk](http://outlinr.tk)

## Workflowy / Fetchnotes

syntax to link ideas to each other

ambient information display

I've experimented with several interfaces myself. One, perhaps the most natural to integrate, would be to simply define a "relates to" tag in workflowy in addition to the hashtag (in my own thoughtstream and on Hackathonprojects.tk, I use \<-\> or, more concisely, ~ followed by the title of the related idea). When you type the relates-to tag, just like the hashtag, a dropdown showing possibly related ideas (or even better, a grid like when you're adding tags to a question you're asking on StackOverflow) would appear. Ultimately, this could end up using a fuzzy conceptual search/intelligent autosuggestion of related ideas before you even start to type. I've spent the past year on designing this latter set of algorithms and would be happy to advise.

Re: exploring the graph:

1. When you click on a given relation, it could expand below. I prototyped this at <http://pacific-tundra-3629.herokuapp.com/> and I find that it's particularly addictive to use. (For instance, go to the entry InstaDefine.com click on AdmitSphere.org)

2. Ultimately, what could be even more natural to me is a mind-mapping tool similar to MindMeister. I love the mind-mapping flow for thoughtstreaming, but not so much for reading, the reason being that there are no good interfaces to explore graphs yet. This isn't conceptually hard -- simply having an interface like MindMeister's mind mapping tool that additionally shows "signposts" to all the neighbors of a given node would be entirely reasonable and recenters smoothly when you click on them could be nice (note: scroll wheel zoom would also be great here). Hypertree \<<http://philogb.github.io/jit/static/v20/Jit/Examples/Hypertree/example1.html>\> almost does this. I just wish it didn't distort so much on click, and completely become unusable with many graphs. Regardless, building a good explorable graph interface is a very important low-hanging fruit challenge that simply requires some good D3 hackers to sit down and write the code for it, and I think it would be immediately useful in a variety of fields. :-)

Unrelatedly, I finally wanted to comment that I have sort of stopped using workflowy myself (I'm back to wordpad and my own tag filtering tools) because I think I put so much content in that it seriously lagged mine up. This is important to me and I would love to use it! I would also love a minimalist client app!

Beyond all that I've discussed, I think that workflowy is operating in a tremendously important space, that is, creating "[gestalt](https://docs.google.com/document/d/113OoenkdNGJPW6XwOZdfYnhWtS1UoXx2XnrSM_GViag/edit#heading=h.pjfhk6ksymo2) processing systems for society" that has tremendous room for expansion in many lateral directions. The only question I am asking myself now is, is the workflowy team/mission/platform the right group to implement all this important stuff? I would love to talk about anything. I've started to aggregate some of my grander vision for this project at <http://ideaoverflowideplan.tk/>

## MindMeister

explorable graph interface

See workflowy’s section above

MindMeister mind mapping tool that additionally shows "signposts" to all the neighbors of a given node would be entirely reasonable and recenters smoothly when you click on them could be nice (note: scroll wheel zoom would also be great here). Hypertree \<<http://philogb.github.io/jit/static/v20/Jit/Examples/Hypertree/example1.html>\> almost does this. I just wish it didn't distort so much on click, and completely become unusable with many graphs. Regardless, building a good explorable graph interface is a very important low-hanging fruit challenge that simply requires some good D3 hackers to sit down and write the code for it, and I think it would be immediately useful in a variety of fields. :-)

Coggle

explorable graph interface

One feature I see as strikingly important for Coggle to add (and the only reason I use MindMeister instead still) is the ability to link ideas to each other. This truly allows me to structure information as it is stored in my mind, and enables a leap in collaborative cognition. (I wrote a class paper on this: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/113OoenkdNGJPW6XwOZdfYnhWtS1UoXx2XnrSM_GViag/edit>; simply see the section 1 A new Turing Test )

Thus, I made a mind map of all the projects on <http://hackathonprojects.tk/> at <http://ideamap.tk/> using mindmeister. I wish I could use coggle for these purposes.

## EdX/Coursera/Greylock Hackfest/other big hackathon

Collaborative hackathoning (at sane hours) as part of education

hackercasting \<[http://www.jacobblog.tpclubs.com/2012/08/](http://www.jacobblog.tpclubs.com/2012/08/hackercasting-a-big-idea/)[hackercasting](http://www.jacobblog.tpclubs.com/2012/08/hackercasting-a-big-idea/)[-a-big-idea/](http://www.jacobblog.tpclubs.com/2012/08/hackercasting-a-big-idea/)\> and intercontinental collaborative telehackathoning a la Tanzania-MIT Hackathon <http://tzmithackathon.com/>

Press: Untapped Internet Potential <http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/features/popular-features/21246-telehackathon-internet-untapped-potential>

Grant Proposal <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mXWm0CM7M1LZhM05xQSyYNpmgjdmtrOzyvGPQ9st4Ws/edit#>

<http://curiositythread.tk/> / http://whyisitawesome.tk/

“Underground curriculum”

## SeeClickFix/Governments

make upgraded version of Outlinr.tk’s progress bar system to convey when they’re doing

## Github

## Any Big Company

dedicate a team to knocking off important low-hanging fruit ideas from http://ideamap.tk/

## Government

Grants by government, like MacArthur fellowships, for great open source projects like Wikipedia

## MA Gov ~ by Person X

Maglev Personal Rapid Transit -- faster cheaper, more efficient, less land use, safer transportation than any other motorized system. 2nd generation implemented at London Heathrow Airport. 3rd gen now at NASA Ames Research.<sup><a href="#cmnt1" id="cmnt_ref1">[a]</a></sup>

Jacob’s Hypothesis: If each of the steps below return  positive results, this plan will be implemented. Furthermore, Jacob hypothesizes upon inspection this will not be found to be economically feasible for some reason by the experts after conversing with relevant state officials. Otherwise if it is found feasible, it will be implemented at the first opportunity.

1.  restart conversation with coalition of experts eg Judges from climate co-lab contest
2.  confirm that the experts believe that this is the best transportation project for Boston MA to adopt
3.  ask the experts what they think the best way to implement is.
4.  suggest teleconference with experts, Person X, Tony Parham MA Government Innovation Officer
5.  expect experts to agree this is the best idea we can think of to realize the implementation of this project.
6.  Refine/Confirm proposed plan for implementation with experts\
    The Plan

1.  build ¼ mile test track at NASA Ames
2.  get politicians and transportation pundits to ride it
3.  identify city for first deployment
4.  build it in a place with poor public transit and high medium density

Arguments for building PRT

- Build PRT (Elevated tr)

- Con: citizens will never go for elevated ~Fred
- Con: Boston transportation is fine right now

- con: Many  people per year die in the us in car accidents
- con: parking spots cost \$80K in Boston
- pro: jacob and his friends don’t see anything wrong with boston transit.

- Pro: will save drivers 6k/yr, and state
-  faster cheaper, more efficient, less land use, safer transportation than any other motorized system

Person X’s  hypothesis about MA Gov

1. Decision makers in transportation don’t care about transportation.\

Data:

MA DOT sec refused to meet with me after yhe said he would.

MA DOT Sustainability manager did not find anything wrong with Person X PRT proposal yet stopped returnding emails and would not meet again)

MBTA officail said Green Line extendtion savings of ½ Billion \$ was irrelvevant (Green line porposed prjecdt as at \$600M, PRT proposed for same functionality proposed \$100M)

Concerns about publishing this

Making enemies

→ problems for job and life

## OpenAI,[ ](https://www.facebook.com/YCombinator?__cft__%5B0%5D=AZWPtwP-ZWJFARFvpXbwydkKRWLAcOGTgZZ8bhVZomshNDrD0rKM465Ic3AtFwi81elu3EuR0ZzlvKlqcIuibKQZhyBVKdGm1j5cmkVF3g9IFAbyumSkA3f27ccpETCnG6bBWTpeMpijAgRaf4gWQIw5c8pSDjhJmX_Z_4hGVVPQ7vmLBVoiVfhduLNvQRr9xn8&__tn__=-%5DKH-R)[Y Combinator](https://www.facebook.com/YCombinator?__cft__%5B0%5D=AZWPtwP-ZWJFARFvpXbwydkKRWLAcOGTgZZ8bhVZomshNDrD0rKM465Ic3AtFwi81elu3EuR0ZzlvKlqcIuibKQZhyBVKdGm1j5cmkVF3g9IFAbyumSkA3f27ccpETCnG6bBWTpeMpijAgRaf4gWQIw5c8pSDjhJmX_Z_4hGVVPQ7vmLBVoiVfhduLNvQRr9xn8&__tn__=-%5DKH-R), or[ ](https://www.facebook.com/Stanford?__cft__%5B0%5D=AZWPtwP-ZWJFARFvpXbwydkKRWLAcOGTgZZ8bhVZomshNDrD0rKM465Ic3AtFwi81elu3EuR0ZzlvKlqcIuibKQZhyBVKdGm1j5cmkVF3g9IFAbyumSkA3f27ccpETCnG6bBWTpeMpijAgRaf4gWQIw5c8pSDjhJmX_Z_4hGVVPQ7vmLBVoiVfhduLNvQRr9xn8&__tn__=-%5DKH-R)[Stanford University](https://www.facebook.com/Stanford?__cft__%5B0%5D=AZWPtwP-ZWJFARFvpXbwydkKRWLAcOGTgZZ8bhVZomshNDrD0rKM465Ic3AtFwi81elu3EuR0ZzlvKlqcIuibKQZhyBVKdGm1j5cmkVF3g9IFAbyumSkA3f27ccpETCnG6bBWTpeMpijAgRaf4gWQIw5c8pSDjhJmX_Z_4hGVVPQ7vmLBVoiVfhduLNvQRr9xn8&__tn__=-%5DKH-R),

Sophia Aryan

If I were OpenAI, Y Combinator, or Stanford University, I would release an educational course targeting journalists, writers, and PR people called “ML for Dummies” or ''How to Write about AI” (spoiler). The course would provide basic knowledge on ML to develop a deeper understanding of the topic, as well as common mistakes and misconceptions in AI media coverage, and examples of articles with inaccuracies and exaggerations. I often hear  from researchers that AI doesn’t need hype. Well, it’s an inevitable process and this process should be managed and facilitated in a proper way among those who deliver content to the average reader. The education of AI writers should be a part of the mission in building safe AGI.

Time goes, the hype has transformed into mainstream but the problem of educating AI communicators and writers remains.

<https://www.facebook.com/universexistence/posts/pfbid02DCqnGetJhHecHLS6qzakd1mhSRCxxQkgw9PKvSkUsjoVshkY8Pp2qggnpJvZ6FrJl>

<div>

<a href="#cmnt_ref1" id="cmnt1">[a]</a>this is fucking stupid. just build public transit.

</div>

---

*Source: <http://ifiran.jacobcole.net/>*
*Google Doc: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oEHLAsjH6aR8V2yb36P9_jO6fcWZcKlroa8XCKKW5oE>*
*Scraped: 2026-01-30*