---
id: 2026-01-30T13:42:00-05:00
aliases: []
title: 2026-01-30 13:42:??
tags:
  - authorship/original
  - topic/personal-productivity
  - type/timestamped
dg-publish: true
---
# 2026-01-30 13:42:??

Often when I consider learning a new skill or improving an existing one,
I conceive of a system that would _force_ me to improve,
rather than forget about it (as I am won to do).
See [[2026-01-19#Ulysses Pacts]].

Conventional "home assistant" tech and doctrine
caters to a class of people I find bizarre,
those that would spend enormous sums of cash and effort
just for the marginal benefit
of not having to touch light switches as often as normal people.
Instead they get to take out their phone,
find and open the light switch app,
and touch a virtual light switch
because the routines they programmed were too conservative.

Human or software,
an assistant without agency
_and the will to contradict you_
is worthless.
If the effort to _communicate_ your instructions
exceeds the effort to perform them,
you will always do the task yourself.
