Life Affirming Software
“Life affirming” isn’t a term I think I’ve ever used for an app, but it fits here. I can feel my attitude toward content shifting from that of “consumer” to that of “curator.” Due to the implicit focus on output that this app cultivates when you save something (what am I going to do with this? What other content should it live beside and how will I discover it?), Sublime invites you to attend to the content you consume and to take an active role in it. Everything you save is a building block in your evolving foundation of taste and interest.
What makes this incredibly rewarding is a new kind of feedback loop. Sublime incentivizes me to intake higher quality material so that I can find others’ related high quality material in return - Sublime’s AI-powered Related Ideas engine is remarkable at tying thoughts together. This then creates a loop where likeminded people can find my content.
And when someone adds your contribution to their collection, you get a different, healthier kind of dopamine hit. Rather than a one-sided feeling of congratulations that I said something clever, or I took a nice vacation, I instead get the satisfaction of knowing that I have become an active participant in someone else’s life. The words, or pictures, or links that I’ve selected as important have proven to be useful to someone else. It’s the internet embodiment of “tending to one’s own garden,” but with a quiet social element that makes your garden more purposeful.
What makes this incredibly rewarding is a new kind of feedback loop. Sublime incentivizes me to intake higher quality material so that I can find others’ related high quality material in return - Sublime’s AI-powered Related Ideas engine is remarkable at tying thoughts together. This then creates a loop where likeminded people can find my content.
And when someone adds your contribution to their collection, you get a different, healthier kind of dopamine hit. Rather than a one-sided feeling of congratulations that I said something clever, or I took a nice vacation, I instead get the satisfaction of knowing that I have become an active participant in someone else’s life. The words, or pictures, or links that I’ve selected as important have proven to be useful to someone else. It’s the internet embodiment of “tending to one’s own garden,” but with a quiet social element that makes your garden more purposeful.
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