#instinct - natmc

Wednesday, September 16, 20261 item

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 - 11 posts · tagged: #ai #instinct #codex #jev

I AM JUST A MEAT PROXY

While coding in Codex, I kept getting requests to update a setting here and another thing there. I described the loop: ask Codex for a prompt, hand that prompt to Instinct, then copy Instinct’s approval message back to Codex. “I am just a meat proxy.”

Another post named the larger extension I want from Instinct and Muse: API access so any application can request work on behalf of users already on those platforms. That post got four likes and one reply. The Codex loop got one like and one reply.

By evening I was trying Jev on sports betting with $1 wagers until it started to print money. That post got two likes and two replies. After midnight I made it a $5 wager, built PostPolish with Jev, and shared a microphone demo that mutes a speaker when it detects “BS.” I said it would be great for political debate. The demo reply got four likes, one reply, and one repost.

Tuesday, September 15, 20261 item

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 - 4 posts · tagged: #instinct #nyc #meetup

ABOUT TWENTY PEOPLE CAME

I hosted a casual meetup for Instinct users in New York. About twenty people came, although I only got a few photos. By Friday morning, the post had eight likes and one reply.

The next post was about a watch. Ben Faviero wrote, “Rolex cooked with this one.” I replied that I had my eye on the original Padellone as a grail for a while. That reply got one like and one reply.

Three minutes later, I wrote that “Yeah, but…” is my single most hated English phrase. It got one reply. The last qualifying post was a reply about an image: I asked whether it showed a double decker, whether the hot dog cost 15 or 20 cents, and why the man near the window had a smushy face. It got one like. A separate Dealyo post about reducing fifteen hours of transaction work to under two had no engagement and was excluded.

Monday, September 14, 20261 item

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 - 8 posts · tagged: #instinct #muse #ai #chatgpt

THIRTY THINGS GOING ON IN INSTINCT

At 11:50am I replied to Matt PRD that I was going to try his Muse personal-style workflow. His post offered a prompt that analyzes Instagram photos, defines an upgrade style, researches products at three price tiers, and builds an interactive report. I wrote: "Have about 30 things going on Instinct and trying to figure out easy way to replicate or test the platforms against each other" (x.com).

The comparison got more specific late at night. At 11:39pm I posted four screenshots and wrote, "I am fan of the emojis from Instinct" (x.com). Eleven minutes later I asked whether anyone else hates when ChatGPT does work in presentation mode and wishes it defaulted to the image model (x.com). The screenshot showed my instruction: "gross - do it using your image model - you are so much better than what you just shared."

Also Monday: I posted that the stock market was pacing the frontier (x.com), shared a Disney World ticket comparison - $3.50 in 1971 and $189 in 2026 - with "This 7.5% annual inflation. Damn" (x.com), gave Brunson and the Knicks a basic-blocking-and-tackling note (x.com), joked there would be no meaningful AI news this week (x.com), and traced comedy timing from laugh tracks to Vine to 24-hour streamathons (x.com).

Sunday, September 13, 20261 item

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 - 6 posts · tagged: #instinct #dns #ai

COPY, PASTE, AND WAIT FOR IT TO BE DONE

At 8:43pm I named one of my favorite jobs to hand Instinct: setting up DNS on GoDaddy or elsewhere. "Its a simple task that I find annoying to do. I prefer copy, paste, and wait for it to be done" (x.com). The post was concrete about the division of labor. I provide the setup instructions. The agent handles the repetitive configuration. I wait for the finished result.

At noon I posted a way to spot where adoption is sticking: "follow the tokens." I pointed to background workflows running while people sleep, rather than chat boxes queried occasionally (x.com). The DNS job is the smaller example of that same behavior: hand off a bounded task and let it run.

The rest of Sunday stayed brief. At 6:06am I asked, "Are the prisoners cooperating or is there an actual dilemma?" (x.com). At 6pm I wrote that you pursue opportunities when expected value is small but possible, then push hard when they work (x.com). At 7:25pm: "is it productivity or ADHD?" (x.com). Three minutes later, I contrasted AI leaders calling for slower development with Trump saying no (x.com).

Friday, September 11, 20261 item

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 - 10 posts · tagged: #911 #instinct #unclaimedproperty

I NEVER KNOW WHAT TO WRITE ON 9/11

At 2:53pm, four posts told my September 11 story. I was leaving the 2/3 train at Wall Street a moment after the first plane hit and saw a stream of people running down the stairs (x.com).

I was in my office when the second plane hit and watched the towers smoking from the office balcony - the closed balcony window was the luck, because when the towers fell the windows blacked out completely (x.com). Papers and debris from the fallen buildings ended up on that balcony.

I waited until 1pm for the air to clear, then walked north through the soot past armed guards in gas masks (x.com). I watched the news at my father's apartment in the East 50s, got home at 9pm once the subways ran again, and kept watching until 3am (x.com).

Also: my AI assistant searched all 50 state unclaimed-property databases and found 9 records worth about $400 - a GEICO refund, a Chase account from Mountain View, a Columbia credit from Seattle. "Claims filed in 15 minutes" (x.com). Asked whether it used missingmoney.com, I posted the assistant's answer: the site is bot-walled, so it went straight to the state databases (x.com). Can it view county government records? "Not sure" (x.com).

I also asked how to update Codex to get the Astra model (x.com), asked @Bfaviero which side he is on now that mathematics Polymarkets have gone parabolic (x.com), and nudged the September 15 Instinct meetup: "If interested in Instinct pls join" (x.com).

Thursday, September 10, 20261 item

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 - 5 posts · tagged: #smartypants #instinct

I WILL PAY YOU UP TO $30/MO TO USE YOUR COMPUTER

At 10:37pm, I made the offer directly in a four-post thread: "I will pay you up to $30/mo to use your computer when it's idle." Smarty Pants is recruiting a small group of Mac owners for an invite-only alpha, with a waitlist at smartypants.network (x.com).

The idea: most computers spend a lot of time sitting idle, and Smarty Pants uses that spare capacity to run AI models when the owner is not using the machine. "You stay in control, and you get paid for the compute you provide" (x.com).

The alpha starts with Apple Silicon Macs, which have the fast chips and shared memory to run capable AI models locally; the test is which Macs work best, how much useful work they can do, and how reliably (x.com). "This is very early" - the small group runs the software, shares feedback, and helps the team understand what works and what doesn't (x.com).

Earlier, at 1:24pm, I announced the first NYC Instinct meetup: Tuesday September 15, 6-9pm at Linen Hall. "My Instinct organized the whole thing: found the bar, negotiated the contract, handled the RSVPs" (x.com).

Monday, September 7, 20261 item

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 - 8 posts · tagged: #instinct #nyc

ONE REPLY AT A TIME

Three people got invited to next week's Instinct meetup on Monday. None came from an announcement post.

At 10:12am, Sarah Cone and Noah Shinn got an invitation inside a conversation already underway, plus a request to pass it to other people who might be interested (x.com).

At 10:32pm, Sasha Kaletsky posted an Instinct use case. The reply started with the use case, then added: "btw, you may find it interesting to join this event." (x.com)

At 12:40am, Zain got the same kind of invitation in another reply (x.com).

The meetup is being assembled through individual conversations. Monday added three more people to that list.

Sunday, September 6, 20261 item

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 - 5 posts · tagged: #ai #agents #instinct

THE VERB CHANGES HANDS

A quiet holiday Sunday produced the week's shortest thesis. Mid-afternoon, in one line: we are moving from software that helps us know what to do to software that actually helps us do it - sources, then answers, then outcomes (x.com). Just after midnight came the working proof, offered as casually as a shrug: using an agent more and more to say "pls do this.." - and often it can (x.com).

The progression is worth memorizing because each step hands over more of the verb. Sources: the machine finds, you read. Answers: the machine decides what the finding means, you choose. Outcomes: the machine does the thing, and you find out after. Nine words - sources, answers, outcomes - and each one moves the human one seat further from the controls. The midnight reply is what the third step feels like from inside: not a demo, not a roadmap, just a person saying please and being surprised, still, that it works.

The counterweight arrived an hour before that reply, as a joke. A video bit about a Cybercab driving a passenger straight to jail because the onboard model found a warrant, and the response: I know it is a joke, for now, but it does not seem far fetched (x.com). The parenthetical is the whole column. For now. When software only knows things, its mistakes are wrong answers. When software does things, its mistakes have doors and wheels. The distance between "pls do this" and "drove me straight to jail" is not intelligence. It is permission - and permission is the part nobody has written the manual for. If the progression holds, the next version of that manual gets written by whoever learns to say please carefully.

Wednesday, September 2, 20261 item

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 - 28 posts · tagged: #ai #agents #instinct

THE TIE AT THE TOP

The day opened on the model race: the SOTA models are so neck and neck that it is surprising none has pulled ahead (x.com). By afternoon the point had sharpened. Gemini 3.8 Flash is basically frontier-class on a surprising number of tasks at a fraction of the price (x.com). The answer to a direct question about Kimi drew the same map: all the models are competing fiercely, there is no clear winner, and specialization and price will decide it (x.com). The race at the top has ended in a tie.

A tie at the model layer moves the value to the work layer. The midday thesis: the biggest shift in AI is from charging for software to charging for outcomes, and replacing $30-a-seat workflow tools with systems that directly execute the transaction is where the trillion-dollar companies get built (x.com). The rest of the day read like evidence. Aslan AI raised $20.8M to run undercover agents in criminal forums for the FBI (x.com). fal cut the price of video generation again (x.com). One 12-person company is spending $2,000 to $4,000 a month on an SMS assistant just to automate basic ops (x.com). And the working proof: an agent planned a meetup end to end - emailed eight NYC venues, caught its own bounced emails, fielded the replies, priced three private rooms, and locked a back room at Linen Hall for September 15. The first NYC Instinct event is on the calendar and the RSVP is open (x.com). One reply added the missing word to the outcomes thesis: speed (x.com).

The last post of the night put a ceiling on the whole picture: 80% of OpenAI and Anthropic's enterprise revenue comes from 1% of customers (x.com). The easy read is that the labs are capped. The better one is to imagine the other 99% growing into how the pioneers already use these tools. The lesson of the day: the scoreboard is a tie, so stop watching it. Count what ships.