Hi, I’m Ric.

Aaaand I’m building a platform all around ideas. So I think I’m in the right place.

You know, we already have plenty of public digital spaces where you can share ideas: Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit. But they’re not built around ideas. Their purpose is something else. And you can feel it.

Ever since I was very young, I’ve imagined a place that connects people and their ideas. A place that gives them the space and tools to get started, bring their ideas to life, and change the world... or their neighborhood.

How Locus is structured:

- You can post an idea with a title and a description of up to 314 characters.

- You can choose a category and subcategory for your idea.

- When you post, you can enable the Join button. If someone clicks Join on your idea, they’re telling you they’d like to help you bring it to life and talk about it.

- You can also comment, like, and share.

- You can follow users and categories so relevant ideas appear in your feed.

- You can chat privately and in group chats.

We’re growing our community and beta testing Locus. For now, the platform is available on desktop only. If you’re curious and want to share your ideas there too, just message me or leave a comment.

This came out of an embarrassing number of cold calls to local businesses.

I started out trying to sell them websites. Hundreds of conversations later, the pattern was obvious: owners aren't short on tools or advice. They're drowning in it. What they lack is a starting point. A barber or a landscaper doesn't want a dashboard with 40 metrics. They want someone to say "update your Google hours and ask your last five customers for a review, that's this week."

So the idea: a cheap marketing system that looks at how a local business shows up online (search listing, reviews, site) and works to get them onto the first page of Google, then tracks whether it worked (calls, profile views). Visibility that brings calls, not more software.

I've been building a version of this and early numbers with one business were encouraging, but I want to pressure-test the idea itself: - Would owners trust a system that focuses on Google ranking and calls over a human consultant? - What would make you, as an owner, actually stick with it week after week?

Tear it apart.

Research papers increasingly include AI disclosure sections describing what AI and the human researchers contributed to the work.

I propose the reverse for AI-written content, such as Reddit posts, blog posts, and essays: a Human Disclosure section, written by the AI itself, explaining what the human contributed.

For example, an AI-written Reddit post about verifying whether students read assigned novels might end with:

Human Disclosure (written by AI): "The human user proposed giving each student a slightly different version of an assigned novel containing deliberate errors, then asking students to identify those errors as proof of reading. The human also suggested using DRM to discourage automated cheating. I developed the explanation and wrote the post."

This would help readers distinguish between human-generated ideas expressed with AI assistance and ideas generated primarily by AI.

The AI would write the disclosure based on its interaction with the human.

Human Disclosure for this post (written by AI):

"The human user proposed the concept of AI-written Human Disclosures, specified that the AI itself should describe the human's contributions, and suggested the connection to AI disclosures in research papers. The human also requested a concise post with a concrete example. I selected the example from an earlier discussion with the user, composed the post, and revised it in response to the user's feedback. The human requested that I add this disclosure."

Hola a todos. La evolución tecnológica en automoción nos ha traído vehículos eléctricos que no hacen apenas ruido. Esto creo que es un punto muy positivo porque permite una mejor convivencia y descanso en las viviendas.

¿Por qué quedarnos ahí? Los nuevos vehículos podrían incorporar un sistema automático que regule el volumen del sistema de audio en función de la velocidad y la ubicación. Así si detecta que va a poca velocidad por una calle poblada, reduciría el volumen hasta permitir los sonidos externos. Ideal para zonas de gran afluencia de peatones, parques, colegios, etc.

Una idea complementaria a esta seria que, si el coche dispone de pantalla, al detectar el teléfono móvil del conductor, la pantalla de este pase automáticamente a la del coche, evitando que los conductores conduzcan con el teléfono en la mano.

Si, esto se puede solucionar con CarPlay o similares, sin embargo me refiero a que nada más poner la llave en el contacto la pantalla del teléfono quede bloqueada y sólo sea accesible a través de la pantalla del coche y los mandos del volante.

¿Qué os parece?

Babies cry partly because they can't communicate what they want. Could a robotic twin teach them to communicate earlier using pictorial buttons, similar to the soundboards some people use with their dogs?

The robot would look and behave like another baby, demonstrating how pressing buttons with pictures of milk, toys, being picked up, etc., can communicate requests.

For example, the robotic twin could demonstrate two ways of asking for a toy:

1. It cries, and the parent has trouble figuring out what it wants.
2. It presses a button showing the toy, and the parent immediately understands and gives it the toy.

A robotic twin might be a better teacher than a parent because babies could be more inclined to imitate another baby than an adult. It could also repeat demonstrations indefinitely and introduce more sophisticated communication as the baby develops.

Eventually, the robot could demonstrate that crying when a simple button press would suffice creates unnecessary noise that other people find irritating. The goal wouldn't be to discourage crying caused by pain, fear, or overwhelming distress, but to provide an alternative when babies can communicate their needs.

Scientists could compare babies learning from robotic twins, parents demonstrating the same buttons, and ordinary care.

Could this approach reduce some of the crying we consider an unavoidable part of infancy?

P.S. One potential complication is that babies might become emotionally attached to their robotic twins and get upset when they're taken away. Researchers should investigate this possibility too, since a robot designed to reduce crying might end up causing more crying when it's removed!