Tools for thought, not tools for answers

Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen wrote something years ago that I keep coming back to. The premise: most software is designed to do things for you. The best software is designed to make you think differently.

The difference matters. A calculator does arithmetic for you — useful, but it doesn't make you better at math. A well-designed proof assistant, on the other hand, changes how you reason about mathematical structures. One is a tool for answers. The other is a tool for thought.

Every AI product right now is racing to be a tool for answers. Ask a question, get a response. That's fine for commoditized knowledge. But the interesting frontier is AI that makes you think better — that surfaces connections you missed, challenges assumptions you didn't know you had, restructures how you see a problem.

That's what I want to build. Not an assistant that thinks for you. An assistant that makes you a sharper thinker.