Tools for thought or tools for fools?

If you're building AI tools these days, have you found yourself questioning things like "Will this be useful?", "Will anyone actually use it?", "Would I even use it myself?". Or worse, "Is selling the laptop I used to develop my app the only source of revenue income I'll get from it?"

If so, you might be interested in learning about Tools For Thought and who is actually building the serious solutions for serious problems.

After all, how do good tools come about? What kind of thinking is behind them? Could you be building a tool for thought?

What are tools for thought?

If you haven't heard of the term "tools for thought", think of LLMs like GPT-4, used by ChatGPT, as examples. These can be considered "tools for thought" because they assist in generating ideas, summarizing information, answering questions, and even prompting creative thinking.

"Tools for thought" refers to instruments, techniques or systems designed to extend, support or enhance cognitive processes, including thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering. This concept is grounded in the idea that our mental capabilities can be significantly amplified or augmented through external means.

As simple as that may sound, it's a powerful concept: we can actually enhance our intelligence through external means, such as tools. We don't necessarily need bigger brains or better senses; our tools have the potential to increase our intelligence.

Those tools are tools for thought. Now, using the tool for thought that you are probably using right now to read this article, give it a round of applause (or simply click the like button).

How tools for thought impact us

Occasionally, we create tools that not only solve specific problems but also change the way we think. One of the most evident examples is smartphones and their apps.

Another example, which may not be as obvious but is clear to me, is Google Maps. It has truly changed the way I think about transportation. It has reduced my cognitive load when it comes to spatial thinking, getting around, and geographical understanding. Life before that was a bit more challenging in those areas. I have more time to think about where to go, which is the really important thing - the goal, instead of how to go, which is just the process.

On the other hand, we have useful tools, but they may not be tools for thought. Take, for example, a toothpick. It's extremely useful for getting food out of your teeth, but it probably doesn't change the way you think about food and eating habits (I hope).

The central premise is that these tools act as extensions of our cognitive capacities. They don't just store information but also help in processing and making sense of that information, thereby extending the user's memory, analytical, or creative abilities.

Just in the digital world we can name quite a few more examples: Evernote enhances your memory, Udemy increases your knowledge, Git for software developers ingrains version control thinking naturally, and Photoshop, among others.

AI as tools for thought

ChatGPT and LLMs are indeed tools for thought, just like many other promising AI tools that will further enhance our cognitive capabilities in various areas, including, or even starting with, software development. Whether we like it or not, these tools are here to stay. It's similar to when Google Maps was first introduced and people thought they already knew their area well enough and didn't need it. Now they can't live without it, except some taxi drivers in my town.

Are you building a potential tool for thought?

If you are a developer working at TikTok, I'm afraid not. You might be building a tool that requires little thought. Jokes aside, you may already have enough information to make that judgment. If not, please take a look at this inspiring essay on the topic.

There are two key points mentioned in that article that really highlight what it takes to build tools for thought.

Good tools for thought arise mostly as a byproduct of doing original work on serious problems.

Based on experience, many engineers and problem solvers can easily relate to this. As a software engineer, for example, how many times have you created something, starting from a single Utility class (the infamous "utils" package), and eventually expanded it into a whole framework because you faced those problems yourself?

I believe we can all understand that.

However, I think the second point is actually the crucial one. It summarizes the very human essence of what it takes to actually build serious solutions for serious problems.

We’re working on it because we desperately want to know the answer.

The problems themselves are typically of intense personal interest to the problem-solvers. They’re not working on the problem for a paycheck; they’re working on it because they desperately want to know the answer.

I guess, at some point, 
we all have to ask ourselves this hard question. 

Are we desperate to know the answer to 
the problems we're working on?        

What do all those tools for thought we mentioned have in common?

Apart from big revenues, they probably share, or have originally shared, those two key concepts: being a byproduct of someone solving a problem they faced themselves, and personal interest in finding the answer. Sleepless nights spent thinking about how to solve it, questioning if it’s even possible.

They were driven by a desire to see the solution work, genuinely interested in the outcome. It's like being engrossed in a movie, unable to stop watching because you need to see how it ends. That satisfying movie ending is akin to witnessing a tool for thought come to life.

Please comment whether you see yourself building tools for thoughts and why.