The Enlightenment poet Alexander Pope famously wrote: “To err is human.” This week in Netcetera we turn the spotlight on error that is human, certainly, but more specifically…Humane’s.

The Myosin.xyz community is always talking emerging tech, so the announcement of the Humane Ai [sic] Pin naturally had the Discord buzzing. When the San Francisco-based startup rolled out the Pin and its features, however, it left a lot to be desired. Literally. Myosin Content Guild member Eliot Couvat put our desires into words in a post on his Substack, The Modern World Builder, so this week – just days before the Ai Pin goes on sale – we’re running it right here on Netcetera.

You would think that a company started by former Apple employees would know how to handle a product announcement, but to err is indeed human. Let’s not forget that the rest of that quote from Pope’s 1711 Essay on Criticism goes, “To forgive is divine.” Hopefully Humane learns from this and gives us something to get excited about. Read on for Chevy’s intro to Eliot’s piece and to check out S2E2 of the Netcetera podcast.

Rowan Spencer | Editor-in-Chief

Who is Humane’s AI Pin actually for?

No one wants a quarter-inch drill bit; they want a quarter-inch hole. 

Though, perhaps what they really want isn’t a hole, but a way to secure a shelf to the wall?

Or maybe what they really, truly want is an excuse to tinker in their man-cave, and distract themselves from the very real mid-life crisis they’re going through? (Too much? I’ll stop.)

Point is: no one cares about you or your product — they care about what you or your product can do for them!

And unfortunately for Humane, the company behind a wearable, screen-less device designed to harness the full power of AI, no one made this quite clear.

…and between you and I, I’m kinda mad about it.

I watched the early demos of Humane’s tech and instantly began imagining how the AI Pin might one day allow me to keep the day-to-day efficiencies afforded to me by my iPhone — without the constant onslaught of screen-based distractions.

I couldn’t picture it.

But then again, I couldn’t picture the benefits of the iPhone before it’d been laid out before me and – given that the AI Pin was designed by two ex-Apple executives (one of which was on the original iPhone team) – I trusted this “feature-to-benefit” translation would be provided.

It was not.

And I was left feeling disappointed, but unable to express exactly why…because the features were cool! A laser projector in lieu of a screen? A voice assistant that could act as a 24hr on-call dietitian?? I was intrigued!

…but not sold.

And this is why I love Eliot’s deep dive on Humane’s botched release. 

The Myosin.xyz Content Guild writer, aka The Modern World Builder, takes what I felt (but couldn’t quite articulate) and puts it on the page.

Click the big yellow button below and take a look at it yourself. It’s a healing experience. At least it was for me.

Chevy Cassar

Netcetera Podcast

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That's it. That's all we got! Talk next week.
The Netcetera team 👋

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