Latent diffusion models (DALLE-2, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion) recently broke into the popular zeitgeist in the form of some hilarious segments on talk shows and foreboding debates about what does and doesn’t count as original art.

It’s that time of year again. Predictions about technology and where it’s going are right, left and center. Particularly so this year because we’re not just entering a new year, it’s a new decade. While I don’t pretend to have much new to add to the conversation, areas of opportunity have been on my mind recently given the changes in my professional life. So (..and I’m aware you didn’t ask) here are my fave three for the 2020s:

I found an interesting—some may say insane—letter in my junk drawer of a document box. You know, that box that goes everywhere with you and progressively fills up with “important” documents you believe you need to keep, like tax returns and Staples receipts for printer paper and pens purchased in 2001.

If ideas were literally a dime a dozen, most of us would have a decent chunk of change (assuming quality was unimportant). But how do you decide what to pursue, and what to backburner? I’ve done this calculus a bunch of times over my working life and have had the good fortune of having a few of my ideas bear out; at least enough to avoid getting a “real” job. Here’s the set of criteria I’ve had success with, roughly in order of importance: