The Art of Getting Better
Progress that once took years now happens in seconds. Every creation eventually includes iterations. When we iterate we create efficiency. Whether saving a second or days, each iteration makes the cycle time better, smarter, more responsive, and more useful over time. This applies to everything in life. From the first wheel carved 5,500 years ago, to the advanced neural networks used today to process billions of calculations in milliseconds.
Go pick up a skateboard, walk outside, and try pushing down the street. Feels wobbly right? You don't feel secure. You can feel everything, from each loose bearing to the polyurethane wheels attempting to throw you headfirst into the burning hot pavement. Your brain is firing 86 billion neurons at once, processing balance, momentum, and spatial awareness faster than any supercomputer. Every push, every one of those 206 bones in your body are getting used to the feeling. They are adapting and understanding where to center your weight, and where to put your balance towards. Every millisecond, without even realizing it, you are responding, iterating, and becoming more efficient.
The skateboard itself is a testament to iteration, from the original 1950s sidewalk surfers made from dismantled roller skates and wooden boxes to today's precision-engineered 7-ply maple decks with ceramic bearings that spin up to 20,000 RPM. Aaron Jaws Homoki didn't just wake up one day and ollie the Lyon 25 (The Lyon 25 is a 25-step staircase in Lyon, France that measures 14 feet 9 inches tall and 22 feet long, making it one of the most intimidating spots in skateboarding). It took him attempt after attempt, breaking everything from boards to his MCL. However, after years of attempts and failing combined, he eventually rolled away from what is considered one of the most influential few seconds in skateboarding history.
After years and years you eventually master the skill, making yourself a "professional". But here's where it gets interesting. Imagine you had access to a tool, a tool that understood skateboarding like a GPS understands directions - seemingly impossible until it's not. A tool that could instruct every one of those 206 bones and 600 muscles and point them in the right direction, calculating the precise 47-degree angle needed for that kickflip, the exact 2.3 seconds of airtime required to clear that 8 stair. You could just think or say "do a kickflip" and it could execute flawlessly, or "smith grind that downrail" and watch as it performs with surgical precision.
What was once thought to be science fiction is now reality. Cars are driving themselves, robots are doing everything from backflips to folding laundry, and AI models are writing millions of lines of code by analyzing billions of lines of human-written software. Each iteration, each training cycle, each feedback loop makes these systems exponentially more capable.
Iteration after iteration, we improve. That's what separates humans from every other species, we don't just adapt to our environment but iterate on it. We took fire and made furnaces. We took wheels and made rockets that can land themselves on floating rocks in space (…allegedly). We took binary code and built artificial minds that can paint, compose full symphonies, and diagnose diseases faster than doctors with decades of experience.
That is what life is all about, using the tools we are given and making our lives better, smarter and more efficient. But now we're not just using hammers and wheels; we're wielding artificial intelligence, quantum computers, and bioengineering. We're iterating at the speed of light, compressing centuries of human progress into decades, then years, then months, then simple prompts.
The new age of technicality isn't just about "whose model has the largest context window" or "what new smartphone has the quickest processor". It's about augmenting human iteration itself, making us better at improving, faster at failing forward, and more efficient at being inefficient until we're not. And that's the most beautiful iteration of all.