Courier armies

We previously introduced the metaphor of "bending information" to describe Subset. We likened current save, share and search practices to the physical manipulation of information: gathering it in cupped hands to transport it. Information bending, in contrast, uses little more than intent to direct information from source to target. In this post, we'll introduce another metaphor for information sharing: couriers.

In Story, Robert McKee makes a distinction between characteristics and character. Characteristics are the observable attributes of an entity: height; weight; apparel; accessories; abode. Character is the decisions an entity makes and the actions they take: tell the truth or spin a lie; take a life or save one; how one does anything.

Here are the characteristics of effective couriers:

• Small: minimal footprint in comparison to other units of transport

• Fast: higher speed in comparison to other units of transport

• Nimble: able to change direction and solve last-mile distribution problems

• Timely: orientates based on urgency and time-sensitivity

• Available: operates around the clock

• Technical: uses technology to enhance performance

• Savvy: leverages the grey zones of the systems they use and occupy

• Instructable: accommodates per package and per customer constraints

• Identifiable: wears or carries distinguishing items

• Courteous: maintains cordial relations with senders and recipients

• Premium: more costly to deploy than commodity mechanisms

• Mandated: strongly incentivised to deliver correctly despite resistance

But what about their character? What really makes a courier?

• Trustworthy: acts with discretion and care, ensuring privacy and security are never compromised

• Autonomous: adheres to service-level protocols whilst making decisions and taking actions that ensure mission-level success

• Performant: delivers on time, on budget, according to instructions, and with minimal complications, every single time

Here's an example.

Matt is in a swish office building south of the river. Miki is sat outside a cute little cafe north of the river. Matt has a package for Miki. It needs to be delivered, urgently. He engages a courier.

A short while later, the courier arrives. They verify Matt as the sender, Miki as the recipient, and the package itself. The courier exits the building. Matt stares out the window, watching them leave. In the north, Miki takes a sip of his coffee and relaxes as the sun warms his face.

The courier whips across the city, weaving through traffic and avoiding rogue pedestrians, taking a contemplative pause on the bridge before pulling up at the cafe. Miki and the courier recognise one another. The courier performs their verification and signs off on delivery; Miki accepts the package and does the same.

The courier departs for their next mission. Miki sits down and opens the package, sun still on his face. Matt smiles upon receiving a notification of successful delivery.

Subset provides custom information couriers. They share the characteristics and character of effective couriers, as described above, and the mechanics of their employ are fundamentally the same. The difference is that senders and recipients occupy networks, instead of physical spacetime, and the packages are Dunbar goods, composite assemblages of bits instead of bundles of atoms. Although our 0.2 product focuses on the production of email digests, which are a surprisingly effective means for generating value sustainably over time, we're unbundling its elements to provide courier-like sharing.

We're building a new way to save, share and search, so we consistently bounce things concerning the state of search back and forth internally, from alt-search providers, like Exa and Kagi, to analyses of what went wrong with Google's search. Prior to Subset and our information couriers, this was a manual affair. One of us would have to copy the link to the found thing, capture a spicy excerpt and a contextualising comment, navigate to the innards of our shared platform of choice, and send it as a direct message. To find it later, we'd have to access the DM and search it. Now, it's easier.

Matt can rely on a pattern that takes saved items with the tag "alt-search" and delivers them every Friday to Miki. If it's urgent, Matt can save it and see it automatically pushed to Miki via email. After the fact, both Miki and Matt can use the interactive repository to surface saved and shared things quickly.

In effect, Matt and Miki have access to an army of custom information couriers that can distribute saved things to high relevance targets in a trustworthy, autonomous, and performant way. Right now, the primary channel is email; soon, channels will evolve and become little more than constraints that our couriers will respect.

"Subset equals custom information couriers" is a neat metaphor for the capabilities we're developing. But like all metaphors it is somewhat imperfect. Here's one of its primary imperfections:

• In the physical world, effective couriers can be confident that their environment and its systems are not deliberately impeding or acting maliciously against them

This is not true for Subset's custom information couriers. As the channels Subset operates over expands and as the sharing patterns become more sophisticated, our couriers are likely to be penalised and restricted by the punitive stances of platform overlords. Fortunately, we can escape such draconian tactics by configuring our couriers to be more like Boydian burglars. But that is a topic for a future post...