Latest / The Feed & The Thread / The Feed & The Thread - September 25, 2026

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The Feed & The Thread - September 25, 2026 · The Feed & The Thread

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  The Bible got the AI boom exactly right. Wait. You're
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  framing this as ancient prophecy? It's a forbidden reach
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  for godlike knowledge, and that's the core of our current
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  debate. We're diving into that metaphor today.
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  Welcome to The Feed and The Thread, brought to you by
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  Chicago Camps. The Feed & The Thread is available online at
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  feed and thread dot com to submit your feeds, or download
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  our app for all the feeds and threads delivered right to your
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  pocket.
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  The question of how AI should feel is no longer abstract, as
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  three distinct perspectives challenge the idea that raw
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  capability is enough for user adoption. Julie Zhuo at The
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  Looking Glass argues in "What will make personal AI go big?"
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  that personal AI must pass the 'mom test' to succeed. This
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  means the interface needs to feel like texting rather than a
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  complex technical tool. Muse's success relies on a friendly
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  yeti avatar and immediate emotional responses like likes
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  and emojis. It prioritizes approachability over raw power,
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  which is the key to mass adoption. Luke Wroblewski at
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  LukeW makes the case in "Skip the Tools, Make the Outcomes"
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  that we should skip the tools and deliver outcomes directly.
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  His platform Exposit shows that users prefer asking specific
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  questions for personalized reports over browsing standard
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  news feeds. This shift to just- in-time content means we stop
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  building static interfaces and start generating answers in real
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  time. Dan Maccarone at UX Design.cc offers a philosophical
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  take in "What the Bible got right about AI", comparing AI to
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  the biblical narrative of forbidden knowledge. He suggests
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  that attempts to pause development will fail because
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  human nature drives us to push boundaries. AI acts as a mirror
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  reflecting our full spectrum of traits, from brilliance to
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  venom. We can't regulate the tool without addressing our own
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  drive to use it. Other reads today include Rosenfeld Media on
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  machine ethics, UX Planet on model comparisons, and UX
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  Design.cc on cultural origins.
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  A children's book audio player, a doctorate with zero
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  interviews, and a screen that dents like clay - these are
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  the tactile questions defining today's design floor. Over on
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  r/UI_Design, a practitioner is working to recreate an audio
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  interface where the visual state shifts as the track plays. The
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  core challenge isn't just the code, but how to make the
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  progress bar feel alive rather than mechanical. This matters
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  because raw capability is easy to build, but the subtle, state-
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  dependent feedback is what actually makes an interface feel
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  responsive to human time. In r/UXResearch, a researcher with
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  a doctorate and published work is hitting a wall of silence
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  despite hundreds of applications. The disconnect
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  between academic credentials and current market demand is
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  creating a real friction point for senior talent. The tension
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  here's clear: the field is shifting toward applied,
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  product-building skills, and traditional academic prestige is
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  no longer the automatic key that used to open doors. Also on
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  r/UI_Design, a concept for "soft screen" interfaces is gaining
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  attention. The idea uses visual dents to show where a finger-
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  tracking ring is touching the display, replacing the flat
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  cursor with a tactile mimicry. This is a direct challenge to
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  the idea that AI and hardware should feel sterile. By making
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  the digital surface feel physical, designers are
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  addressing the need for AI interactions to have a tangible,
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  human weight. Back in r/UI_Design, a designer shared
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  their launch success after validating their work with peer
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  feedback. The practical impact of that community check was
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  immediate: the app went live a week later. This reinforces that
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  seeking external perspective isn't just about ego; it's a
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  functional part of the design process that catches gaps before
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  users do. In r/Design, a founder is struggling to make
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  their Instagram creatives feel cohesive despite having a solid
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  brand book. The issue isn't the assets, but the lack of a
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  unified visual rhythm. This highlights a common trap: having
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  the right components doesn't guarantee the right feeling, and
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  that gap is often where brand identity actually breaks down.
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  Today's discussions all point to the same friction: the gap
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  between what we can build and how it feels to use. The
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  capability is there, but the tactile, human layer is where
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  the real design work happens.
• 4:14
  The Feed and The Thread is brought to you by Chicago Camps.
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  For a weekly and monthly exploration of the patterns and
• 4:20
  signals across UX, you can also check out Patterns and Signals
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  at the website patterns and signals dot com. Chicago Camps
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  will have more events in 2027. You can submit to be a speaker
• 4:30
  at a future event at Chicago Camps dot org.
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  Julie Zhuo's "mom test" for personal AI is the clearest
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  signal yet that raw capability is dead. She argues that tools
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  like Muse succeed not because they're powerful, but because
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  they feel like texting, using a friendly yeti avatar and
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  immediate emotional responses. This directly challenges the
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  assumption that users want a more complex technical
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  interface; they want approachability. That's the
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  emotional layer, but we're seeing the physical layer catch
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  up in the community. There's a concept gaining traction in
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  r/UI_Design called "soft screen" interfaces, which use visual
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  dents to show where a finger- tracking ring is touching the
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  display. It replaces the flat, sterile cursor with tactile
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  mimicry, making the digital surface feel physical. It's a
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  direct rejection of the idea that AI interaction should be
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  disembodied. These two trends point to the same systemic
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  shift: the interface is becoming a medium for presence, not just
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  data. Zhuo's emotional responses and the soft screen's tactile
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  weight both aim to give the user a sense of agency and
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  connection. The problem is that we're still evaluating these
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  tools on speed and accuracy, which creates a mismatch. We're
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  building for feeling, but measuring for function. And
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  that's where the real work is. We need to stop treating
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  "usability" as just error rates and task completion. If the soft
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  screen concept works, it's because it respects the human
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  need for physicality. We have to start designing for the feeling
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  of the interaction. The metric should be "did it feel human,"
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  not "did it work." But defining "human" is the hard part. Zhuo's
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  mom test is a heuristic, not a standard. How do we scale that?
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  We can't just add emojis to every dashboard. We need a
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  framework for emotional and tactile design that's as
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  rigorous as our current usability testing. That's the
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  gap. Exactly. And that framework doesn't exist yet. But
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  the fact that people are building soft screens and yeti
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  avatars means the field is moving past the "tool" paradigm.
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  We're entering the "partner" paradigm. And that's where the
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  value is. The next standard for AI design won't be measured in
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  milliseconds or accuracy scores, but in whether the interaction
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  feels like a conversation or a command. And whoever defines
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  that standard will define the future of human-computer
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  interaction.
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  That's The Feed and The Thread for today. We'll catch you next
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  time!