Multidimensional Interfaces

Hi,

I am Aman, and this safe space is where I am most raw with my thoughts, hop on if you'd like to interact with them :))

Back in 2022 I wrote a blog post highlighting the differences between interface and implementation

A lot has changed since I published that blog post, LLMs have taken over, interfaces are no longer one-dimensional.

Since that post, I’ve articulated two core theses that I believe are foundational to how the future is unfolding:

• Personal Databases
• Accelerated Learning

Today, I’m introducing a third one that feels increasingly foundational.

2D Interfaces

We’ve finally reached a point where tools like ChatGPT and Claude have earned permanent spots in our browser bookmarks. Technology is no longer catching up, it’s beginning to show us glimpses of a world that can only be lived in science fiction.

Web interfaces are evolving to offer more utilities, tailored to each user. At the same time, software itself is being rapidly commoditised. The ways we interact with our phones and computers are becoming increasingly multidimensional, layered, adaptive, and far less constrained than ever before.

We’re quickly moving toward a world where users can do far more. They’re no longer limited by the interface through which they interact with computers, those boundaries are dissolving.

Defaults

Every interface comes with a set of defaults but soon, changing those defaults will become effortless.

To use a programming analogy: I treat VS Code as an interface layer for interacting with the constructs of language I’m working in. It gives me the flexibility to shape my environment, offering utilities that let me work the way I want to. I can configure nearly everything to optimize for speed and comfort.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. We’ve been configuring the way we use software for decades,tweaking MS Word toolbars, adjusting browser settings, installing extensions to suit our workflows. No one uses computers exactly as they’re delivered; we’ve always reshaped the defaults to fit our needs. What’s changed now is how effortless that reshaping has become especially with LLMs in the picture. The interface molds to us, not the other way around.

I still remember the days when I spent most of my time hanging out on the XDA Forums, trying out different operating systems on my OnePlus 6. Ever heard of rooting your phone? If not, let me introduce you to a whole new rabbit hole, a place where Android nerds used to thrive.

There's a special kind of nostalgia tied to those moments watching endless YouTube videos about Tasker, just so I could optimise my phone to it's maximum potential.

Back then, setting up a custom boot animation felt like the ultimate flex. Being a superuser wasn’t just fun, it was a lifestyle.

Now imagine if we had LLMs back then, a chat window right by our side, giving us step-by-step instructions on how to flip the kill switches and unlock every hidden feature. It would’ve taken the fun to a whole new level!

Browsers are tools at best that provides us an interface to access the web and I personally think LLMs will make it easier for everyone to have their own set of configs/settings.

There’s fun in being deeply curious about the tools we use and how they behave. That curiosity drives us to explore their full potential and become really good at it, all while having fun. It turns the whole experience into a kind of game.

My bet for the future is that interfaces will become smart enough to better understand your data inputs and offer exponential returns, while the keyboard and mouse will still be the primary input modes, you’ll now have the option to define the control flow.

For decades, interfaces have guided users along predefined roads. Think files and folders, buttons and menus, screens and flows. These familiar structures organise information and provide the comfort of knowing where you are and what's possible - Design for the AI age

You can assemble each LEGO piece to suit your needs and create your own unique set of experiences. Steph Ango here talks about this idea of configurable interfaces when he talks about software as LEGO.

I’m all in on this model, where everyone has their own set of config files whether it’s .text, .yml, .json, or even just plain English. Primeagen recently talked about his keybindings and overall dev setup in the Lex Fridman podcast and it very well aligns with my vision for the future of web browsing.

It goes without saying, but this talk by Bret Victor couldn’t be more relevant than it is today.

Multidimensional Users

Each user is unique in their own ways and post LLM we will be living in the world of optionality where you can choose to opt into your ideal version of the product.

Making great products with intuitive user flows takes a decent bit of effort, it's no easy task. Different people have different opinions on what the ideal behaviour should be. While there’s oftentimes a general consensus there’s also plenty of disagreement.

Solving for problems when variables are unknown is never easy!

I am very bad at math's but still someone like me can easily remember the fact that, to solve a quadratic you must have at least two variables but who are we kidding this is real world and how stupid of me to apply a math's analogy here.

I like to think of designing as the tool to make abstract things tangible, and engineering as a medium to bridge abstraction and convenience - Interface Problems ⊂ Technical Problems.

I even maintain my own set of product opinions — a log of how I think products should behave. People will soon shape products to fit their own tastes, discovering, what their definition of a product truly is.

Maggie Appleton has written a fair bit about interfaces, and I have taken a lot of inspiration from her ideas to have the same level of clarity.

Interfaces are an aesthetic notion now and have become a part of our identities.

Conclusion

For the past three years, most of my thinking has revolved around two core ideas:

• What if each of us had our own personal datastore, a memory layer we could query, shape, and build upon?
• What if we could use that to make learning difficult things easier and faster?

In my view, the greatest competitive advantage today is the ability to learn hard things quickly and now, for the first time, I feel like I’ve reached a certain level of clarity on these ideas.

• Personal Databases
• Accelerated Learning
• Multidimensional Interfaces

Everything I build next will lie at the intersection of these three core ideas.