Seth Black
AI, Python, and Startups
The AI Symphony: Why Orchestrating Specialized Systems Trumps AGI
The pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) may be misguided. Instead of creating a singular, omniscient AI entity, we should focus on orchestrating a symphony of specialized AI systems. This approach leverages current AI capabilities, allows for faster development and deployment, and mitigates ethical concerns associated with AGI. By embracing an AI orchestra rather than a single all-knowing entity, we can create practical, powerful AI tools that tackle complex real-world challenges while complementing human capabilities. read on »
The Insane History of Dates in Excel: Quirks, Bugs, and Lessons Learned
Excel's date system is a fascinating journey through software history, from the infamous 1900 leap year bug to AI-assisted features. This post explores how early design decisions, backwards compatibility challenges, and unintended consequences have shaped Excel's quirky date handling, affecting everything from scientific research to international business. It's a tale of persistence, adaptation, and the enduring impact of software choices made decades ago. read on »
Startup Death-Flailing: The Final Throes of Failing Ventures
Explore the telltale signs of struggling startups in their final stages, including communication silence, hiring freezes, desperate pivots, extreme cost-cutting, executive departures, and frantic searches for saviors. Learn valuable lessons from these experiences for founders, investors, and the broader startup ecosystem. read on »
Don't Neglect Your Elders: The Continued Usefulness of Older Machine Learning Models
Explore the continued relevance of older machine learning models in real-world applications. This post discusses the strengths, use cases, and enduring value of classic algorithms like Naive Bayes, linear regression, and SVMs, emphasizing the importance of choosing the right tool for the job in AI and data science. read on »
Stop Lying about Technical Debt: Redefining the Concept for Startups
Technical debt is a term that has been used to describe a myriad of different things. The most common use of the term is to describe the amount of work that needs to be done to fix a system that has been poorly designed or implemented. read on »
Project Highlight
I've been investing in real estate since the 2010s and realized that my property investment modeling system could be used by others, so I built it!
I chatted with Nick Janetakis from Running in Production about the software and hardware stack that has been running my website for the last decade...more.
seth.black Photography
I <3 photography, this is my personal showcase.
Adriana and I got married, so why would I not personally design, draw, develop and code our wedding website?
FindMeNoms is an easy way to "find tasty food around you wherever you are". This is a side project that was born out of my need for an app/website that would remember all of the tasty places that I have eaten at, or would recommend to someone, or have been recommended to me. Basically, Yelp wasn't cutting it, as I'd find myself falling down the rabbit hole of reading one-star reviews and laughing at how crazy people can be instead of actually finding food.
This was a short-lived startup idea. The basic premise was, well, just watch the explainer video.
Document management for schools, doctor's offices, and pretty much anyone else who would give us money. Unfortunately it didn't work out too well. I did get a really cool logo out of it, though.
My very first startup: web development, web hosting and an ISP. This is the very first time I got to work with my friend Darrel. He designed our sites, logos, business cards and even mousepads! No joke.