Things I Wish Existed

Scarcity is still the defining factor for many key resources in most aspects of life, at least for now.

But with the recent GPT boom, even without reaching full AGI, the gap in knowledge scarcity is already starting to shrink.

I believe AGI will speed up progress in nearly every field, and it could play a big role in reducing scarcity across the board.

Of course, things like energy and raw materials from the Earth are still hard to replicate. We’d need some kind of modern-day alchemist for that. And honestly, I think AI could become something close to that.

There are risks too, especially the existential ones. AI has completely changed the game when it comes to creating art—something humans have always been proud of, sometimes arrogantly so. We’ve often believed that only we can make meaningful art or feel deep emotion. But now AI can mimic us, and sometimes it even creates something more creative, just by relying on math and probability. I’m exaggerating a bit here, mostly because I’m terrible at math, but it’s still kind of mind-blowing that we’ve gotten to this point.

What I’m writing here is really a mix of what I wish existed before the GPT boom and what’s possible now. This feels like the time when Pramoedya Ananta Toer, in Bumi Manusia, was amazed by the invention of the bicycle. But GPT? That’s just the beginning.

I think the future will be both incredible and a little eerie.

So here’s my list of what I wish existed in this world:

Mosque Social Credit System

This is something I wrote in college and tried to share with some friends, but I don’t think anyone read it—most probably didn’t feel it was relevant.

It’s essentially a digitization of the mosque—or any religious system—so we can monitor it like a stock market.

The idea is basically AI totalitarianism, but in a more open way. I wasted a bit of time being obsessed with this, but I think it would fail since it’s a top-down approach. So, I’ve postponed or maybe dropped it. Still, I really wish something like this could exist.

You can check out the full writing here: [link]

Ethical Buying Platform

Most people don’t care about the history or ideology behind the products they buy. Many just want cheap stuff, not realizing:

  • Some products are cheap because they rely on low-paid or slave labor.
  • Some cause massive environmental harm through exploitation.
  • Some founders or stakeholders support harmful agendas or monopolistic behavior (this is subjective, but we can use indicators).
  • Some businesses are led by people whose political agendas contradict your values.

I believe most people aren’t aware of this. That’s why I wish for a media/platform that can influence purchasing behavior—to reduce harm and promote equality. For example, avoiding purchases from mega-corporations could help reduce socioeconomic gaps.

The platform could allow users to scan items they’re buying (trickier in traditional markets—another reason we need modernization for better data reliability). Then, it would show historical controversies or scandals related to the product or company. Scoring systems could be introduced, though creating fair methodologies would be challenging.

Personal Agent to Track Everything

I find it hard to monitor my actions and body. Journaling wastes time since I only write when I feel like it. Smart bands track steps, sleep, stress—but I’m lazy to wear them all the time. I want something simpler, embedded in my body, to continuously track what I do.

It would essentially be structured journaling via sensors—clean data that connects to AI. Then, it could help us align with our goals and guide us. It’s an interesting problem to solve, but I’m too lazy to build it.

Auto-Warist

I think I’ll die young. Many of my assets are decentralized, with no central authority. I’m afraid they’ll be lost forever without benefiting anyone.

I need a tool to track my family and friends. If I’m proven dead or inactive for a certain period, it should automatically transfer my assets—account access, passwords, cloud storage, even physical property. It could use blockchain (yes, I know, buzzword), though today’s blockchains are expensive and wasteful. Still, this is a valid use case.

Ideally, the assets would be distributed according to Islamic inheritance law or a custom will (wasiat), assigning specific portions to specific people. Of course, there’s a lot to build.

Family Tree

I want access to Facebook’s social graph—seriously. When my extended family started an Instagram page, I started thinking about this.

One problem today is that young people feel lost, overwhelmed by too many choices. Imagine a detailed lineage database that goes down to individual dreams, experiences, and aspirations—even the “dead dreams” of ancestors.

Imagine tracing your lineage all the way back to the first human. It’s beautiful. You’d understand the struggles that shaped you. If you’re ever unsure about your life, maybe look at the dreams your ancestors couldn’t fulfill. You wouldn’t be forced to pursue them, but they could offer a starting point.

It might help reduce loneliness. Everyone has dead dreams. You could share yours with future generations. Maybe this could even help increase birth rates or reduce suicide rates—because seeing the struggle of your ancestors, even at the microbiological level, is powerful. The way cells fight, survive, cooperate—or don’t—just to exist… that, too, is beautiful.

PS:

Maybe this is just my “Hammer Tool Bias”—because I work in data, I want to automate everything. But maybe not everything needs automation. Maybe we can just trust people. Still, I think there’s a deeper reason: I rarely connect or engage with others, so I fear no one would even know if I died. The same emotional logic fuels the other ideas. But if these tools could exist, why not? It wouldn’t hurt anyone… right? Right? I don’t know, hehe.