iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The key is "my situation." My second brain already knows it, so I didn't have to explain anything. That turns "you should check out [x]" from a someday chore to immediately useful.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"Search Tilt Parenting for episodes relevant to my situation. Save those transcripts, and tell me what ideas from each might be useful." It went through the whole archive, picked 29 episodes, saved their transcripts, and wrote me a brief.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

ellow parent told me to check out the Tilt Parenting podcast. Great tip. Then I saw 500+ episodes going back ten years. Usually I'd listen to one or two recent episodes at best, then the recommendation quietly dies. So I told my second brain in Claude:

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Not if they want to spend it though?

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

In my perfect world, AI policy would be chosen by those who don’t have a survival bunker.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Same thing happened here though I didn’t get it

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

(Also, we're on draft seven of a three-paragraph email.) Full detail here: seeds.bluem.ventures/p/my-ai-dono...

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

What it doesn't do yet, well or at all: Judgment about what to fund. Supporting organizations with fundraising, connections, etc. Real track records you only get in conversation. The exploratory meeting that turns a half-formed idea into something backable.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

What vetting parity looks like: it reads the FEC filings and 990s, researches key people, checks every pitch against 350+ studies, and runs my full evaluation playbook — 86 questions, 51 red and green flags. All the work I'd expect from a human team.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I published a report card for my AI donor advisor. On its core job of vetting organizations, the AI is pretty much as good as a capable human. In other areas, not yet. seeds.bluem.ventures/p/my-ai-dono...

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

So nice when the world sometimes feels sane

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Respect you for raising this. The city-run supermarket idea runs against so much basic economic theory. I’m always openminded to new ideas, but anyone declaring themselves sold without a deep analysis isn’t serious.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Update on my AI donor advisor: ten screening categories, 84 questions, 48 red/green flag items. Plus it has 200+ academic and practitioner research papers for baseline efficacy of tactics under various conditions. All run near-instantly on any project.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I like @adamjentleson.bsky.social's tests for when a group becomes a capital-G "Group": Does it demand positions that are wrong on the merits or lose elections? Sell them with junk polling? Punish the candidates who won't fall in line? Way better than ideology- or vibes-based definitions.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Here you go! seeds.bluem.ventures/p/what-your-...

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I tested it on an org I chair. I gave a model three pitch docs, turned web search on, and asked 23 diligence questions. AI had an answer for every question; about half the answers held up.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I thought my AI donor advisor was the cool part. But most of the feedback on that piece was some version of "ok, but what should nonprofits do about funders doing this?" Fair. So I wrote that up: seeds.bluem.ventures/p/what-your-...

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Organizations fundraising should create a packet of AI-legible materials that they can easily share with funders. I expect this will be common within 1-2 years.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

The real magic with AI starts when you give it your own thinking: essays, strategy documents, etc. Then it can start analyzing material *on your own terms* as you would.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Glad to help folks in my circles with vibecoding; holler if this is you.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

If I can help anyone understand why building more homes is good regardless of who is paying to build them (private equity or otherwise), please reply or DM.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Sounds bad when you put it that way

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Is polymarket so bad that people should turn down their money? Honest q

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

If 6x the local police force actually spent months capturing the "worst of the worst," we should see crime drop noticeably. Let's see what happens…

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Bad government wastes so much of people’s time that could otherwise be spent on useful things.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Thank you for everything you’re doing

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Anyone else thinking about this these days?

if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine -
Obi Wan Kenobi

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

New second amendment just dropped! Guns are great as long as you aren’t doing anything the government dislikes.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Our kids now say things like "I like Alpha 20 times more than my other schools." The future of education will look more like this. We're very grateful that our kids get to experience it now. /end Full essay with all the details: alphanyc.substack.com/p/why-our-family-loves-alpha-school

alphanyc.substack.com

Why our family loves Alpha School NYC

The good, the bad(ish), and how to decide for your child

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Alpha School has been controversial for “replacing teachers with AI.” From the inside, this concern is bizarre. The adults at Alpha are just as important and just as present as in other schools. /9

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

The strongest signal: Of ~20 day-one NYC families, three have already enrolled a second child. The people who've seen it up close are giving the ultimate vote of confidence. 8/

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Prospective parents always ask me what has been bad so far. It’s a very fair question but I struggle for an answer; there’ve been hiccups but nothing that I’d call “bad.” The biggest unknown is whether quality holds as they scale quickly. 7/

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

The social concern everyone asks about: There's still lunch, recess, breaks. But the *structured* social learning is great, like town halls where kids debate and vote, group projects, and workshops on interviewing strangers. It's not just screens all day. 6/

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Afternoon workshops teach things I wish I'd learned in school: giving/receiving feedback, public speaking, self-learning (kids had to teach themselves to solve a Rubik's cube). Once you see these skills taught explicitly, it seems crazy that other schools don't. 5/

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

What surprised me: How differently Alpha works for each of our twins. Our son thrives on the incentive structures and lack of distractions. Our daughter is filling some learning gaps beyond what regular school would achieve. Both benefit from and enjoy the afternoons and optional homework. 4/

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

And homework isn't just optional, it's fundamentally different. No more mystery assignments, no more 3-hour homework nights. Want to skip homework for a family event? Fine. Kid wants to work ahead over break? Also fine. 3/

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

At Alpha School, kids finish all academics in the morning using personalized software. Afternoons are for life skills workshops. Homework is optional. It sounds too good to be true; it's not. 2/

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

So many parents asked me about Alpha School that I wrote up our experience. Five months in, our whole family (kids and parents) would be crushed to go back to regular school. Here's why 🧵 alphanyc.substack.com/p/why-our-family-loves-alpha-school

alphanyc.substack.com

Why our family loves Alpha School NYC

The good, the bad(ish), and how to decide for your child

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

The Politico UATX story hits a nerve because it's the classic authoritarian rise: 1. Make fair critiques of the status quo 2. Enlist sympathetic pluralists who help you rise to power 3. Become a mirror image (or worse) of everything you once criticized www.politico.com/news/magazin...

politico.com

They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.

Inside the civil war at the anti-woke university backed by Bari Weiss.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Yeah we’re pretty perfect it’s true

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

My working model of the country has been that it's split into three groups: Left, Right, and low interest in politics. (And that calling the middle group "moderate" is misleading.) This is a great addition of texture to that middle group.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Thanks but if you google you’ll find otherwise

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Yes exactly, for residential buildings up to a certain size. Which impacts safety basically not at all.

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David Slifka @davidslifka.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

just getting tide of the ones that aren’t net beneficial, like double-stair requirements and too-high parking minimums.

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