Should we meet for real or not?
My first company was called meetforeal, a startup aimed at fostering face-to-face connections using technology. It was the year 2008, a time when social media was scaling up, and the internet's influence on our lives was steadily deepening. Through meetforeal, I first learned a lot about face-to-face gatherings and analyzed deeply the impact of technology on human interactions.
My approach to creation and innovation is intuitive, driven by subtle signals. And specially in the last year of 2023 ive noticed a persistent desire for deeper and more meaningful face-to-face interactions. However, amidst this longing, and the growing sense that we don't really belong to any real face to face community there's a growing impatience and fickleness among people. Meaningful connections, whether personal or professional, seem elusive. Despite the efficiency of Zoom for all types of connections, they often lack the depth necessary for genuine collaboration, innovation or event just friendship.
While face-to-face interaction remains paramount for human development, We need an AI to help us augment face to face interactions. We need to get a sense of the conversations, interactions, and topics that characterize various communities and groups. AI will be a community facilitator which will foster continuous engagement, suggest relevant topics, and organize meetups.
In a world now where distractions abound, AI can help maintain the health of communities by guiding members toward valuable interactions and encouraging participation in existing and new groups and communities.
The key lies in bridging the gap between Zoom meetings, face-to-face gatherings, and virtual communities. AI will be a super connector and community manager. I long for stronger community interactions but at the same time I am stuck with so many other things to do, that finding the time and organizing gatherings become challenging. Oh but wait I will create the AI that will solve this problem and is called Agent-A.
Below is a javascript program I wrote in 2011 matching people real time at an Ignite event.
Making connections happen since 2011 with tech face to face.
