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Heilmeier Catechism - DDaemon

What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.

Take all data an individual has generated across their entire life an put it into a single systems that is accessible via an API. This system would be called a users daemon.

Create an interface to interact for data stored on a user daemon. This interface allows for any two pieces of information to be linked with context.

Develop a peer to peer RBAC(Rule Based Access Control) social media protocol so people can share the data stored on their Daemon. Uses should be able to request queries on another persons daemon that require the daemon's owner permission. The owner responding to a query can respond with whatever data they like rather than what is objectively stored on their daemon.

Create a marketplace for applications that interact with said API that help the user live a better life.

Develop daemon's so they can get permission from their user to communicate with other daemons in the background and notify their user when useful actionable information is available.

How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?

Data today is stored within walled gardens, some of is accessible via API. Ecosystems and Social Media companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, TikTok and X store people's files, photos, and contacts posts, conversations, interests, social graph and more. This data is accessible to third parties via API or a user can request all their download and download it themselves.

Most walled gardens allow you to request an export of your data you can download, see Where can I download my data? for more info.

The Wolfram Langauge has a series of connectors that can look into these walled gardens, a list of which can be found here.

karlicoss develops custom tooling to transform the data exported from walled gardens so it can be queried in a single system here is their system diagram.

What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?

None of the approaches done so far have applied user centred design principals as outlined in IDEO Design Kit.

People desire privacy. People are traditionally used to using apps ran by other people rather than having their own sovereign infrastructure. If someone else is storing all the important information that constitutes your digital self it should be encrypted and they should not have access to it unless you explicitly give them permission.

Rather that installing apps on ones phone they can install apps on a server in the cloud. Having the application run on the users server rather than a other entity provided easier access to their data. When the user runs all their own applications they can compare data across applications.

Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?

People can use their data to manipulate themselves rather than having their data used to manipulate them by big tech companies. Data is the oil of the 21st centary. Giving people sovereignty over their own data gives them power to not only make money but the capacity to feed their data into tools that allow them to better themselves.

What are the risks?

  • Waste time developing a custom script or tool when something already exists
  • Accidentally leak people's personal information because system is not secure
  • Infrastructure is not backed up and lose people's data
  • Market miss match, develop a product that nobody wants to actually use

How much will it cost?

  • 95% of the cost of a SaaS is people, 5% is cloud costs

How long will it take?

Dentropy Daemon as a concept itself will never be finished just like how SaaS(Software as a Service) companies are never finished. It does however have 4 milestones outlined below that need to be completed.

What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?

This projects has four phrases that can be implemented asynchronously

Other design heuristics to judge the product include

  • My mother understands and is capable of using it
  • My non technical friends can understand what it is and communicate what the project is to someone else