The Weekly Commit #007: “Just Ask AI”

The Weekly Commit #010: "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once"

The Weekly Commit #010 — "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" Season One Finale This is the tenth and final episode of Season One of The Weekly Commit. Over nine weeks, I wrote about a MasterChef contestant who lost both hands and engineered a new way to cook, about watching a Hindi film alone in a London cinema on Republic Day, about Sir Alex Ferguson sitting in a dark room and making the hardest call of his career, about the COVID years and what constant vigilance actually costs, about a request that arrived just as I was leaving, about my daughter and the words "Let's ask AI", about my mum at the edge of a London Underground escalator who said one word — "Wait" — and a terminal scrolling with code I didn't write. Then I sat down to write the tenth piece and something unexpected happened. I started reading. And I discovered that every tradition I encountered — Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, the Bhagavad Gita, Rumi's reed flute, Lao Tzu's wu wei — had already described exactly what I had been circling for nine weeks. Without a map. Without a plan. This episode unpacks all of it. What the nine commits look like as a single arc. Why honesty leads everyone to the same place eventually. And what it means to write from instinct long enough that the universe shows you the map you were already drawing. What we cover: The film Everything, Everywhere, All at Once as a frame for the season Joseph Campbell and why the Hero's Journey appears in every culture on earth The Bhagavad Gita — the one tradition I knew before I started writing, and what it was doing in my work all along Lao Tzu and wu wei — why the escalator moment in #008 is actually a 2,500-year-old teaching Rumi and the reed flute — why the wandering before #001 was not wasted time The single question underneath all nine commits The Commit line: Write from instinct long enough, and the universe will show you the map you were already drawing. Go Deeper — links from this episode: Rumi — Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi] | Search: Rumi The Guest House on YouTube The Hero's Journey — Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey] | The Power of Myth — PBS [https://www.pbs.org/show/joseph-campbell-and-the-power-of-myth-with-bill-moyers/] Bhagavad Gita — Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita] | Search: Bhagavad Gita explained English on YouTube Wu Wei — Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei] | Search: Alan Watts The Principle of Not Forcing on YouTube Cynefin Framework — Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework] | HBR: A Leader's Framework for Decision Making [https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making] Read the full piece: https://engineeredbygaurang.com/writing/the-weekly-commit-010-everything/ [https://engineeredbygaurang.com/writing/the-weekly-commit-010-everything/] Subscribe to The Weekly Commit: https://engineeredbygaurang.substack.com [https://engineeredbygaurang.substack.com] The Weekly Commit is a weekly essay series by Gaurang Karia — Principal Engineer, writer, and builder based in London. New episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit engineeredbygaurang.substack.com [https://engineeredbygaurang.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The Weekly Commit #009: "Vibing"

The Weekly Commit #009: "Vibing" Vibe Living to Vibe Coding. Staying curious still matters. Episode summary Vibe coding is the newest way to build software: describe what you want in plain English, let an AI agent write every line, ship it. No syntax. No debugging. Just intention and a result. But this isn't the first time we've abstracted away complexity. From machine code to assembly to high-level languages to frameworks — every rung of the stack involved the same bargain: give up a little control, gain a little speed. In this episode, we explore what makes vibe coding different, why we do the same thing in life, and why staying curious inside the abstraction is still the thing that separates someone who shipped from someone who grew. What we cover What vibe coding actually is and why it matters right now The history of abstraction in software and the quiet unease at every rung How we build abstractions in life too: the commute, the routine, the groove The difference between shipping with an abstraction and growing with one Why curiosity is not a beginner's trait, it's a practice The Commit "The abstraction protects you from complexity. It doesn't protect you from ignorance." Read the full article engineeredbygaurang.com [http://engineeredbygaurang.com] Subscribe to The Weekly Commit on Substack substack.com/@gaurangkaria Follow Gaurang on X x.com/GaurangKaria The Weekly Commit is a newsletter and podcast at the intersection of engineering, creativity, and the examined life. New issues every week. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit engineeredbygaurang.substack.com [https://engineeredbygaurang.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The Weekly Commit #008: "One Step at a Time"

Episode Title: The Weekly Commit #008: "One Step at a Time" Subtitle: The fastest way forward isn't your speed. It's theirs. Description: A moment at a London underground station. The escalator moving fast — that relentless London pace. My mom frozen at the edge, handbag gripped tight. Me, already half a step on in my head, saying "just step on" without realizing I was asking her to match a rhythm that wasn't hers. In this episode, I explore what that pause taught me: about teams, about family, about working with AI — and about the difference between someone hesitating and someone processing. Sometimes the universe slows you down on purpose. Not to frustrate you. To remind you that the person beside you is not inside your head. In this episode: The escalator moment — and the one word that changed everything Why "just step on" doesn't work (in teams, families, or AI prompts) The AI mirror: how prompting taught me patience with humans Why handoffs matter more than speed Key takeaway: The fastest way forward isn't your speed. It's theirs. Slow down. Count to three. Step on together. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit engineeredbygaurang.substack.com [https://engineeredbygaurang.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The Weekly Commit #007: “Just Ask AI”

The Weekly Commit #007 — “Just Ask AI” This week started with a simple sentence. My daughter came home from school and said, “Let’s ask AI.” It sounded ordinary. But it wasn’t. In homes today, we’re no longer limited by what we know. AI has quietly become a new household utility — helping with homework, project ideas, planning, and everyday friction. That’s the upgrade. But when answers become instant, something else becomes fragile: patience, original thinking, and the ability to sit with uncertainty long enough for real learning to happen. In this episode, I explore: How AI is changing family dynamics Why “I don’t know” now feels different The hidden trade-off of instant answers A simple rule we’re trying at home:Blueprint first. AI second. AI gives families infinite answers.Our job is to protect the part that still matters: original thinking, patience, and judgement. 🔍 Topics covered Parenting in the age of AI AI as a household utility Speed vs understanding Raising curious, original thinkers Blueprint first, AI second 📎 Read the full article Available at:engineeredbygaurang.com [http://engineeredbygaurang.com] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit engineeredbygaurang.substack.com [https://engineeredbygaurang.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The Weekly Commit #006: The World Is Editable

Most people don’t feel stuck because they lack ability. They feel stuck because they’ve absorbed a quieter belief: this is just how things are. This week I watched two builders behave like that belief is optional — Jesse Genet (homeschooling + automations) and Peter Steinberger (OpenClaw) — and it pulled me back to a Steve Jobs idea I keep returning to: everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you… and you can change it… build your own things… make your mark upon it. 🚀 Feature Ideas (The Main Story) 1) Jesse: customise reality (starting with family)Jesse has spoken openly about homeschooling — and the interesting part isn’t the label, it’s the posture: parent-driven education, designed intentionally. When you layer AI on top, “default life” starts looking negotiable. Not in a sci-fi way. In a practical way: curate inputs, reduce admin, build small systems that reflect your values. A concrete example that made the rounds was her building a custom workflow to collect higher-quality videos for kids instead of accepting whatever the platform serves. That’s not a startup. That’s editing reality at home. 2) Peter: assemble what exists into something inevitableThen there’s Peter. What I liked most from the Lex conversation wasn’t the hype — it was the pattern: “Why doesn’t this exist? Let me build it.” And the “magic” is often synthesis: glue, integration, and taste — not novel components. You can always reduce something to “it’s just X and Y”, but the work is in the assembling… and in making it feel obvious in hindsight. The funniest (and most revealing) downstream effect: Mac minis became the default little “agent server”. People weren’t buying them because Apple shipped something new. They were buying them to host capability at home. That’s the shift I can’t unsee: we’re moving from renting apps → to owning workflows. 📚 Docs & Inputs (Dependencies) This week’s inputs weren’t just “things I consumed”. They were reminders of a posture — that life is more malleable than it looks once you stop treating defaults like laws. * Steve Jobs — “Life is editable” (the worldview anchor) * Lex Fridman podcast with Peter Steinberger (how builders think: build what doesn’t exist; synthesis is the magic) * OpenClaw repo (the concrete artefact behind the moment)https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw [https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw?utm_source=chatgpt.com] * Jesse’s Mac mini line (the meme that captures the cultural shift) 🐛 Bug Fixes (Life / Work Hacks) Bug: Treating defaults like they’re fixed.It shows up as quiet resignation: “That’s how school works.” “That’s how platforms work.” “That’s how tools work.” Fix: The Status Quo Challenge.Once a week, pick one default you’ve stopped questioning and run a small experiment against it. Not to optimise your life. To prove agency. Ask: What would this look like if it was designed for my values?Then build the smallest version of that — even if it’s scrappy. A shortcut. A filter. A new rule. A tiny workflow. A “parallel path” that bypasses the default. The point isn’t the tool. The point is reminding yourself the wall isn’t real. ✅ Commit If there’s one takeaway from this week, it’s this: Stop negotiating with defaults you didn’t choose. Pick one thing that feels “just how it is” — and poke it.Because the moment you see it move, you’ll never see your life the same way again. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit engineeredbygaurang.substack.com [https://engineeredbygaurang.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]