Hathaway Field Notes A systems-level look at technology and the world. https://hathaway.engineer/ 2024-09-01T00:00:00.000Z The engagement trap: why social platforms can't self-correct https://hathaway.engineer/notes/feedback-loops-in-social-media/ 2024-09-01T00:00:00.000Z Social media platforms are locked in a structural feedback loop that makes meaningful reform nearly impossible without external forcing functions. Anatomy of a cancellation flow: how friction becomes revenue https://hathaway.engineer/notes/dark-pattern-anatomy/ 2024-08-10T00:00:00.000Z Breaking down the 7-step cancellation flow that turns user intent into retained subscriptions. Stripe's pricing page is a masterclass in reducing decision friction https://hathaway.engineer/notes/stripe-pricing-table/ 2024-07-18T00:00:00.000Z How Stripe collapses a complex product matrix into a page that makes the 'right' choice feel obvious. OpenAI's real moat is enterprise inertia, not model quality https://hathaway.engineer/notes/openai-enterprise-moat/ 2024-07-02T00:00:00.000Z The race isn't about who has the best model. It's about who gets embedded in the most workflows first. The Vision Pro's real problem isn't price — it's social friction https://hathaway.engineer/notes/apple-vision-pro-friction/ 2024-06-15T00:00:00.000Z Wearing a face computer in public creates a social cost that no amount of engineering can optimize away. Review: Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows https://hathaway.engineer/notes/thinking-in-systems-review/ 2024-05-20T00:00:00.000Z Still the best primer on systems thinking 16 years after publication. Required reading for anyone building products that interact with human behavior.