Audio Files

Glasp: Transforming Learning and Legacy through Social Highlights and AI

Kazuki Nakayashiki

Kazuki Nakayashiki

Oct 12, 2024 5:17 AM

Summary

  • Introduction to CLASP (00:04): Discussion begins about the desire to know what others highlight while reading, leading to the introduction of CLASP as a social highlighting tool.

  • Functionality Overview (00:49): CLASP allows users to highlight web articles, PDFs, and even YouTube videos, sharing insights globally and creating a searchable network of knowledge.

  • Community Aspect (02:10): Emphasizes the community-driven nature of the app, comparing it to a global study group that enhances engagement and collaboration.

  • Founders' Vision (02:37): The inspiration for CLASP stems from co-founder Kazuki Nakayashiki's near-death experience, leading to the vision of preserving insights and democratizing knowledge.

  • Crowdsourcing Understanding (04:24): Highlighting on CLASP enables users to see how others interpret material, contributing to a collaborative learning experience akin to crowdsourced analysis.

  • Integration with Other Tools (05:36): CLASP allows for organizing highlights with notes and tags, and integrates with note-taking apps like Obsidian and Notion for enhanced organization.

  • AI Features (06:50): The app incorporates an AI that learns from user highlights and notes, functioning as a personal learning companion that helps tailor insights and content recommendations for future learning.

Transcript

ever catch yourself reading something and think I wish I knew what other people underlined in this. Oh yeah. Like if you're reading a book. Yeah. Wouldn't it be fascinating to glance over and see what parts jumped out at someone else. Yeah. Like a peek inside their brain. That's kind of what we're going to dive into today with CLASP. It's like that but in app form. It is. It's cool how they tapped into that human desire. Right. To share what we're learning. Yeah. Like instead of
huddling around a campfire telling stories. Right. We're huddled around our laptop sharing insights. It's true. And they're even calling it a potential A.I. thunderbolt in knowledge management which is a little. I don't know what that means but it sounds cool. Yeah. So for those of us who've never used glass what is it. So at its very core. Yeah. It is a social highlighting tool. OK. But it's a lot cooler than just using like the highlight function on a PDF. Sure. Think
about it more like you're highlighting something on a Web page. Yeah. But then all those highlights can be shared and organized. Right. And even potentially used to build like an A.I. clone of your learning. An A.I. clone. Yeah. That sounds like a Black Mirror episode. It's a lot less scary than that. OK. It's actually really cool. OK. Good. But before we get ahead of ourselves. Yeah. They have 700 thousand users. So this is not. Yeah. That's a lot. Nothing. That's like a. This
is a big deal. Yeah. We do. So what is it about highlighting things that's so fundamental to how we learn. Well I think traditionally we've been stuck with highlighting things just for ourselves. Right. Like in our own little silo. Yeah exactly. Yeah. So all that brilliance just gets trapped in our own notebooks or devices. Yeah. And this blows that wide open. So these ideas don't just like disappear. They don't just disappear part of this. It's more of a bigger web of
knowledge. Yeah. It's like a giant searchable brain of shared knowledge. And it works with more than just Web sites. Right. Yeah. So we're talking like Web articles PDFs even YouTube videos. OK. So wait I could be watching a TED talk and see little highlights pop up. Yes. People around the world. And you can see like the moments that resonated with other people. That's wild. It's like a built in study group but global. Exactly. That's really cool. And it makes it more
engaging. Totally. Because you're actually like part of a community. It's not just the word of glass though. Right. It's the why. Right. The founders seem to have a much bigger vision. Yes they do. Driving them. It goes beyond just building a cool tool. Right. They actually want to fundamentally change how we learn and share knowledge. Which is a pretty big undertaking. It's a big undertaking. They call it democratizing knowledge. They do. To understand that we need their
backstory a little bit. So what's the story behind the highlights. Yeah. What's the story behind the highlights. So we've got this platform that's you know breaking down the walls and making it so we can all learn together. But where did this idea even come from. You know like what was the light bulb moment for these founders. Yeah. When did they realize we need to build this. So for Kazuki Nakayashiki who's one of the co-founders. Okay. The spark actually came
from a pretty profound experience. Okay. He had a near-death experience when he was younger. Oh wow. A subdural hematoma. And it really got him thinking about legacy. Wow. A near-death experience. That'll make you rethink things. Right. And it directly ties into their whole vision for GLASP. Okay. Because that experience made him realize how much gets lost. Right. All those insights. Those little aha moments. They kind of disappear. Fade away. And he saw GLASP as a way to
hold on to those moments. Capture them. Capture them. Yeah. Exactly. So it's about preserving those flashes of brilliance. Which would otherwise. Yeah. They'd just be gone. Especially in a world where we see so much information all the time. Right. It's easy to feel like our own little highlights are just getting buried. But with this they become part of something way bigger. It's almost like you're contributing to this. It's like a collective human memory of
knowledge. And that kind of goes back to what you were saying about. Yeah. GLASP democratizing knowledge. Right. What does that actually look like in practice. Okay. So imagine you're working on something. Okay. You're doing research for a project. And you hit a wall. Yep. Been there. And suddenly you can see how other people have highlighted the same material. Oh wow. Yeah. You get a glimpse into their thought process. Interesting. You see the exact things they pulled out
is important. So instead of just getting the information I'm getting like a layer of. It's like a layer of analysis on top of it. Almost like crowdsourcing understanding. Yeah. Exactly. That's really cool. And it makes the whole learning process. Yeah. More collaborative. Way more engaging for sure. It's funny they actually draw a parallel to companies like Google. Okay. Twitter. Pinterest. Interesting. Platforms that have kind of democratized different types of
information. Right. So Google made information searchable. Yeah. Twitter made it so we can have conversations around it. Exactly. Pinterest made it visual. Pinterest made it visual. Yeah. Like GLASP is doing that for learning. For insights for those aha moments. Yeah. Wow. That's really cool. It's exciting. I'm already rethinking how I learn just from this conversation. I know me too. But we should probably talk about how it actually works. Yeah. Let's get into the
nuts and bolts. Okay. So let's say I'm on their Web site and I find a sentence that I want to highlight. Okay. What happens next. Okay. So let's say I'm on their Web site and I find a sentence that I want to highlight. Okay. What happens next. What you highlight it. Okay. But then here's where the magic happens. Okay. It's not just about highlighting. It's what you do with it after. Right. So you can add your own notes to it. Okay. You can tag it with
different keywords. To organize. Yeah. To organize your thoughts. Okay. You can even connect your highlights together. Oh. So you can like. So it's almost like you're creating this web of understanding within the material. Oh that's really cool. Yeah. And then on top of that remember those note taking apps we talked about. Right. Like Obsidian Notion. Yeah. You can sync your GLASP highlights directly into those systems. Oh for people who haven't used those. So like
Obsidian is all about linking ideas together visually. Okay. And then Notion is like a digital workspace for all your thoughts and projects. Okay. So imagine both of those. Wow. Supercharged with all these insights from things you've highlighted. Next level organization. Exactly. I could see how that would be super useful. Yeah. Especially if you're working on like a big research project or something. Totally. But there was something else
right. Oh yes. Something that sounded even more. A little more futuristic. Yeah. The AI clone. Yeah. How does that fit into all of this. So basically it's like an AI. Okay. That learns from everything you highlight every note you take every connection you make. Oh wow. And basically becomes this personalized learning companion. So it's like it's not just organizing the past it's actually using that to. It's using it to help you learn better in the future. That's wild.
Yeah. It can like offer you insights summarize key points for you. Okay. Even recommend new content. So it's almost like. Tailored to you. A study buddy who's read everything I have. That's a really good way to put it. And remembers it all. Yes. That's incredible. That's really cool. So I guess like big picture. Yeah. We're not just looking at an app here. It's like. It's like a whole different way to think about how we engage with information. Totally. And I think that's a
good place to wrap up this deep dive. It is a lot to think about. For sure. What could you achieve if you had access to all these insights. It's a really interesting. Like imagine all those light bulb moments. Just a click away. GLASP is really focused on highlighting parts of what we're learning. The good stuff. But what if we applied that to other parts of our lives. Like what? Like our experiences. Moments of joy or even challenges. Interesting. We could create our
own highlight reels. We could. And then we could share them and maybe help someone else. Inspire other people. Exactly. I love that. It's a new way to think about leaving a legacy. It really is. And on that note. On that note. This has been a fascinating deep dive. It has. Into the world of GLASP. Thank you for having me. Of course. And to everyone listening. Thanks for joining us.

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Glasp: Transforming Learning and Legacy through Social Highlights and AI

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