Dr. StrangeBot, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Claude

I was an AI skeptic. Then I tried it.

(note: since this is my first post and I'm talking about AI, I want to make it clear that this site is scaffolded with Claude but all content is written by me, not AI)

It is a wonderful loop. If you do it right, you start with a tight prompt. "I want [X] because [Y] with the conditions of [Z]"

Then I realized, it works with people, too.

Two concrete examples:

1. I went to the pharmacy with a specific goal: To get their blister packaged meds so that they are in sync [X]. Because I am genuinely terrible at taking my meds and am very mobile. I would like to rip off a row for the day, throw it in my backpack and have it with me [Y]. I understand that with the precise cadence they were prescribed that may be complicated. What is the first date you can do this for me? [Z] A minute at the terminal: "Next Monday."

2. I went to the Apple Store with a specific goal: get my iPhone working again. I lined up my problem (nothing resolving) [X], my probative steps (I proved out a connection through "Personal Hotspot") [Y], and in this case, no [Z] needed. I gave the Sunday Genius Squad enough foundational research that they said "let's pull this one lever" and problem solved.

The moral of this story is: huh, I never thought of formalizing my interactions but now that I have, it works.

I am not the [not "for polite company"] mentalist.