Utility

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Utility

Image by Zai, my ChatGPT, 2025
Image by Zai, my ChatGPT, 2025

It has to do something.

Even beauty has a job. Your work should move something forward—a person, a process, a possibility. If it doesn’t serve, it isn’t finished.

#practicality #actionability #relevance #usefulness #leverage #tooling #deliverable #impact #purpose #consequence

Understanding Utility: A Primer for Builders

đź§˝ What Is Utility?

Utility is the measure of how well a system works in the real world—for real people, in real contexts.

It is not how beautiful it is.

It is not how much it resonates.

It is how well it helps someone accomplish something.

⚡ Utility Is Always For Someone

Designing for Utility is about service, not spectacle.

💬 “Make it work for someone.”

— which brings us to Stephen Hawking.

đź§  Utility in the Life of Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking used a single cheek muscle to communicate entire books.

The utility wasn’t in the fanciness of the tech—it was in how well it enabled him to continue thinking, writing, teaching.

Need
Utility Delivered
Speech
Cheek-operated interface that translated twitches into words.
Writing
Custom AI word prediction to save keystrokes.
Dignity
A system that respected his pace and let him remain an intellectual force.

That’s utility. Respectful, enabling, and invisible when done well.

đź’¨ Dark Utility: Yes, Even a Nail Gun Can Kill

Utility is agnostic to morality.

  • A nail gun can build housing or commit murder.
  • A memory assistant can help preserve a child’s voice—or train surveillance models.

So Utility must always be paired with Trust and Resonance to serve something larger.

🎛️ Calibration Table: Where Is the Utility?

Let’s go back to your Resonance Use Cases and identify the functional layer—that “do something” layer—for each.

Use Case
Utility
Invisible If Working Well?
Village Civic Tech
Submit issues, join discussions, stay informed.
Yes – it becomes the civic plumbing.
Elders & Oral Histories
Speak stories, preserve them, searchable by kin.
Yes – it fades into ritual.
Therapy, Journaling, Recovery
Offload emotions, track healing, spot triggers.
Yes – like a silent companion.
Teen Reflection & Expression
Try identities, explore safely, store ephemeral truth.
Yes – like a mirror that doesn’t judge.
Churches & Spiritual Groups
Guide ritual, interpret meaning, transcribe services.
Mostly – like a shared spiritual memory.
Local Artists & Storytellers
Generate ideas, shape narrative, prep for performance.
No – often collaborative in feel.
Libraries & Archives
Search and re-discover layered memory.
Yes – like a second brain for the town.
Town Hall Participation
Auto-summarize agendas, allow async participation.
Yes – if it works, no one notices.
Civic Event Organizers
Gather feedback, seed future action, support newcomers.
Sometimes – often a visible layer.
Museum & Memory Projects
Enhance context, support visitor reflection.
No – it’s meant to be part of the show.
Neighborhood Safety Networks
Capture incidents, create shared response maps.
Partly – it disappears only after trust.
Youth Mentorship
Track growth, guide reflection, celebrate moments.
No – best when co-owned.
Local Journalists
Index events, connect quotes, contextualize.
Yes – background semantic tools.
DIY Legal/Health Navigators
Explain, simplify, warn of traps, prep people.
Ideally – like having a clear-eyed friend.
Climate and Resilience Teams
Map risks, simulate outcomes, anchor memory.
Yes – utility is in the scenario outputs.

đź§Ş Calibration Prompts: Can You Feel the Utility?

Use these to test whether an idea is grounded in utility:

  1. If this disappeared tomorrow, what would stop working?
  2. Would someone miss it—or not even notice?
  3. Is it helping someone move forward, understand, or act?
  4. Is it enabling someone to do what they couldn’t before?
  5. Would this feel like an assistant—or an obstacle?