Absurd First, Inevitable Later: Building in the AI Era

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” — *Albert Einstein *

In the AI era, non-absurd ideas are already dead on arrival.

If an idea sounds immediately reasonable, it usually means:

• Someone has already built it
  


• It’s an incremental improvement
  


• You’re competing on execution, not insight
  

AI has collapsed the cost of building.


What it hasn’t collapsed is the cost of seeing differently.

Why “Reasonable” Is a Red Flag Now

AI has turned feasibility into a commodity.

What once required:

• Large teams
  


• Long timelines
  


• Deep specialization
  

Now takes:

• A single builder
  


• A weekend
  


• The right prompts and tools
  

So if your idea fits neatly into existing categories, chances are:

• The market already expects it
  


• The competition is brutal
  


• Differentiation is thin
  

Reasonable ideas are priced in.

What “Absurd” Actually Means in the AI Context

Absurd doesn’t mean stupid.


It means violating an assumption everyone stopped questioning.

Absurd ideas often look like:

• “Why does software forget everything?”


• “Why does intelligence reset every session?”


• “Why are we optimizing reasoning instead of memory?”


• “Why does productivity software assume humans must adapt to tools?”

They feel wrong because:

• The tooling didn’t exist earlier
  


• The mental models are outdated
  


• The market vocabulary hasn’t caught up
  

Absurd is just early wearing the mask of impractical.

AI Changes the Builder’s Job Description

Before AI:


Can we build this?

After AI:


Is this worth building at all?

The constraint has shifted from capability to judgment.

Your competitive edge is no longer:

• Writing better code
  


• Scaling infrastructure
  


• Shipping faster
  

It’s:

• Choosing the right problems
  


• Holding onto uncomfortable ideas
  


• Resisting premature “sensibility”
  

The Real Einstein Test for AI-Native Products

Most meaningful AI-native products follow this curve:

1. Sounds absurd
   


2. Feels unnecessary
   


3. Looks obvious in hindsight
   


4. Becomes inevitable
   

If your idea skips step 1, it’s probably not fundamental enough.

Builder’s Rule for the AI Era

Don’t rush to make your idea sound smart.


Don’t over-polish it for early approval.


Don’t benchmark it into mediocrity.

Instead:

• Protect the absurdity
  


• Let the tools mature
  


• Let reality bend toward the idea
  

Absurd first.


Inevitable later.

That’s how real products are born in the AI era.