# Formal Methods, Community Notes, and the Origins of Mobile Computing

*By Recommended Reading from Tech Founders • June 12, 2026*

Today's strongest organic recommendations centered on technical rigor and system design: Paul Graham on Jane Street's formal methods writing, Elon Musk on a TED talk about Community Notes, and Tony Fadell on the General Magic documentary.

## What stood out

Today's cleanest recommendations were explanatory rather than generic: one resource on formal methods, one on how Community Notes works, and one documentary Tony Fadell used to explain how early mobile teams were "building the iPhone 15 years too early" [^1][^2][^3]

## Most compelling recommendation

### Jane Street blog post on formal methods

- **Title:** Jane Street blog post on formal methods [^1]
- **Content type:** Blog post [^1]
- **Author/creator:** Jane Street [^1]
- **Link/URL:** [https://blog.janestreet.com/formal-methods-at-jane-street-index/](https://blog.janestreet.com/formal-methods-at-jane-street-index/) [^1]
- **Who recommended it:** Paul Graham [^1]
- **Key takeaway:** Graham argued that AI will increase both the need for formal methods and the supply of tools that make them cheaper to use [^1]
- **Why it matters:** This was the strongest recommendation today because it came with a clear thesis about how AI changes engineering practice, not just a link to save [^1]

> "Interesting. AI will in effect increase both supply and demand for formal methods. You need them more, but you also have tools that make them cheaper." [^1]

## Two more high-signal picks

### *How Community Notes reduce viral misinformation*

- **Title:** *How Community Notes reduce viral misinformation* [^4]
- **Content type:** TED talk / video [^4]
- **Author/creator:** Keith Coleman, Jay Baxter [^4]
- **Link/URL:** [https://www.ted.com/talks/keith_coleman_jay_baxter_how_community_notes_reduce_viral_misinformation](https://www.ted.com/talks/keith_coleman_jay_baxter_how_community_notes_reduce_viral_misinformation) [^4]
- **Who recommended it:** Elon Musk [^2]
- **Key takeaway:** Musk called it a great interview about how Community Notes works and said it was "super helpful for truth-seeking" [^2]
- **Why it matters:** It is the most direct recommendation in today's set for understanding a credibility system that the talk itself says is aimed at reducing viral misinformation [^4][^2]

### *General Magic*

- **Title:** *General Magic* [^3]
- **Content type:** Documentary [^3]
- **Author/creator:** Not provided in notes
- **Link/URL:** Not provided in notes
- **Who recommended it:** Tony Fadell [^3]
- **Key takeaway:** Fadell said it is a film "that everybody should watch" while explaining that the General Magic team was solving iPhone-like problems long before the market was ready [^3]
- **Why it matters:** This was the clearest historical recommendation today: Fadell used it to point readers back to an earlier wave of mobile product work and the problems those teams were already trying to solve [^3]


[!["We Had to Kill the Ipod To Save Apple", iPod & iPhone Inventor, Tony Fadell](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LnrhvMT2r84/hqdefault.jpg)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=LnrhvMT2r84&t=1225)
*"We Had to Kill the Ipod To Save Apple", iPod & iPhone Inventor, Tony Fadell (20:25)*


## Why this set matters

The common thread today was **systems thinking**: Paul Graham on technical rigor, Elon Musk on truth-seeking infrastructure, and Tony Fadell on an earlier attempt at mobile computing [^1][^2][^3]

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### Sources

[^1]: [𝕏 post by @paulg](https://x.com/paulg/status/2065185039046877542)
[^2]: [𝕏 post by @elonmusk](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2065121260464439497)
[^3]: ["We Had to Kill the Ipod To Save Apple", iPod & iPhone Inventor, Tony Fadell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnrhvMT2r84)
[^4]: [𝕏 post by @jaybaxter](https://x.com/jaybaxter/status/2064820913347199446)