When people ask me what FutureHouse is doing, I tell them, FutureHouse is automating discovery. Scaling up biology research. Building AGI for science. Changing the way science is done. And they say, "Okay, but automating discovery for what?"
We then get lost in this loop. I tell them, we can automate discovery for anything. And they say: like what? And I say: how about viruses, for gene therapy. We can automate discovery of new viruses. And then they say: that's cool, what disease are you trying to cure with your gene therapy? And I say, no no no, we're not trying to cure a disease specifically. And then they are confused, and the conversation is off the rails.
I suspect this is a good sign. The best new ideas are usually in that liminal space where people who are used to thinking in the traditional way don't get it. The people who do get it: those are the ones you want on your team.
P.S. I can only imagine a similar conversation before ChatGPT came out: "we're building an AI you can talk to." "Talk about what?" "You can talk about anything. You can talk about the weather." "Why would I want to talk about the weather with an AI?"