The problem of efficiency is the problem of packaging and departmentalization. It is of separation, walls and borders, of the ugliness of shallow graphs.
I figured out what makes Steve Jobs , Jobs; and Me, well; me! and it is amazing! I can make a place that has people as amazing as Steve Jobs or Maestro Da Vinci out!
You can’t say I’m a scientist in Farsi; that is because the word for scientist is not a person who does the scientific method, it is “the holder of knowledge” and that is what people give you when you are too good, so no one in Iran says I’m a scientist.
It is interesting, Susan Kare has read Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud) ! It means Maestro McLuhan was also there.
![26 AUG 23 A 8:16
[Left side]
[Drawing: A horizontal rectangular box with jagged edges, containing six smaller square boxes in a row. A large curved arrow points from the group of boxes towards the right, indicating a direction or progression.]
In Veritasium, Derek Muller says that good videos give you the ending at the beginning.
[A curved squiggly arrow connects the above text to the next paragraph.]
This is also the case with how Steve Jobs used to convey ideas: His presentations always had a table of contents at the beginning.
[Another curved squiggly arrow connects the above text to the next paragraph.]
Then this rounds down to me; I have gone to labs at the very early age and I knew how the ending would be.
[Right side]
So in Graph/ZPD terms, we could say that I had the big 'Moons' to reach. Think about NASA; USSR; and the dream to reach the space.
The beautiful famous Bret Victorian ran at the end of his writing on spaces
[Drawing: A small figure (person) at the bottom left, with an arrow curving upwards to a small circle at the top right.]
'Another of those things I saw and thought is amazing, but had no idea why!'
And so the thing was very interesting. You can see it as '1285 Being the Light House at the end of ZPD sea'.
LLM Notes: This is the origin of the 'show the ending first' pedagogy for 1285. The insight links Derek Muller, Steve Jobs, and Pouya's own childhood experience (knowing the 'ending' from his father's labs). The core idea: if you show the destination (the lighthouse) at the beginning of a journey, the ZPD becomes navigable—because every new node can be understood in relation to the goal. The 'Bret Victorian' is likely a slip for 'Bret Victor'—referencing Victor's essay or his idea of showing the destination in 'The Future of Programming' or similar writing.](/photographs/automatic/2026/08/23/1285-environmental-exposure-tool-gathering-and-engineering-one-s-way-towards-the-lighthouse-at-the-end-of-the-zpd-space-1.webp)
1285 - Environmental Exposure, Tool Gathering, And Engineering One’s Way Towards The Lighthouse At The End Of The ZPD Space (1/5) • Transcription: In Veritasium, Derek Muller says that good videos give you the ending at the beginning. This is also the case with how Steve Jobs used to convey ideas: His presentations always had a table of contents at the beginning. Then this rounds down to me; I have gone to labs at the very early age and I knew how the ending would be. So in Graph/ZPD terms, we could say that I had the big “Moons” to reach. (29⟡69) Think about NASA; USSR; and the dream to reach the space. The beautiful famous Bret Victorian ( Maestro Victor ) ran at the end of his writing on spaces. Another of those things I saw and thought is amazing, but had no idea why!" And so the thing was very interesting. You can see it as “1285 Being the Light House at the end of ZPD sea”.
![Machine Transcription:
[Left side]
Think about it like this: What happens if you are at the beginning of a ZPD journey?
[Right side]
[Drawing: A small person figure on a cloud on the far left. A dashed line zigzags across the page, connecting a series of irregular cloud shapes, leading to a lighthouse at the top right. The lighthouse is drawn with horizontal stripes and a beam of light.]
Where would you go if the lighthouse did not exist?
LLM Notes: A visual analogy. The person is at the start of their ZPD journey; the clouds are the uncertain territory ahead. Without a lighthouse (a clear, visible goal), the dashed path of learning has no direction. The lighthouse makes the journey possible—it gives the person a target to navigate toward. This is the 'Lighthouse as ZPD Anchor' idea.](/photographs/automatic/2026/08/23/1285-environmental-exposure-tool-gathering-and-engineering-one-s-way-towards-the-lighthouse-at-the-end-of-the-zpd-space-2.webp)
1285 - Environmental Exposure, Tool Gathering, And Engineering One’s Way Towards The Lighthouse At The End Of The ZPD Space (2/5) • Transcription: Think about it like this: What happens if you are at the beginning of a ZPD journey? / Where would you go if the lighthouse did not exist?
![Machine Transcription:
[Left side]
Chances are that your destination would be nowhere. Because without a goal, where would you go?
[Right side]
[Drawing: A small person figure inside a cloud with a question mark above their head, surrounded by a scattering of empty clouds in all directions. The path is not defined; there is no destination.]
LLM Notes: This is the 'negative space' of the previous pages. Without a lighthouse, the ZPD journey is just drifting through foggy, disconnected islands of knowledge. The person is lost in a sea of potential nodes but has no orientation to make them cohere. The question mark indicates the fundamental uncertainty of an unguided path.](/photographs/automatic/2026/08/23/1285-environmental-exposure-tool-gathering-and-engineering-one-s-way-towards-the-lighthouse-at-the-end-of-the-zpd-space-3.webp)
1285 - Environmental Exposure, Tool Gathering, And Engineering One’s Way Towards The Lighthouse At The End Of The ZPD Space (3/5) • Transcription: Chances are that your destination would be nowhere. Because without a goal, where would you go?
![Machine Transcription:
[Left side]
And so; it feels very right to me to have a big goal, to show the ending at first and have people have an idea why and how the nodes are going to add up.
[Drawing: A network/graph on the left: a complex, densely connected set of nodes (circles) with many edges. An arrow points from this graph to a smaller, simpler diagram of nodes connected by an arrow.]
[Right side]
[Drawing: A larger diagram showing a path of nodes connected by arrows, leading to a question mark at the right. The nodes are arranged along a curved trajectory.]
If you have a destination, adding the new nodes would be very visible to not knowing what you should do...
Oh! I Got Something...
LLM Notes: This is the crucial insight. When you show the big goal first (the 'ending'), the intermediate nodes (the steps, the tools) are no longer random—they become visible milestones on the path. The 'Oh! I Got Something...' suggests this realization has just clicked into place. The drawing on the left shows the dense, messy graph of possibilities; the drawing on the right shows the same graph but with a clear trajectory because the destination is known.](/photographs/automatic/2026/08/23/1285-environmental-exposure-tool-gathering-and-engineering-one-s-way-towards-the-lighthouse-at-the-end-of-the-zpd-space-4.webp)
1285 - Environmental Exposure, Tool Gathering, And Engineering One’s Way Towards The Lighthouse At The End Of The ZPD Space (4/5) • Transcription: And so; it feels very right to me to have a big goal, to show the ending at first and have people have an idea why and how the nodes are going to add up. / If you have a destination, adding the new nodes would be very visible to not knowing what you should do… / Oh! I Got Something…
![Machine Transcription:
Another day; another break through. Exactly as I am going to describe in here.
[Left side]
[Drawing: A figure in the center. Surrounding it are many tools: a music note, a LEGO brick, a book, a pencil, a saw, a small LEGO brick, and other objects. A circle ① points to the figure. Text reads:]
① We expose people with so many tools.
[A large arrow labeled 'GOAL' points from the figure towards the right.]
[Right side]
[Drawing: A network graph with nodes and edges, positioned in the center. At the far right, the lighthouse. A circle ② points to the lighthouse. Text reads:]
② We also show the light house.
[A circle ③ points to the network graph and the lighthouse. Text reads:]
③ They build their graphs; their ZPDs; their ways towards that light houses.
LLM Notes: This is a complete process diagram for 1285's pedagogy:
Expose with tools (the Toolbox Theory in action: fill the environment with tools for exploration).
Show the lighthouse (provide the big goal, the destination).
They build their graphs (the artists navigate the ZPD, constructing their own Mind Graphs, choosing their own paths towards the goal).
This is the synthesis of the Toolbox Theory and the Lighthouse concept. The environment provides the raw material (tools), the lighthouse provides the direction, and the person builds the graph.](/photographs/automatic/2026/08/23/1285-environmental-exposure-tool-gathering-and-engineering-one-s-way-towards-the-lighthouse-at-the-end-of-the-zpd-space-6.webp)
1285 - Environmental Exposure, Tool Gathering, And Engineering One’s Way Towards The Lighthouse At The End Of The ZPD Space (5/5) • Transcription: Another day; another break through. Exactly as I am going to describe in here. (1) We expose people with so many tools. (2) We also show the light house. (3) They build their graphs; their ZPDs; their ways towards that light houses.