Jonathon Williams

San Diego State – Management Information Systems

Recent Posts

  • The Power of a $10 Computer

    What can you buy for 10 dollars these days? Maybe lunch or a gallon and a half of gas, if you’re lucky. Or apparently, a tiny computer that can connect to the internet, control electronics, and bring almost anything to life.

    The ESP32 is a microcontroller that can connect to sensors, motors, pumps, and other electronics. According to its manufacturer, Espressif Systems, ESP32 chips are designed for applications ranging from smart agriculture to industrial automation. What interests me, though, isn’t how small the computer is; it’s what cheap computers like this do to the cost of experimenting with an idea. This connects directly to The Innovator’s DNA. The authors identify experimenting as one of the five discovery skills of innovators. Experimenting sounds obvious, but there’s a dilemma with that: it can be very expensive. Technology like the ESP32 changes that equation.

    For entrepreneurs, lowering the cost of failure is key. You don’t need a finished product or thousands of dollars to experiment with a new idea. A cheap microcontroller, some sensors, and basic programming knowledge can be enough to build a prototype. I think that’s the real power of the age we live in. Give someone a 10-dollar computer like the ESP32 and a revolutionary idea, and they can make magic—especially when failure costs 10 dollars instead of 10,000.

    This is why I am excited for my future in innovation. The ESP32 is just one example of how technology is making the gap between having an idea and actually building it smaller. You don’t need to be an engineer or have a huge budget to start experimenting anymore. You just need a problem worth solving and the curiosity to learn how to fix it.

    Works Cited

    Dyer, Jeff, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen. The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators. Harvard Business Review Press, 2011.

    Espressif Systems. “ESP32 Series Datasheet.” Espressif Systems, https://documentation.espressif.com/esp32_datasheet_en.html.

  • AI Can Water Ideas

    Recently, while procrastinating finding a blog post idea, I was trying to figure out how to keep my plants alive while I was gone for winter break. I have too many to take home. While I love that my room looks like a greenhouse, winter break poses a real threat to my monstera, Susie, and Betty the pothos’ lives. Then I thought, what if I just make a self-watering system for my room? Have a big tank of water and a small computer that controls pumps. So I went to ChatGPT, and with AI, I was able to turn my basic plan into a reality. The parts are on the way. 😉

    In my Digital Entrepreneurship class, we are reading The Innovator’s DNA by Dyer, Gregersen, and Christensen. The authors describe five skills that innovative people practice: questioning, observing, networking, experimenting, and associating. AI can make these skills easier to act on. I did the innovating by associating my coding experience and the power of a Raspberry Pi with my plant hobby to solve the problem of winter break. But without AI, it would’ve taken me a lot longer to figure out what pumps would work with what solenoids. I also probably would’ve spent more money buying things that wouldn’t have worked together.

    Another example of AI giving you the means to water your ideas is my friend in that same class. He has been “vibe coding” using AI and created a website that tracks how often a website appears in different AI engines and how it can be cited more. He now has a company paying him a monthly subscription to help them with this!

    Research backs this idea up, too. A 2025 study in the Journal of Innovation & Knowledge looked at how generative AI can help entrepreneurs in the process of developing a new business. The researchers found that the technology can help by “reducing information asymmetry and minimizing the time and costs associated with entrepreneurial exploration” (Li et al.). So, if you have an idea or something you want to try, now is the time, even if the AI bubble looming over our heads totally isn’t scary at all.

    However, there are two sides to this coin. While AI can water your ideas, that water comes at a very literal cost. Miguel Yañez-Barnuevo reports that “each 100-word AI prompt is estimated to use roughly one bottle of water (519 milliliters)” (Yañez-Barnuevo). And while AI can make thinking easier and make it seem like you have all the information at your fingertips, that convenience can come with another cost. A 2025 study of 666 participants found a significant negative relationship between frequent AI use and critical thinking ability. This was largely due to “cognitive offloading,” or relying on AI to think for us (Gerlich). Even more concerning was that younger participants showed higher AI dependence and lower critical thinking scores. This creates an interesting feedback loop. AI can help us with all the tools of Innovating outlined by The Innovator’s DNA of questioning, observing, networking, experimenting, and associating more easily. But it seems that if we let it think for us it will lessen our ability to do those things.

    I think AI is one of the most powerful tools ever created in human history. But that doesn’t mean that every use of it is progress, and that pushing the progression of AI at any cost is not ethical. Just like when we created fire, we should be conscious not to light the whole house and make a fire ring! Safety guards are important and necessary for the well-being of humanity in every industry. We need to use it as a tool to water our ideas, but not a replacement for sunlight.

    Works Cited

    Dyer, Jeff, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen. The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators. Harvard Business Review Press, 2011.

    Gerlich, Michael. “AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking.” Societies, vol. 15, no. 1, 2025, article 6. MDPI, 6 Jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15010006.

    Li, Yaojie, et al. “Elevating Entrepreneurship with Generative Artificial Intelligence.” Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, vol. 10, no. 6, 2025, article 100820. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2025.100820.

    Yañez-Barnuevo, Miguel. “Data Centers and Water Consumption.” Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 25 June 2025. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption.