Thinking at Half Speed

April 2026

Some of the posts on this blog use technical language that is not always explained. This is the plain English version of the words and phrases that come up most often.

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AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Computer software that can understand language, answer questions, write text, and hold conversations. Claude, ChatGPT, and Siri are all examples of AI.

Claude
An AI assistant made by a company called Anthropic. This is the AI used to help write and manage this blog. You talk to it in plain English and it responds like a very capable assistant.

Anthropic
The company that makes Claude. Founded by researchers who left other AI labs because they were worried about safety. Focused on building AI that is honest and careful.

ChatGPT
An AI assistant made by a company called OpenAI. Similar to Claude — you have conversations with it in plain English. Free to use with a paid option for more features.

Siri
Apple’s voice assistant. Built into every iPhone. You talk to it out loud — “Hey Siri, turn off the lights” — and it responds. Good for hands-free control of your phone and smart home.

Alexa
Amazon’s voice assistant. Lives in Amazon Echo speakers. Similar to Siri but made by Amazon. Particularly good at controlling smart home devices.

Craft
A note-taking app for iPhone and other Apple devices. This blog uses it as a drafting space — ideas and posts are written here first before going to the website. Clean and easy to use on a phone.

WordPress
The software that runs this website. WordPress.com is the hosted version — meaning someone else manages all the technical side and you just write. Used by roughly 40% of all websites on the internet.

Hosted platform
A website service where the technical side is managed for you. You do not need to know anything about servers or code. WordPress.com and Ghost are hosted platforms. The opposite is self-hosted, which requires much more technical knowledge.

Category
On this blog, a way of organising posts into sections. My Journey: The Blog, AI Tips, and Mind, Consciousness and AI are the three categories. Every post belongs to one of them.

Navigation menu
The row of links at the top of a website that lets you move between sections. On this blog it shows the three section names and links to About and Resources.

Media library
The place in WordPress where uploaded files and images are stored. When you upload a document to share as a download, it goes here first.

Connector
A link between two apps that lets them share information. The Claude-WordPress connector means Claude can read your website data and create posts directly without you having to copy and paste between apps.

Draft
A post or page that has been written but not yet published. Nothing in draft is visible to readers. Good practice is to always create a draft first, review it, then publish.

Sitemap
A list of all the pages on your website that is automatically sent to Google. WordPress.com does this for you. It is how Google finds your blog and includes it in search results.

Tags
Words attached to posts that describe what they are about. Similar to categories but more specific. Tags like “AI accessibility” or “cognitive decline” help people find posts through search engines.

Free tier / Paid tier
Most AI tools and apps offer a free version with basic features and a paid version with more. The free tier is usually enough to try something out. The paid tier costs a monthly subscription and unlocks more capabilities.

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This glossary will be updated as new terms come up. If something in the blog is not explained here, get in touch at thinkingathalfspeed@gmail.com