I write about technology, culture & markets

Joined September 2019
Dune was decades ahead of its time
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> can’t own stonks with capex slowing > can’t own crypto with quantum and ai risk > can’t browse the internet cause everything is hacked > can’t own software cause everything is hacked > can’t own gold cause alchemy is solved > can’t own bonds as inflation and crowding out hurting it > mfw
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Another takeaway after three years of building a company is that the returns to just "being a good person", and not acting transactionally, are higher than I expected. There are so many transactional, boring, and at times immoral people in the tech industry that if you act with sustained warmth, authenticity, humor, and integrity, great gifts will be laid before you. White pill.
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A bit controversial but I don't like doing founder references. - Outsourcing your thinking to others shows lack of conviction in your own beliefs - The best founders often get lots of negative references anyways
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find yourself
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Someone else's "to do list" doesn't have to be yours. It's hard to say no, but not every email, text message, voicemail or interaction warrants a response. It doesn't mean you don't like them or there's any assigned feelings to anything. It's just that time is finite and YOU get to choose how to spend yours. It's rarer than gold.
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planning is overrated just take the shortest term action that is in the general direction of your goal reality is a super high dimensional space, so this basically always works
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I still think the key question of this decade is: what do you want more than dopamine? because there are infinite ways to waste life scrolling, sitting in group chats, having endless conversations with LLMs etc. So what do you actually want? Are you doing the thing?
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I think that feeling bearish during one of the most exciting periods in human history may be a you problem
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We asked @nealstephenson if he uses AI in his writing. He gave us lore about his book Quicksilver: "I'm not real big on atrophying my skills." "There's something about the serendipity and the randomness of doing it yourself that is very productive in the end." "When I was writing my Baroque Cycle series of historical novels, I would just make notes by hand in comp books." "It was all hodgepodge. It wasn't organized or searchable. And so I would have to flip through them trying to find stuff." "In the course of doing that, I would stumble across things I'd have forgotten about or connections would get made, and new ideas would emerge." "So for me, having that work done by a research assistant, whether it be a human or AI, would actually be counterproductive." "I mean, I already know how to write books, so I don't need help."
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doomerism is a self-preservation response to uncertainty about the future. if you convince yourself the worst is inevitable you at least get to feel like you know what’s coming optimism on the other hand comes with significant emotional risk
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introducing KURATE an essay series that will review and rate my favorite places on the internet, starting with... - patrick collision's website - grantland - vibecession - internal tech emails
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i've noticed that most people are way too frugal with their money, and way too reckless with their time
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great writing pulls a stranger into your world & makes them live there for a minute so feel something they couldn’t quite put into words themselves.
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the biggest moat will always be giving a shit and caring about the problem
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S-tier list
If you’re looking for stuff to read, here’s my personal canon
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RT @netcapgirl: contrary to the idea that ai is going to replace work, i now find myself so overwhelmed with what’s possible that prioritiz…
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What if it all works out?
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Attention is fate. If your attention is compromised, no amount of willpower will save you. Defend the gates of your consciousness with your life, for those gates are, in fact, your life
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i wrote a book. washed up — letters on grief, time, and what remains. words and photographs from the aftermath of loss, and the search for meaning. for anyone who’s ever felt lost at sea. physical book + digital edition for readers worldwide 🌊 marcusmoles.com/store
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