List of blogs and substacks I read
In no particular order of importance, this is a running list of blogs and substacks that I read with any degree of frequency. Some I read daily or weekly, some I check in on every so often, and others I just find the archives to be potentially useful in the future. I will eventually update the doc with descriptions of each and additions over time.
Vitalik Twitter AMA
Lots of great questions, many of them non-crypto-related, and thoughtful answers from Vitalik, one of the most impressive humans around.
No, Covid 19 is not an old person problem
When Nassim Taleb speaks, I listen. He argues this point as he does most everything - first with math, then with reasoning informed by the ancients. His central argument in this short piece is that people are once again failing to consider ergodicity (a term I hope to write a separate post on soon). The age of a population, just like wealth, health, and other dynamic systems, is constantly in motion. Today’s 30 year olds will one day be “old people.” So it’s not about who is currently old during this current pandemic, but rather how you want to be treated (or not treated) when you are older. He writes, “Why is it so difficult to grasp that by killing seniors, you reduce your own life expectancy?”
A level-headed take on the metaverse
I found that this podcast felt like the adults in the room were finally discussing the metaverse without all the handwaving and buzzwords that dominate the conversation today. I don’t have a super well-formed take on the matter, but if I had to guess based on history, almost everyone talking about the metaverse today is wrong, and it will take a lot longer than we think before we know who’s right.
Philip Rosedale is the founder of Second Life, and Bill Gurley, who you probably know, was an investor in the company. Second Life is maybe the closest thing we currently have to the metaverse as drawn up by the popular narrative today. So when Rosendale talks about the challenges they have faced building that game and says the metaverse may actually be much different, we should listen.
Favorite quote - “the metaverse was a warning, not an instruction manual.”
Van Neistat’s gifting holy trinity
Yes, Casey’s brother. And his youtube channel is awesome.
I think I will carry this simple guideline with me for life:
“The best gifts are nice, made, and thoughtful, but any two will be a good gift.”
Nice is self-explanatory - a high-quality version of whatever you are giving. Made is fuzzier, but it means that your hand has touched it in some way that makes it special. It could be a hand-carved bowl or just a small engraving of your name or the date on a gift. Thoughtful differs case by case - it could be something you know they have been wanting, based on a hobby they have, something from a place you’ve been, etc.
The combination of these factors is the important part. If you buy someone a crappy mug from Amazon, even if it’s a thoughtful idea, it’s not a good gift because it’s not nice, and you didn’t make it. On the other hand, something as simple as a postcard can be a great gift - it’s thoughtful and made. But sticking to the rule of meeting at least two of the three criteria feels like a bulletproof way of giving a good gift.
Airline loyalty programs are worth more than the underlying businesses
Wendover explains how airline’s point-based loyalty systems came to be worth a lot more than the airlines themselves.
This whole channel is amazing. There are dozens of in-depth explainers on topics like transportation, logistics, and geography. My favorite so far is this one on how submarines work.
Come for the Tool, Stay for the Exchange: Bootstrapping Liquidity in the Private Markets
The trend over the past two decades of both assets and value creation shifting to the private markets is a relatively new one compared to the general trend of markets becoming wider in scope, including more participants, and encompassing more assets over time. The private equity markets, however, have seemed relatively closed off to the masses despite their growing importance. So how do we bring liquidity and standardization to the private markets? a16z’s David Haber says it starts with a tool that companies use to onboard themselves (he suggests investor relations as an interesting beachhead) that eventually mutates to become a two-sided marketplace by adding an exchange.