Jackson Dahl
@jackson
299 Following
61044 Followers
Ep. 11 of /dialectic w/ @eugene Wei is out now.
Eugene is one of the most insightful thinkers on social media, its mechanics, and how it shapes us and culture.
He once suggested we need an update on Neil Postman’s 1985 lament of television culture, "Amusing Ourselves to Death," proposing instead: "Amusing Each Other to Death". We discuss how algorithmic, entertainment-driven social platforms are shaping society.
Topics include social networks vs. social media, TikTok, Twitter/X, technology reducing friction but weakening community, attention as currency, rising nihilism, speculative culture, NFL and Netflix catering to distracted audiences, how TV shows reflect a decline in meaning, and what it means to hold onto our humanity.
Some of this may sound pessimistic, but Eugene asks questions we all need to consider—together. By remembering genuine connection as one of our most sacred resources, perhaps we can still build a brighter future, using technology to amplify our humanity rather than diminish it. 6 replies
15 recasts
78 reactions
1 reply
9 recasts
54 reactions
0 reply
6 recasts
28 reactions
3 replies
1 recast
41 reactions
4 replies
7 recasts
46 reactions
Episode 10 of /dialectic with Josh Wolfe:
Josh is what you'd get if you combined a macro investor's slow-thinking wisdom, a culture junky's encyclopedic memory, a performer's storytelling, a pro athlete's competitiveness, and a kid's fervent curiosity.
Josh is co-founder of Lux Capital, a VC firm focused on companies using emerging technologies and science to push the world forward in categories like AI, space, biotech, robotics, and defense.
Unlike some technologists, Josh truly believes in the power of stories: to help us envision the future, inspire tomorrow's creative rebels, and get others to believe.
We discuss the interplay between science and stories, what makes great entrepreneurs, scientists, and artists, America's global tech position, how institutions matter and can be improved, and Josh's incredible breadth and depth.
His competitiveness, obsessive curiosity, and incredible range are all on display in the conversation.
Available on all platforms below. 4 replies
4 recasts
23 reactions
.@jacob on the wisdom of the Midwit Meme:
Most people use the midwit meme as a dunk on the others or to try to subtly suggest that they're on the right side of the curve.
I love how Jacob uses it to look inward and instead push himself toward simpler thinking:
"I love the midwit meme because it's mostly a vaccine for myself to stop thinking too much.
I have a tendency to extrapolate too far, or go to big extremes, or construct worlds or potential scenarios or products that might not exist.
I can just look at that image to remind myself to think way, way, way less. Like, what is ostensibly the most dumb version of the thing, which is the most simple version, which is probably more correct?
[So you're better off moving left on that graph than trying to move right?]
"Yeah, exactly. The easiest way to be gigabrain is to be smooth brain.
I think that meme resonates so much with me because I can be the midwit very often. So it's a nice mirror to just be like, "No, chill out and stop thinking here." 4 replies
5 recasts
32 reactions
2 replies
2 recasts
21 reactions
1 reply
0 recast
13 reactions
1 reply
20 recasts
12 reactions
2 replies
10 recasts
19 reactions
4 replies
22 recasts
38 reactions
Ep. 9 of /dialectic w @jacob is live.
Jacob is co-founder & CEO of /zora, a platform that allows anyone to tokenize media. He's spent his career thinking about how blockchains, tokens, markets, and ideas enable internet-native coordination.
They're building on Stewart Brand's premise that "information wants to be free, but it also wants to be expensive.” In an internet era where content is abundant and effectively free, it is also expensive to consume and create—not by way of money, but time.
We discuss a world where markets around attention and content allow better coordination around what information is worth our time.
We also discuss why memes are so powerful, speculation vs. gambling, reflections on popular crypto ideas and Zora's history, Coinbase and co-creating USDC, and many other topics that showcase Jacob's generative creativity, unique ways of thinking, and inspirations.
https://pods.media/dialectic/9-jacob-horne-markets-for-what-matters?referrer=0x9b902482E62Db8FC486C3f1acAA568006021DbEC 6 replies
20 recasts
67 reactions
3 replies
8 recasts
30 reactions
0 reply
46 recasts
79 reactions
1 reply
39 recasts
14 reactions
1 reply
49 recasts
65 reactions
4 replies
44 recasts
35 reactions
2 replies
22 recasts
81 reactions
Steph Ango (@kepano) on /obsidian's small team, user-supported, no-investor structure:
"I just like the Ocean's Eleven model the best."
Steph reflects on different ways to build companies and how in today's world, you can build something quite ambitious with a small group:
"In the previous company that I ran, whenever we had a problem, it was like, 'Who can we hire who is an expert on this problem?' We'd go find the best person, hire them, and then empower them to solve this problem.
Now, if we have this problem, hiring is off the table. We basically don't hire. We have seven people full-time. We probably have three or four million users, and we're seven people. That's pretty crazy. It's definitely possible to do something like that."
Full episode avail on all podcast platforms, links below. 1 reply
11 recasts
30 reactions