Andrei Stoica

A huge amount of what Cowen did seemed to be encountering other people, and I was often unsure whether this was out of eagerness to learn from them or a more basic need for human contact. Most of Cowen’s good friends seem to be colleagues from George Mason. Some acquaintances I spoke to were in awe of Cowen, but unsure why someone hellbent on... See more

There are still plenty of great third places where you can hang out comfortably as long as you want, of course—but they increasingly feel like luxury goods, carrying an expectation of higher spending or restricting access outright (there are also true public spaces like parks and libraries, which are a separate category altogether). When a single... See more

It was not simply a desire for revanchism, however, that allowed Deng Xiaoping to reform China successfully. Rather, as a student of contemporary capitalism, Deng closely observed Singapore’s development, which showed that a culturally Chinese society had the prerequisite social technologies to productively use markets. Secondly, he knew that China... See more

Finding a soul as a product today seems rare in software. The rise of CSS frameworks like Tailwind and others has lowered the bare minimum entry for making a good-looking design. It made life easier but at the same time seemed to degenerate people’s creativity. Alongside trends that come and go, many products and websites look very much the same.

“The fast shall inherit the earth.” This was previously printed in the Facebook internal book they’d give new employees. Now we can read it as “the fast will catch Elon’s attention, which will influence an army of fans to mimetically adopt the message.” Unfortunately that’s not as catchy.

When it comes to business and careers, the more interesting people will succeed and capture more upside than ever before.

Because the uninteresting ones will get commoditized (hello 🤖).

And by interesting I mean being capable of analyzing, deciding, and executing in a way few others can.

Generating more unique ideas, understanding complex things

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The only value of cultural ideas is their ability to inform action in this true world. And because mass communication about complex new ideas is impossible, whatever ideas you have can only directly affect your own actions and those of your collaborators. This is the discipline of materialism. If you want anything of true excellence done, don’t... See more

Contemporary life feels significantly organized by a post-1960s schism, where much of the energy that fueled outward-oriented activism and mass politics (“repair the world”) was diverted inward, into the culture of self-help and the business of individual wellness (“repair yourself”).