Adam Gamwell
@anthrocurious
In pursuit of mutual thriving. Cultural Anthropologist, Technologist, Dad, musician, vibe maker-coder,
Adam Gamwell
anthrocurious.com
Humanity is waking up to the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence, but we don’t yet understand our role. People talk about unexplainable AI when they should be more concerned about the unexplainable humans running the companies that develop the AI. (Hiya, Sam!) People worried about AI taking their jobs and taking control are... See more
Esther Dyson • Don’t Fuss About Training AIs. Train Our Kids
Clear’s Law of Recurrence: The number of people who believe an idea is directly proportional to the number of times it has been repeated during the last year—even if the idea is false.
James Clear • Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds
Gathering is, in this way, not the act of aggregation alone. It is not an automated collection or the formal acquisition of works for an institution, nor is it the plundering or extraction of resources from a neighboring region. It is the tender and thoughtful collection of goods for your kin, and a moment for reunion, for celebration, and for... See more
Mindy Seu • On Gathering
In investing, higher volatility usually equates to higher possible returns. In today’s world of online expression, we settle for lower expected value, market-level outcomes so as to not ruffle any feathers and not take any outsized risk. We’re basically hoping to allow people to know us enough so that they include us in their passive index of... See more
Being Known is Being Loved
Thought provoking and VC Culture
An interesting reflection on the contrast between the desire for big gains in Venture capital and culture and the mediocre results a product might create and how that mediocrity shapes the way we think about humans
We’re experiencing many crises in America right now, but arguably the meta-crisis is one of social trust.
For decades, there has been a building body of evidence that when people trust each other — including literally responding “yes” to the question “Can most people be trusted?” — lots of important, positive things are easier: income inequality... See more
For decades, there has been a building body of evidence that when people trust each other — including literally responding “yes” to the question “Can most people be trusted?” — lots of important, positive things are easier: income inequality... See more
In startups, the big winners are big to a degree that violates our expectations about variation. I don't know whether these expectations are innate or learned, but whatever the cause, we are just not prepared for the 1000x variation in outcomes that one finds in startup investing.
Paul Graham • Black Swan Farming
As we build systems whose capabilities more and more resemble those of humans, despite the fact that those systems work in ways that are fundamentally different from the way humans work, it becomes increasingly tempting to anthropomorphise them. Humans have evolved to co-exist over many millions of years, and human culture has evolved over
... See moreMurray Shanahan • Talking about large language models
Experience. Don’t observe.
Inhale. Don’t read.
Transfigure. Don’t shift.
Advocate. Don’t ponder.
Prove. Don’t promise.
Encourage. Don’t cut.
Imagine. Don’t worry.
Do. Don’t analyze.
Hear. Don’t listen.
Show. Don’t tell.
Give. Don’t take.
Brian Collins • 101 Design Rules
Imagine if we could somehow show the people of the eighteenth century a simple child’s toy from today — say, a speaking doll.
The common folk would marvel at its ability to speak its few stock phrases. The scientists and engineers would marvel even more at its innards; at the minutely detailed silicon; at the bewildering complexity soon to be within... See more
The common folk would marvel at its ability to speak its few stock phrases. The scientists and engineers would marvel even more at its innards; at the minutely detailed silicon; at the bewildering complexity soon to be within... See more
Towards an experience of humanity
A short meditation on remembering where we place value