kev

• Internet ate the world; then broke; then some people rallied to fix it; then… we’re lost — disoriented

• what do we collectively even desire?

• at first, you just want to hang out and have fun; then you grow up and have less time for the group chat

• saying you want to change something, and actually changing it are two different jobs

• the New Internet needs a more honest relationship to money

• Are.na is deserving of its unofficial title as golden child of the New Internet

A much better gauge of success, for me, is one that's fluid. I tend to ask myself am I successful right now? And that could be in anything. Recently, my successes have revolved around renovating one of the stables for the chickens, and maintaining our vegetable patch.

When you talk like this you locate authenticity at the level of the identity. “This is my authentic identity; the rest are fake.” But I have a lot of identities! I’m a father, a husband, a writer, a coordinator at a gallery—which of these identities is the authentic one? It is more useful to think of authenticity as being about how you play your identities. There is a way for me to play husband authentically, and there is a way to play it that is not. And so on for every other identity I have—including the obviously fictional ones. Authenticity is not about the identity, but the way you use it.

Identities are interfaces. Pseudonyms are social technologies.

In my conversation with Crowley, we discuss his latest startups, convergence of new technologies, and what it means for the future. We get into a conversation about AI, our children, and entrepreneurship. He talks about attempting to make sense of it all while staying true to his original mission: building things that help people better experience the world around them.