I think parenting young children (and old ones, I’ve heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they’ve heard there’s magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves ... See more
Coursera, Udacity and edX sprang up nearly a decade ago as high-profile university experiments known as MOOCs, for massive open online courses. They were portrayed as tech-fueled insurgents destined to disrupt the antiquated ways of traditional higher education. But few people completed courses, grappling with the same challenges now facing student... See more
One of my big surprises of Silicon Valley was finding out how nice & well intentioned many of the execs of “evil big tech” were. Shocking because I expected them to be evil. Heartbreaking because they weren’t.It meant big tech do bad not cuz of who runs them, but because of the systematic forces they’re beholden to, ie business model & shareholder ... See more
Zoom, actually, I think used the original internet concept of reducing friction. Go back three years before Zoom, remember how painful it was to download an app like BlueJeans or Skype. It was so painful. Even today when people send me a BlueJeans link, I'm like, "Please guys, let's not do this. Please go to Zoom." You want one click, start talking... See more
after studying in basically every library / study spot in cambridge, I've found that the best study spots are still mom & pop cafes where there is a sense of *life* vs. institutional heaviness. In these life-filled places, I've found that insights come through more easily, esp when I "borrow" from the auric field of PhD students doing psets and wri... See more
For the most part, Web 1.0 was a fairly lonely experience – both for homesteaders & visitors. There was a lot to see, but there wasn’t that much to do.