Category: Ideas

The Pizza Paraiso NFT Collection 2022, and why Small Businesses <3 NFTs

May 9, 2022

This tweet is funny because it’s true. My old neighborhood of Williamsburg, the now-gentrified, formerly hipster neighborhood in Brooklyn is today the unofficial capital of Web3, and represents a caricature of all the memes (good and bad) about crypto and Web3. But I don’t think it’s funny because it’s ridiculous; quite the opposite, I think … More The Pizza Paraiso NFT Collection 2022, and why Small Businesses <3 NFTs

My Investing Framework: Rethinking Risk and Betting on Different Perspectives of the Future

October 24, 2018

I was recently listening to What Alex Danco Thinks About Basically Everything , a long, rambling but incredibly insightful podcast with Alex Danco, a member of the Social Capital Discover team and author of the fantastic Snippets weekly newsletter. Somewhere in the middle of the podcast Alex inadvertently articulated my exact investing philosophy in a way … More My Investing Framework: Rethinking Risk and Betting on Different Perspectives of the Future

Abundance & Decentralization Part III: The Great Decentralization of Everything

June 4, 2018

Part 3 of a series on Abundance and Decentralization. View part 1 here and part 2 here. Energy generation and food production are next The revolution will be decentralized. This has been the rallying cry among technology’s early adopters since bitcoin first exploded into the mainstream consciousness in early 2013, and it is the guiding principle … More Abundance & Decentralization Part III: The Great Decentralization of Everything

Abundance & Decentralization Part II: Sustainability in the age of Bitcoin

June 4, 2018

Over the past few months I have encountered various discussions and analyses on what is required to make a system, product, organization or organism last a long time - not just 5 or 10 years but 100+ years: In Money, blockchains, and social scalability, Nick Szabo argues that the most valuable trait of bitcoin and other blockchain … More Abundance & Decentralization Part II: Sustainability in the age of Bitcoin

The Transport sector is now more polluting than Power plants. Electric cars are not the only answer.

March 27, 2018

It sounds unorthodox, but networks of dockless electric scooters and electric bikes could prove to be the technology that finally allows urban city dwellers to reduce dependency on cars, and in turn allow for cities to finally evolve into sustainable hubs with improved quality of life for its residents. Last week I cycled across San … More The Transport sector is now more polluting than Power plants. Electric cars are not the only answer.

Abundance & Decentralization Part I: In a world of abundance, to be rich is to be moderate.

August 19, 2017

I recently finished reading The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, a remarkable investigation, journey and manifesto by celebrated chef Dan Barber. The book weaves anecdotes, research, history and opinion into a compelling narrative calling for society to embrace the complexity of an integrated natural ecosystem in which humans can work hand-in-hand … More Abundance & Decentralization Part I: In a world of abundance, to be rich is to be moderate.

“Clean Human” is a morally defensible addition to Restaurant menus of the future

March 29, 2017

The more interesting question: what are the second-order consequences for society? Clean Meats — that is, animal products grown in a lab through cell culture — are morally acceptable and preferable to the status quo because they involve no unnecessary animal suffering and have orders of magnitude lower negative externalities than traditional livestock agriculture. If you are new to the … More “Clean Human” is a morally defensible addition to Restaurant menus of the future

On November 8th, 2016 I gave up beef. Here’s why I’m challenging you to do the same.

February 22, 2017

I love beef. I love the first bite of a medium-rare cheese burger fresh off the grill, juices oozing. I love beef stroganoff so much I cooked it at my own birthday dinner party last year. But on November 8th, 2016 I gave up beef. And I’m asking you to do the same. To be … More On November 8th, 2016 I gave up beef. Here’s why I’m challenging you to do the same.

Electric Bikes, Communal Dining, & Coffeeshop+[Function]

November 9, 2016

As my thinking around my value-creation opportunities evolves, I find myself returning to the three markets that I believe match the three criteria necessary for me to commit time and resources to them; namely, a market which: aligns with my core values of living a value-creating, sustainability, community-focused life, offers me a chance to apply … More Electric Bikes, Communal Dining, & Coffeeshop+[Function]

Thoughts on Campus, the Failed Startup that Almost Reinvented How We Live

July 14, 2015

It saddens me that the first I heard about Campus was news of its closure. On June 18th, the housing startup founded by Thiel Fellow Tom Currier closed its virtual doors, ending a two year experiment in co-living at 34 properties in SF and NYC. Campus acted as a psuedo-property manager, signing large properties on … More Thoughts on Campus, the Failed Startup that Almost Reinvented How We Live