Week 21

Hi Reader,

This week we take a break from Silicon Valley narratives and critically examine alternative views. What if defense was something we needed to work on? How should we measure success? Are we thinking about AI in the right way?

On balance, Naval reminds us why we love working on technology. The aspiration then is not to move on from Silicon Valley thinking but to mature it.

🐦 Tech (mainly) tweets I'm reading

Naval explains the joy of building technology.
Lyft driver reveals how he increased sales conversions from 5 to 85%.

🤖  Intelligence

In We're Doing it Wrong Epsilon Theory articulate a novel way of interacting with AI and explain the next evolution of their offering. There is something really unique and fresh about this piece and it stands out from the rest.

h/t @gordonbrander.

🎖 Defense

There were several exciting releases relating to Defense.

Palmer Luckey // A New Defense in Anatomy of Next by Founders Fund. "Technology has changed the nature of the threats our society is facing, but the defense industry is still mostly approaching these questions with a twentieth century mindset."

Honorable mentions: Palmer Luckey on Human Code, Technology and Defense at Founders Fund HQ.

These series makes a compelling point that technology companies should be leading in defense support for western democracies.

🎲 Strategy

How To Be Successful is Sam Altman's synthesis from meeting thousands of Founders. It explains the mental models a Founder, start-up employee or investor need to have in order to grow their impact in the tech industry.

In the panel on defense above, the tech industry complained that not enough politicians understand technology. Yet the article itself talks about "owning" something as the primary means of being successful. In effect it is dangerously advocating technologists against pursuing paths in politics.

You can't help but feel that the current Silicon Valley narrative is directly responsible for the lack of technological intelligence in D.C.