atlasunshrugged

Jeremy, this is a great read, thank you! What do you think about the amended version from today that gives the FMD significantly greater authority on what would and would not be covered by the legislation? Any other specific recommendations for the legislation that would help protect open-source?

Edit to ask: Does it seem likely to you that one of the unintended consequences of the legislation as written is that companies like Meta will no longer open-source their models?

Just a note, from having worked in a Congressional office that phones are usually answered by interns and a staff assistant, mail is opened almost exclusively by the staff assistant, but this is still the lowest level position in an office so the marginal difference is pretty minimal. And for any issue that's time sensitive, don't bother physically mailing because it has to go through extensive security checks before it gets delivered to us. I'd say the ideal way to maximize impact with an elected official here is to ask them the question publicly (FB, at a town hall) and try to garner as much support as you can so they feel like they have to answer you positively.

Or get a text and get distracted at just the wrong time

There is the "replicator initiative" within the DOD but I have no idea if it's moving quickly or not. The U.S. defense establishment still seems stuck in a pattern of buying big extravagant and expensive systems (e.g. aircraft carriers, million dollar missiles) which are vulnerable to asymmetric attacks from low cost drones or land to sea based missiles.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12611

One other factor that may help the U.S. is that America will have an easier time getting access to some resources as production ramps up than China given our excellent geographic position and China's lack of a blue water navy that can cut off American supply lines. However, while America's navy may get pushed back from the first island chain, there are several other chokepoints it can use to stop materials from coming in to China by sea (which is one of the only cost-effective ways to ship the amount of mass needed to produce war materiel at scale), and many of China's neighbors are not friendly to the CCP and not liable to support shipments of material to support a war through their territory even if it is economical to do so.

Even higher value added manufacturing these days. My understanding is that Chinese EVs/batteries and some telecoms equipment are highly competitive or better than Western equivalents (yes, they got there partially due to IP theft and state subsidies but still)

I guess that's the upside of wartime and having many of the people in charge of these projects truly bought in -- they're likely trying to deliver the best they can, not maximize profits.

Thanks! I had just figured the natural inclination from politicians would be to cling to power as long as possible but I guess there's some motivation to play a longer term game?

Any Brits here that can help me understand what the benefit of calling an election before it is absolutely mandated is?

I read it as the economics of tobacco (and alcohol and a few other 'vice' industries) that there will invariably be superusers who get addicted and produce the most economic value for companies even while consuming an actively harmful product

I would add Stripe Press to this list.

https://press.stripe.com/

Increasingly seems like they're coming from East Africa too, although it appears it may be at the behest of the government in some cases.

https://africanarguments.org/2024/03/go-gulf-is-ethiopia-sac...

Did you do it biking the whole way? Did you rough sleep or crash at hotels/motels?

I've always wondered why Microsoft doesn't get more pushback for their work in China given how deeply intertwined they are with the U.S. government and national security apparatus.

I know it's not the core focus but I just love Stripe's design work!

Okay, don't love what he was creating the sheep for but I'm not sure I understand why this is such a big deal? We change animals all the time (looking at you, French Bulldog owners), unfortunately often to their detriment.

Any idea as to why they haven't been investigated and/or de-listed? Is it really just that no one cares? That seems insane to me but I don't know much about the financial services space

Yes, but at least at CVS they no longer sell cigarettes https://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/05/health/cvs-cigarettes/ind...

I agree, but I wonder what the counterfactual climate impact is for someone who takes a few taxi rides a week but without them would have to buy a car instead (which of course also then needs physical space for parking)

I think a lot of this gets solved if the city cracks down on crime and cleans up public transport. I've lived in downtown SF (5th and Mission) as well as across the Bay Area and avoided public transport other than Caltrain (even then, the SF station was not great) because of so much vagrancy, people doing drugs on the bus and metro, and just being worried about personal safety. I personally still didn't buy a car and just walked or took a Lyft/Uber most places in the end but I can see why many refuse to give up cars until public transport is safe enough for the average person who can afford an alternative.

Let me pitch an idea that I've long been noodling on that I think gen AI finally enables -- automated healthcare patient billing support for individuals. In essence, when you get that bill in the mail, you can fight with the hospital to decrease it, fight with your insurer to cover more of it, or not pay it and fight with a debt collector down the line. Maybe there's an alternative world where an AI agent does this for you, helping you negotiate down your medical bills and in return taking some percentage cut of the savings? There have been businesses like this before but hit some issues with 1) cost of employing humans to fight these bills, 2) customer acquisitions costs, 3) heavy churn/non-recurring customer base which goes along with 2

I think this was actually an idea that Palmer Luckey was exploring before Anduril took off. I also agree that there should be something done in the space but have no clear idea on a venture scale biz that doesn't end up being exploitative.

https://twitter.com/PalmerLuckey/status/1530604281732116481?...

The defense-tech one is interesting. I wholeheartedly agree that more people should be involved in the space and it is critically important -- I think the war in Ukraine clearly shows the need for the Western world to be prepared to fight for freedom and democracy -- but as far as venturebackable business models go I don't really understand how many defense tech co's will fit. Most defense firms, other than perhaps Palantir which has a unique position as a commercial provider trade at extremely low multiples to revenue on public markets, whereas tech stocks usually have a relatively large boost. Perhaps not as much concern at early stages but not sure how the financials work out long term.

It isn't directly about managing people 1:1, but probably the one that most helped inform my views on people management and organizational culture was the original Netflix culture deck

https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664

I always thought that was quite funny too. Like a16z with an American Dynamism practice while also having massive investments in crypto where many (like Balaji for instance) are advocating for exit from the U.S. and looking for ways to circumvent the US monetary system, which is one of the most powerful tools the US has to enforce its will globally

Edit to add that this also goes for plenty of companies: See Microsoft with their AI center in Beijing despite being a major provider of services to the U.S. government.

https://thedispatch.com/article/microsoft-issues-warning-abo...

I think there is quite a lot of skepticism about Ostpolitik and the benefits of close economic integration given it did little to prevent Russia entering a war with Ukraine.

Out of curiosity, what is the low traffic day? Does your friend have a blog or anything?

I think this is in reference to how important the defense industry has been to Silicon Valley in particular. For example, Steve Blank has this lecture on the Secret History of Silicon Valley

https://steveblank.com/secret-history/

Watch some of the clips of the Bucha massacre of innocent civilians and I hope you will reassess. The war is brutal, but a bad "peace" could be worse.

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000008299178/u...

They own equity in a company that owns part of the mine, they don't own it outright.

On your second point, I thought the whole complaint from people about Elon was that he wasn't actually "self-made" because he benefitted from the gains of the mine and had a privileged upbringing. If you just think owning mines in general is unethical, I'm really not sure what to say.