This morning I had a surgical procedure to fix an inguinal hernia. This afternoon I am sitting at home writing this post. While not quite “waving a tricorder” this is a massive testament to medical progress. Also right up front: thanks to everyone at Weill Cornell Medical Center for being not just incredibly professional but also super friendly. As it turns out I can judge how much progress this represents from personal experience. Growing up in Germany, I wound up having two such hernias as ...

This morning I had a surgical procedure to fix an inguinal hernia. This afternoon I am sitting at home writing this post. While not quite “waving a tricorder” this is a massive testament to medical progress. Also right up front: thanks to everyone at Weill Cornell Medical Center for being not just incredibly professional but also super friendly. As it turns out I can judge how much progress this represents from personal experience. Growing up in Germany, I wound up having two such hernias as ...

We are once again at a transition moment in history. Where our journey goes from here could be exceptionally good or absurdly bad. This mirrors past moments, such as the transition into the Agrarian Age, which gave us early high cultures but also various dark ages. Or more recently the transition into the Industrial Age, with democracies flourishing, but also fascism and communism killing tens of millions. In the past few years we have had incredible unlocks across many fields. To name just a...

We are once again at a transition moment in history. Where our journey goes from here could be exceptionally good or absurdly bad. This mirrors past moments, such as the transition into the Agrarian Age, which gave us early high cultures but also various dark ages. Or more recently the transition into the Industrial Age, with democracies flourishing, but also fascism and communism killing tens of millions. In the past few years we have had incredible unlocks across many fields. To name just a...

I have missed writing (my last post was at the beginning of September). Well writing publicly. I have started to keep a journal which takes a bit of time every day. I have also been ridiculously busy with both existing and new investments as well as several projects, such as finally wrapping up work on my book The World After Capital. But I have a lot of thoughts rattling around my brain and I find that only writing has the power to help sort through them. So here are some of the topics I pla...

I have missed writing (my last post was at the beginning of September). Well writing publicly. I have started to keep a journal which takes a bit of time every day. I have also been ridiculously busy with both existing and new investments as well as several projects, such as finally wrapping up work on my book The World After Capital. But I have a lot of thoughts rattling around my brain and I find that only writing has the power to help sort through them. So here are some of the topics I pla...

A while back I wrote a post titled “In Praise of Consistency,” which argues that a powerful way to examine one’s beliefs is to check their internal consistency. An example that’s currently on my mind is the right of private companies to turn away unvaccinated customers. On the right there are a lot of people who seem to think that shouldn’t be allowed, but at the same time belief that a baker should be able to refuse making a wedding cake for a gay couple. This strikes me as highly inconsiste...

A while back I wrote a post titled “In Praise of Consistency,” which argues that a powerful way to examine one’s beliefs is to check their internal consistency. An example that’s currently on my mind is the right of private companies to turn away unvaccinated customers. On the right there are a lot of people who seem to think that shouldn’t be allowed, but at the same time belief that a baker should be able to refuse making a wedding cake for a gay couple. This strikes me as highly inconsiste...

I am spending the last two days of the decade cleaning up. We moved into our current place about 8 years ago and have accumulated a lot of stuff during that time period. It will be interesting to see how far I get but I am planning to at least sort out all my clothes and electronics. While I won’t go for a strict Marie Kondo approach, I tend to err on the side of getting rid of more rather than less. Thankfully the weather here in New York is being fully cooperative with cold rain that makes ...

I am spending the last two days of the decade cleaning up. We moved into our current place about 8 years ago and have accumulated a lot of stuff during that time period. It will be interesting to see how far I get but I am planning to at least sort out all my clothes and electronics. While I won’t go for a strict Marie Kondo approach, I tend to err on the side of getting rid of more rather than less. Thankfully the weather here in New York is being fully cooperative with cold rain that makes ...

I have just returned from an exciting voyage: crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat. You can find updates from along the way on the J44 Frolic website, Twitter/X and Instagram accounts. In this post I am gathering up my lessons learned. Some of these are just about sailing, in particular passage making, and some are broadly applicable life lessons.Offshore sailing is intense. I always had great respect for offshore sailors, and in particular solo sailors, and this voyage has only deepened that....

I have just returned from an exciting voyage: crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat. You can find updates from along the way on the J44 Frolic website, Twitter/X and Instagram accounts. In this post I am gathering up my lessons learned. Some of these are just about sailing, in particular passage making, and some are broadly applicable life lessons.Offshore sailing is intense. I always had great respect for offshore sailors, and in particular solo sailors, and this voyage has only deepened that....

I have been away from writing here for an entire month. It was a combination of travel followed by a health crisis that is now thankfully nearly over (a “routine” surgery that turned out to be anything but). But there is also an underlying frustration that makes it at times difficult to know what to say at all. We are living in times of the omnicrisis and yet so many people seem to just want to get on with their lives. They want to do their thing, whatever that may be, as if there was nothing...

I have been away from writing here for an entire month. It was a combination of travel followed by a health crisis that is now thankfully nearly over (a “routine” surgery that turned out to be anything but). But there is also an underlying frustration that makes it at times difficult to know what to say at all. We are living in times of the omnicrisis and yet so many people seem to just want to get on with their lives. They want to do their thing, whatever that may be, as if there was nothing...

I am obviously late to the party on Ted Lasso, as I try not to start any series at all due to what my therapist calls “completion compunction” (and yes I binge watched the entire first season on two consecutive evenings not that long ago but have had the good sense of not starting season two). If you haven’t seen the show, the central character is an American football coach who winds up coaching a British soccer club and winning over (nearly) everyone with his kindness. The level of kindness ...

I am obviously late to the party on Ted Lasso, as I try not to start any series at all due to what my therapist calls “completion compunction” (and yes I binge watched the entire first season on two consecutive evenings not that long ago but have had the good sense of not starting season two). If you haven’t seen the show, the central character is an American football coach who winds up coaching a British soccer club and winning over (nearly) everyone with his kindness. The level of kindness ...

The first time I came to the United States was in 1983 for a one-year host family stay in Rochester, Minnesota. Before leaving Germany, there was a weekend long preparation meeting. We were told we would feel homesick, that we might feel alienated and even experience culture shock. Throughout the weekend the instructors mentioned at least a dozen of times “whatever you do, don’t walk around the house naked.” OK, something to pay attention to I noted to myself. I arrived in Rochester after a v...

The first time I came to the United States was in 1983 for a one-year host family stay in Rochester, Minnesota. Before leaving Germany, there was a weekend long preparation meeting. We were told we would feel homesick, that we might feel alienated and even experience culture shock. Throughout the weekend the instructors mentioned at least a dozen of times “whatever you do, don’t walk around the house naked.” OK, something to pay attention to I noted to myself. I arrived in Rochester after a v...