First, congratulations to the US Women’s National Team on a repeat world championship, their fourth overall. Here is a clip of the beautiful goal by Rose Lavelle Second, the team’s victory brings with it a microcosm of the large scale social conflicts playing out today. It is simultaneously a tribute to women’s progress and a stark reminder of the pervasiveness of systemic inequality. All one has to do is look at the discussion around pay for the women’s team to see this. Women are facing not...

Happy 4th of July. It’s great to celebrate independence, but even better to remember that we are all interdependent. That’s why last year I wrote a post about climate change. And this year is no different. If anything I feel like writing the post in all caps. While I gave a talk early this years titled “Reasons for Optimism,” the reality is that we should be panicking as the amazing Greta Thunberg puts it so aptly I have reached more personal clarity on this topic than ever before. I too am e...

First, congratulations to the US Women’s National Team on a repeat world championship, their fourth overall. Here is a clip of the beautiful goal by Rose Lavelle Second, the team’s victory brings with it a microcosm of the large scale social conflicts playing out today. It is simultaneously a tribute to women’s progress and a stark reminder of the pervasiveness of systemic inequality. All one has to do is look at the discussion around pay for the women’s team to see this. Women are facing not...

Happy 4th of July. It’s great to celebrate independence, but even better to remember that we are all interdependent. That’s why last year I wrote a post about climate change. And this year is no different. If anything I feel like writing the post in all caps. While I gave a talk early this years titled “Reasons for Optimism,” the reality is that we should be panicking as the amazing Greta Thunberg puts it so aptly I have reached more personal clarity on this topic than ever before. I too am e...

Here is the text of a speech I gave at the 72nd Annual NYU Labor Conference, which this year was on AI and Automation. Unfortunately there is no recording - I stuck relatively closely to this, but didn’t read it. ———- Universal Basic Income: An Introduction Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this audience about Universal Basic Income. I am approaching this topic from the perspective of a venture investor who backs companies that automate tasks ranging from image recognition to medical ...

Here is the text of a speech I gave at the 72nd Annual NYU Labor Conference, which this year was on AI and Automation. Unfortunately there is no recording - I stuck relatively closely to this, but didn’t read it. ———- Universal Basic Income: An Introduction Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this audience about Universal Basic Income. I am approaching this topic from the perspective of a venture investor who backs companies that automate tasks ranging from image recognition to medical ...

One of the reasons I get a fair bit of reading done is that I avoid watching lots of television. On a flight to Germany last week though, I got sucked into watching Babylon Berlin. The series is set in Berlin in the 1920s and is incredibly atmospheric with a rich historical background that is worth learning about. The song and dance scene above is set at the Moka Efti club, which actually existed, as did many of the historical figures in the series. Of course the plot of the show itself is fi...

One of the reasons I get a fair bit of reading done is that I avoid watching lots of television. On a flight to Germany last week though, I got sucked into watching Babylon Berlin. The series is set in Berlin in the 1920s and is incredibly atmospheric with a rich historical background that is worth learning about. The song and dance scene above is set at the Moka Efti club, which actually existed, as did many of the historical figures in the series. Of course the plot of the show itself is fi...

Humanity has a long and sad history of cruelty to other sentient beings including fellow humans. This is one of the darkest and saddest aspects of our selves and one we have struggled to overcome. Much progress has been made since the Middle Ages when public torture was common. And yet our progress comes from a relatively thin veneer of culture, barely restraining what remains a deep capacity for cruelty. Among Trump’s worst influences is his embrace of cruelty as a means of politics. It is t...

Humanity has a long and sad history of cruelty to other sentient beings including fellow humans. This is one of the darkest and saddest aspects of our selves and one we have struggled to overcome. Much progress has been made since the Middle Ages when public torture was common. And yet our progress comes from a relatively thin veneer of culture, barely restraining what remains a deep capacity for cruelty. Among Trump’s worst influences is his embrace of cruelty as a means of politics. It is t...

Today we announced that we have joined the Libra Association, the governance for a global stable coin. Nick has written a post on the USV blog explaining our decision. I have argued before that we don’t really know what path will take us to a decentralized future and therefore have to try many things. Some of these paths involve centralized corporations exposing their endusers to crypto. Nobody has more users than Facebook! There is a historic analogy here to when Microsoft released Internet ...

Today we announced that we have joined the Libra Association, the governance for a global stable coin. Nick has written a post on the USV blog explaining our decision. I have argued before that we don’t really know what path will take us to a decentralized future and therefore have to try many things. Some of these paths involve centralized corporations exposing their endusers to crypto. Nobody has more users than Facebook! There is a historic analogy here to when Microsoft released Internet ...

After a vacation, I am resuming work on World After Capital. I have been struck by the possibility that my book may suffer a fate similar to Keynes’s essay titled “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren.” Written in 1930, during the early time of the Great Depression, the essay speculated on a wildly optimistic development that would see us working only 15 hours per week by now. Similar to language that I have used in World After Capital, the essay starts by noting thatWe are suffering,...

After a vacation, I am resuming work on World After Capital. I have been struck by the possibility that my book may suffer a fate similar to Keynes’s essay titled “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren.” Written in 1930, during the early time of the Great Depression, the essay speculated on a wildly optimistic development that would see us working only 15 hours per week by now. Similar to language that I have used in World After Capital, the essay starts by noting thatWe are suffering,...

I just spent nearly two weeks in Israel and Jordan on a family vacation. We saw amazing sights and met fascinating people. More than with other travel, and maybe due to some recent reading, the trip crystallized three insights for me 1. Humanity is capable of pulling off incredible projects 2. Humanity’s progress is fragile and large scale reversions happen 3. Religion is a terrible affliction for humanity I plan to write more about each of these in the coming weeks.

I just spent nearly two weeks in Israel and Jordan on a family vacation. We saw amazing sights and met fascinating people. More than with other travel, and maybe due to some recent reading, the trip crystallized three insights for me 1. Humanity is capable of pulling off incredible projects 2. Humanity’s progress is fragile and large scale reversions happen 3. Religion is a terrible affliction for humanity I plan to write more about each of these in the coming weeks.

I have been on a bit of a blogging break which is likely to go on for a few more weeks. The break has been the result of a confluence of several factors, starting with a lot of work. Historically, I would have reacted by cutting back on sleep and workouts but now I know better than to do that. I need 8 hours of sleep and when I don’t get those I can’t think well and, more importantly for the people around me, become irritable. Since I am on the topic of health, I am happy to report that my sh...

I have been on a bit of a blogging break which is likely to go on for a few more weeks. The break has been the result of a confluence of several factors, starting with a lot of work. Historically, I would have reacted by cutting back on sleep and workouts but now I know better than to do that. I need 8 hours of sleep and when I don’t get those I can’t think well and, more importantly for the people around me, become irritable. Since I am on the topic of health, I am happy to report that my sh...

Today’s Uncertainty Wednesday is about the risk of inflation. I spend much of my time thinking about company valuations, both as we make new investments and also as we try to mark valuations in existing companies. Of course valuations for private companies are influenced by available public comps and those have been trading at high multiples, including the current crop of IPOs. Now there are two countervailing views in the market. One view is that valuations will return to lower historical mu...

Today’s Uncertainty Wednesday is about the risk of inflation. I spend much of my time thinking about company valuations, both as we make new investments and also as we try to mark valuations in existing companies. Of course valuations for private companies are influenced by available public comps and those have been trading at high multiples, including the current crop of IPOs. Now there are two countervailing views in the market. One view is that valuations will return to lower historical mu...