I have been arguing that we live in an era of technological deflation driven by advances in computing (including robotics). In the US, the prices for consumer durables peaked in the mid 1990s as this chart from the St. Louis Fed shows. There are still ways in which monetary policy and potentially the price of energy could throw a wrench into this overall trend but what I want to write about today and tomorrow are the potential for price declines in two other areas: education and healthcare. A...

I have been arguing that we live in an era of technological deflation driven by advances in computing (including robotics). In the US, the prices for consumer durables peaked in the mid 1990s as this chart from the St. Louis Fed shows. There are still ways in which monetary policy and potentially the price of energy could throw a wrench into this overall trend but what I want to write about today and tomorrow are the potential for price declines in two other areas: education and healthcare. A...

A couple of years back we got scuba certified as a family. This year we took our first real dive trip. We stayed at the amazingly located Itza Lodge on Long Caye which is part of the Lighthouse Reef in Belize. Since we are still learning we did most of our diving right off Long Caye and also at nearby Half Moon Caye, which also offers some spectacular bird watching (including red footed boobies and frigatebirds). We visited the famous Great Blue Hole but went snorkeling there as the dive requ...

A couple of years back we got scuba certified as a family. This year we took our first real dive trip. We stayed at the amazingly located Itza Lodge on Long Caye which is part of the Lighthouse Reef in Belize. Since we are still learning we did most of our diving right off Long Caye and also at nearby Half Moon Caye, which also offers some spectacular bird watching (including red footed boobies and frigatebirds). We visited the famous Great Blue Hole but went snorkeling there as the dive requ...

The shift to mobile computing is fully underway. Over time everyone in the world will have a smartphone and data speeds will go up (and hopefully prices for data plans will come down). So the race is on to find the natively mobile versions of many (all?) existing businesses. There is, however, a major hurdle to that innovation here in the US and many other parts of the world: the control of Apple and Google over their respective app stores. Many people have pointed to the amazing commerce int...

The shift to mobile computing is fully underway. Over time everyone in the world will have a smartphone and data speeds will go up (and hopefully prices for data plans will come down). So the race is on to find the natively mobile versions of many (all?) existing businesses. There is, however, a major hurdle to that innovation here in the US and many other parts of the world: the control of Apple and Google over their respective app stores. Many people have pointed to the amazing commerce int...

Today our portfolio company Lending Club went public. Congratulations to the team And here is founder Renaud Laplanche on the business

Today our portfolio company Lending Club went public. Congratulations to the team And here is founder Renaud Laplanche on the business

I have only written about torture once before here on Continuations as part of my mini review of Zero Dark Thirty. I am glad that after long delays we at least now have a summary of the Senate’s Torture Report. Together with Guantanamo Bay itself, which I have mentioned a few times, and the Drone program, we have done great harm to the causes of democracy and freedom, all in the name of defending them. I don’t actually question the motives of the people who conceived of and conducted these pr...

I have only written about torture once before here on Continuations as part of my mini review of Zero Dark Thirty. I am glad that after long delays we at least now have a summary of the Senate’s Torture Report. Together with Guantanamo Bay itself, which I have mentioned a few times, and the Drone program, we have done great harm to the causes of democracy and freedom, all in the name of defending them. I don’t actually question the motives of the people who conceived of and conducted these pr...

I did not write directly about the death of Michael Brown although what happened in Ferguson was on my mind and I referred to it indirectly. I was not planning to write about the death of Eric Garner but then I saw a tweet last night that reminded me that if you do nothing in the face of violence and injustice you are contributing to it. So what will I do? My immediate action is relatively straight forward: assist in putting pressure on state and federal authorities to re-examine both cases a...

I did not write directly about the death of Michael Brown although what happened in Ferguson was on my mind and I referred to it indirectly. I was not planning to write about the death of Eric Garner but then I saw a tweet last night that reminded me that if you do nothing in the face of violence and injustice you are contributing to it. So what will I do? My immediate action is relatively straight forward: assist in putting pressure on state and federal authorities to re-examine both cases a...

If like me you prefer Giving Tuesday over Black Friday and Cyber Monday then it might be a good time to give some money to ChangeX. Susan and I will continue to match any funds 1:1 until $25,000 is reached. ChangeX is helping communities strengthen themselves by seeing what is working for others. No matter how much time we spend on the Internet we still live in a local community. There is no reason to re-invent the wheel for how to make that community a better place. Through ChangeX you can d...

If like me you prefer Giving Tuesday over Black Friday and Cyber Monday then it might be a good time to give some money to ChangeX. Susan and I will continue to match any funds 1:1 until $25,000 is reached. ChangeX is helping communities strengthen themselves by seeing what is working for others. No matter how much time we spend on the Internet we still live in a local community. There is no reason to re-invent the wheel for how to make that community a better place. Through ChangeX you can d...

About a year and a half ago I wrote a post arguing that there is no free will and also stating that seemed OK to me. As it turns out since then I have been on a fun intellectual and spiritual journey that has led me to a quite different position. Today I want to share a bit more of what I have found. Let me start by recapping the original argument: you don’t have free will because your brain makes all the decisions based on its state at decision making time. And since there is no “you” beyond...

About a year and a half ago I wrote a post arguing that there is no free will and also stating that seemed OK to me. As it turns out since then I have been on a fun intellectual and spiritual journey that has led me to a quite different position. Today I want to share a bit more of what I have found. Let me start by recapping the original argument: you don’t have free will because your brain makes all the decisions based on its state at decision making time. And since there is no “you” beyond...

A good friend of mine recently conducted a fun survey – he asked people why they thought digital was disruptive (I don’t know if he will ever publish the results as this was an internal project at a consulting company). My own answer to that is simple: digital is disruptive because zero marginal cost takes us into a world of abundance when all of our economics, politics and business practices are rooted in scarcity. Making this flip runs counter to what we have come to treat as ground truths ...

A good friend of mine recently conducted a fun survey – he asked people why they thought digital was disruptive (I don’t know if he will ever publish the results as this was an internal project at a consulting company). My own answer to that is simple: digital is disruptive because zero marginal cost takes us into a world of abundance when all of our economics, politics and business practices are rooted in scarcity. Making this flip runs counter to what we have come to treat as ground truths ...