Philosophy Mondays: Human-AI Collaboration
Today's Philosophy Monday is an important interlude. I want to reveal that I have not been writing the posts in this series entirely by myself. Instead I have been working with Claude, not just for the graphic illustrations, but also for the text. My method has been to write a rough draft and then ask Claude for improvement suggestions. I will expand this collaboration to other intelligences going forward, including open source models such as Llama and DeepSeek. I will also explore other moda...
Intent-based Collaboration Environments
AI Native IDEs for Code, Engineering, Science
Web3/Crypto: Why Bother?
One thing that keeps surprising me is how quite a few people see absolutely nothing redeeming in web3 (née crypto). Maybe this is their genuine belief. Maybe it is a reaction to the extreme boosterism of some proponents who present web3 as bringing about a libertarian nirvana. From early on I have tried to provide a more rounded perspective, pointing to both the good and the bad that can come from it as in my talks at the Blockstack Summits. Today, however, I want to attempt to provide a coge...
Philosophy Mondays: Human-AI Collaboration
Today's Philosophy Monday is an important interlude. I want to reveal that I have not been writing the posts in this series entirely by myself. Instead I have been working with Claude, not just for the graphic illustrations, but also for the text. My method has been to write a rough draft and then ask Claude for improvement suggestions. I will expand this collaboration to other intelligences going forward, including open source models such as Llama and DeepSeek. I will also explore other moda...
Intent-based Collaboration Environments
AI Native IDEs for Code, Engineering, Science
Web3/Crypto: Why Bother?
One thing that keeps surprising me is how quite a few people see absolutely nothing redeeming in web3 (née crypto). Maybe this is their genuine belief. Maybe it is a reaction to the extreme boosterism of some proponents who present web3 as bringing about a libertarian nirvana. From early on I have tried to provide a more rounded perspective, pointing to both the good and the bad that can come from it as in my talks at the Blockstack Summits. Today, however, I want to attempt to provide a coge...
>400 subscribers
>400 subscribers
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
Today at noon I am giving a talk to the Japan Business Network in New York – an informal get together organized by my brother-in-law, Charles Danziger. The topic is the fundamental transformation of industries that the Internet will bring about. I am planning to use the following outline.
Some background on Union Square Ventures
- about $300 million under management across two funds
- invest exclusively in the Internet
- based in New York but national mandate (and some international investments)
- mostly lead first institutional round
- well-known investments include Twitter, Zynga, Etsy, Foursquare
Fundamental USV thesis
- The Internet will change everything
- This will go on for a long time (decades)
- Will provide significant startup and new investment opportunities along the way
First story: Newspapers
- these were big and mighty businesses
- they existed for a long time (100+ years)
- highly profitable for a long time
Along comes: the Internet
Step 1: Unbundling of economics (online classifieds)
- job classifieds: HotJobs, Monster
- for sale: eBay
- dating: various sites
- all of the above: Craigslist
-> result: major source of profits removed
Step 2: Unbundling of content
- the rise of blogs
- specialist publications
- user generated content
-> result: splitting of audiences
Net result: newspapers everywhere are struggling
Second story: Disrupting the disruptors
Job classifieds: HotJobs, Monster
- 1:1 translation of offline model to online
- listing for a fee
- really just playing on cost advantage
Along comes: Indeed
Vertical search for jobs
- find jobs wherever they are
- can only be done on the Internet
- native revenue model: keyword advertising
Third story: The new news businesses
Blogs
- Blogs have low cost structure
- Many blogs don’t need to make money directly (side project, lead generation, etc)
- Targeting specific audiences
- Highly varying levels of analysis / original thinking / reporting
Aggregators: Techmeme
- Analyze link structure
- Analyze social media / real-time web
- Run software in the cloud – all variable cost
- Small team
Extrapolating
- Not just the news business – all businesses
- Why?
Many other businesses with huge information/content components
- Education
- Healthcare
Education example
What about manufacturing?
- 3D printing
- separation of model making and “printing”
- lot size 1
- mass customization
But goes deeper: fundamental fabric of organizations
- Modern corporation now > 100 years old
- Command and control structure
- Trade-off between motivation and cooperation/information sharing
- Transition to “small pieces, loosely joined” (like architecture of the Internet)
Doesn’t stop there: governments?
We are in for an exciting ride into the future.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://img.paragraph.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=3840,quality=85/http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3f50b8fb-e460-4ded-8a5c-cf949ada123f)
Today at noon I am giving a talk to the Japan Business Network in New York – an informal get together organized by my brother-in-law, Charles Danziger. The topic is the fundamental transformation of industries that the Internet will bring about. I am planning to use the following outline.
Some background on Union Square Ventures
- about $300 million under management across two funds
- invest exclusively in the Internet
- based in New York but national mandate (and some international investments)
- mostly lead first institutional round
- well-known investments include Twitter, Zynga, Etsy, Foursquare
Fundamental USV thesis
- The Internet will change everything
- This will go on for a long time (decades)
- Will provide significant startup and new investment opportunities along the way
First story: Newspapers
- these were big and mighty businesses
- they existed for a long time (100+ years)
- highly profitable for a long time
Along comes: the Internet
Step 1: Unbundling of economics (online classifieds)
- job classifieds: HotJobs, Monster
- for sale: eBay
- dating: various sites
- all of the above: Craigslist
-> result: major source of profits removed
Step 2: Unbundling of content
- the rise of blogs
- specialist publications
- user generated content
-> result: splitting of audiences
Net result: newspapers everywhere are struggling
Second story: Disrupting the disruptors
Job classifieds: HotJobs, Monster
- 1:1 translation of offline model to online
- listing for a fee
- really just playing on cost advantage
Along comes: Indeed
Vertical search for jobs
- find jobs wherever they are
- can only be done on the Internet
- native revenue model: keyword advertising
Third story: The new news businesses
Blogs
- Blogs have low cost structure
- Many blogs don’t need to make money directly (side project, lead generation, etc)
- Targeting specific audiences
- Highly varying levels of analysis / original thinking / reporting
Aggregators: Techmeme
- Analyze link structure
- Analyze social media / real-time web
- Run software in the cloud – all variable cost
- Small team
Extrapolating
- Not just the news business – all businesses
- Why?
Many other businesses with huge information/content components
- Education
- Healthcare
Education example
What about manufacturing?
- 3D printing
- separation of model making and “printing”
- lot size 1
- mass customization
But goes deeper: fundamental fabric of organizations
- Modern corporation now > 100 years old
- Command and control structure
- Trade-off between motivation and cooperation/information sharing
- Transition to “small pieces, loosely joined” (like architecture of the Internet)
Doesn’t stop there: governments?
We are in for an exciting ride into the future.
No comments yet