Tangential Tuesdays #70
A quarantine love story, what's not going to change, the best time to start a company...
After flailing around a bit over the last few weeks, I feel like I’m starting to calm down and get into a bit of a rhythm. There is still a ton of uncertainty - but we will get through this 🙂.
Thoughts:
“What’s not going to change”. Everyone is thinking about what will be different after this crisis. But what’s *not* going to change? That’s arguably more interesting.
College probably isn’t going away. In fact, it might even become stronger. Due to online classes, it will become more clear that paying large sums of money for college has very little to do with the classes and a lot to do with credentialing. This has always been true, and will most likely continue to be true. I don’t see anyone creating a better credentialing method during the few weeks of zoom classes. The worst colleges might also go bankrupt during this time period, which would increase competition in the future and further benefit colleges.
We will still go to concerts and lots of in-person events when this is over.
We will still go to restaurants… although maybe takeout / delivery rises in popularity
Companies will still have offices and people will still rent apartments and commute into a physical office
Haven’t thought much about what this *will* change yet. I suspect it will be slight shifts rather than the extremes some seem to be predicting.
Alex Danco has an AMAZING article that goes into some of these ideas in much more depth.
unreal…
I don’t listen to podcasts much anymore - but this is excellent. Even if you don’t care about investing and don’t know who Chamath Palihapitiya is, I think you might enjoy this. No idea if a lot of what he’s saying will end up being right… but I admire the critical thinking.
Luck and the Entrepreneur,
Part 1: The four kinds of luck
Years ago, when I was rushing around in the laboratory [conducting medical research], someone admonished me by asking, "Why all the busyness? One must distinguish between motion and progress".
Yes, at some point this distinction must be made. But it cannot always be made first. And it is not always made consciously. True, waste motion should be avoided. But, if the researcher did not move until he was certain of progress he would accomplish very little...
A certain [basic] level of action "stirs up the pot", brings in random ideas that will collide and stick together in fresh combinations, lets chance operate.
Motion yields a network of new experiences which, like a sieve, filter best when in constant up-and-down, side-to-side movement...
Unluck runs out if you keep stirring up things so that random elements can combine, by virtue of you and their inherent affinities.
This has resonated with me lately:
My Update:
Reading Digital Minimalism. Would recommend. It convinced me to:
uninstalled google chrome from my phone
No social media on my phone
No email on my phone
Still experimenting :)
~50% done with Age of Ambition. Best book I have read in recent memory
I miss skiing :(. Tahoe has been getting a lot of snow. Hoping there’s still time to do Shasta when this is all over 🤞
Reconnecting with old friends over zoom has been fun.
Old
New
Feeling excited,
- Taylor