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Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

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Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#21

Post by weaksauce »

bredren wrote: post #13
sjg007 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the problem is you still spend an hour in the car away from your family and friends. Are you taking your kid to work, or dropping them off somewhere (school?).. most kids go to their neighborhood school... I mean self driving cars will be great but the work commute will still be like taking the train. For that 1 hour long commute you can't work on your house, do chores, be present at home... A 10 minute walk or…

This commute thing is a big deal. Changing the way it feels to commute and what you can do while in motion will reduce housing pressure in urban places and has the potential to lift up previously rural communities. His quotes are more like anecdotal illustrations to a bigger point.

It will likely be a race to the bottom where it's expected that you work during your commute as well pushing the urban sprawl further and further away from the main cities. This will be exacerbated by the fact that jobs are going to be more and more scarce with the impending automation of most things.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#22

Post by dcosson »

bredren wrote: post #13
sjg007 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the problem is you still spend an hour in the car away from your family and friends. Are you taking your kid to work, or dropping them off somewhere (school?).. most kids go to their neighborhood school... I mean self driving cars will be great but the work commute will still be like taking the train. For that 1 hour long commute you can't work on your house, do chores, be present at home... A 10 minute walk or…

This commute thing is a big deal. Changing the way it feels to commute and what you can do while in motion will reduce housing pressure in urban places and has the potential to lift up previously rural communities. His quotes are more like anecdotal illustrations to a bigger point.

> will reduce housing pressure in urban places and has the potential to lift up previously rural communities.

I'm skeptical because

1. a large part of the housing pressure in many urban places is artificially created by the past several decades of bad building/zoning policy.

2. the usual type of struggling rural community we think about is often more than an hour from a big city. I doubt even a self-driving car makes a 3-5 hour roundtrip commute appealing. And this doesn't address traffic at all, which is already often the bottleneck of how far out from a city it is feasible to commute from.

I'm generally excited about the prospect of self-driving cars but apprehensive of this idea that it will let us continue/increase our suburban sprawling for free.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#24

Post by diminoten »

6stringmerc wrote: post #4

> So if technological change were going to cause elimination of jobs, one presumes we would have seen it by now. ...considering this statement was delivered while the US Workforce Participation is at 30+ year lows while productivity and technological change has made significant inroads during that time (ex: Macintosh 512k vs. iPhone 7), I think he's missing a large chunk of the, uh, big picture. Then, contrast one of…

Isn't it a... good thing, that workforce participation is down, assuming other indicators of economic health are holding steady/increasing steadily? Don't we, some day, want to get workforce participation down to zero, while maintaining other prosperity metrics?

Also, I believe the theory is (assuming we even still have 8 hour work days), you work an hour in the car, work 6 at work, work an hour driving home.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#25

Post by bazinga888 »

eanzenberg wrote: post #12
6stringmerc wrote: post #4

> So if technological change were going to cause elimination of jobs, one presumes we would have seen it by now. ...considering this statement was delivered while the US Workforce Participation is at 30+ year lows while productivity and technological change has made significant inroads during that time (ex: Macintosh 512k vs. iPhone 7), I think he's missing a large chunk of the, uh, big picture. Then, contrast one of…

Cool, let's stop progress then cause life was so great in the 1980's with healthcare, communications, science and overall knowledge.

No one is wanting to stop progress.

Personally, I just want a better voice in what that progress looks like. Rather than listening to venture capitalists whose sole claim to fame is making a lot of money off a social media platform. "Oh, well he got lucky in the financial lotto, so I guess I better listen to him."

SV capitalists are like yesterdays capitalists. "More capitalism" is the only solution that makes sense to them. Not necessarily because it makes sense in the big picture, but because their power and wealth rely on it.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#26

Post by mvpu »

"Take the ego out of ideas" is sound advice for investors, not entrepreneurs. Ego is a loaded word, but if you define it, in this context, as an irrational belief that you are right and the world will catch up, then it's essential for every entrepreneur. "New ideas" get no support. You're the only support. You have to strongly believe that the world will get there, do whatever it takes to convince them to get there, and survive long enough to bank on that moment. Without that ego in your idea, you probably won't survive long enough.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#27

Post by Cpoll »

6stringmerc wrote: post #4

> So if technological change were going to cause elimination of jobs, one presumes we would have seen it by now. ...considering this statement was delivered while the US Workforce Participation is at 30+ year lows while productivity and technological change has made significant inroads during that time (ex: Macintosh 512k vs. iPhone 7), I think he's missing a large chunk of the, uh, big picture. Then, contrast one of…

> Because in the United States, we should be working even while we are getting to work, because we don't work enough?

No, because if you work-day was originally 8hrs of work + 2hrs of commute, it's now just 6hrs of work + 2hrs of work.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#28

Post by icelancer »

debt wrote: post #8

he's a media vc. facebook is basically his crown jewel and that's it. facebook/media is cool i guess, but i don't see how he know much about anything else such as robotics or ai. just look at andreesen horowitz investments. many are largely media companies(buzzfeed, stack exchange). they've tried doing finance which is a much bigger market but like clinkle clearly imploded and coinbase probably is next(literally tran…

Not aware of Opsware/Netscape I guess.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#30

Post by BjoernKW »

> All of a sudden you can have the idea that an hour-long commute is actually a big perk because instead of driving and having to sit and focus and lurch through traffic, what if your car is a rolling living room?

This is ridiculous. That's what our supposedly most innovative thinkers can come up with? Turning your car into a living room so we can have even more commuting (with all the wonderful side effects that come with it ...)?

What about eliminating the need to commute in the first place?

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