Mark Andreessen: Get ready for White Flight 2
So much for the short-lived renaissance of the city. Will millennials still want short commutes when they can pass the time in their cars?
Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
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Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#42That picture makes me want to not keep reading but then I remember Netscape.
you guys are a little too serious sometimes. it was a joke. he looks like an ego with that scowl, like the critic from Ratatouille.
Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cool, let's stop progress then cause life was so great in the 1980's with healthcare, communications, science and overall knowledge.
There's a difference between making progress and recognizing the impact on real lives vs naively claiming we haven't seen any negative externalities of technology.
That's right, everytime there's been progress there have been negative externalities of the tech produced for the progress.
It's nearly impossible to have both, ie, progress and no negative consequences. So which would you rather have?
Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
If you can believe work will be increasingly remotely performed and that greater "commutes" will be tolerated, cities will need to go into sell mode and make policy changes.
Many cities have gone through drastic swings in population due to structural changes in the economy. Some, like Oakland, did not handle it well and paid dearly for it.
Long ~3 Hr RT "Self-driving" commutes already exist to some extant: FB, Google, etc, Oakland->MTV buses. People use them and they are required for talent retention.
Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#45I'm getting tired of all of the hot air coming from these tech oligarchs. They're so enriched by a tech boom and a decade of easy money that we worship at their feet. Their vision and goal for the future is simply more money for themselves at the expense of others. "Guys look! An hour long commute is actually a good thing because you can spend it with your kids!" Why is it so hard to spend time with our kids now?! I…
> They will just as quickly dilute your quality of life as they will dilute the shares in your company.
Lol! I think this incentive-based version works better though. If the libertarian culture of Californian idealists is imposed across the board, we would probably witness the end of innovation (unless war and existential threats provide the incentive)
Even if it's broken, don't fix it.
Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#46I'm getting tired of all of the hot air coming from these tech oligarchs. They're so enriched by a tech boom and a decade of easy money that we worship at their feet. Their vision and goal for the future is simply more money for themselves at the expense of others. "Guys look! An hour long commute is actually a good thing because you can spend it with your kids!" Why is it so hard to spend time with our kids now?! I…
What makes you jump to the conclusion that technology investment, or capitalism, or whatever you think is "bad" is "at the expense of others?" Currently, about 10% of the world's population lives in extreme poverty. It was 12% in 2012. It was 40% in 1990. The history of the world, post-war 20th century, is one of extreme progress for the lives of real people -- especially really poor people. So, what do you think dro…
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Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#47"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…
"You have to be ruthlessly open-minded and constantly willing to reexamine your assumptions. You have to take the ego out of ideas, which is a very hard thing to do." - Marc Andreesen
Having ego in the idea means to equate the idea with yourself. So if someone criticizes the idea, ask questions, points out flaws, or issues with it a) don't take it personal and b) you need to be open to those and not dig your heels in refusing to adapt because "then it isn't my idea!"
Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#48> 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 com…
Maybe not everybody wants to live in a population dense metropolis?
1hr commute outside of Minneapolis, Duluth, St. Cloud, or any of the other metro areas in MN and you're living in a beautiful cabin in the woods.
Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#49"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…
You still need to be sharply realistic about your own ideas, though. Blindly charging ahead with the first idea that occurs to you, as an entrepreneur, is probably not going to work no matter how strongly you believe the world will get there. Neither will not charging ahead at all, assuming that because the last 10 ideas failed the next one will too.
Many years ago on HN, I think before he even became part of YC, Paul Buchheit said "You have to be arrogant enough to believe that everybody else is wrong, but humble enough to believe that you may be wrong too." That about sums it up.
Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”
#50I'm getting tired of all of the hot air coming from these tech oligarchs. They're so enriched by a tech boom and a decade of easy money that we worship at their feet. Their vision and goal for the future is simply more money for themselves at the expense of others. "Guys look! An hour long commute is actually a good thing because you can spend it with your kids!" Why is it so hard to spend time with our kids now?! I…
The current buzz is "basic income."
While I'm not opposed to the idea that if you're born -- and if so much of the world values human life including and especially in the womb -- then you should have the opportunity to at least "get by" and not be per force exploited, much less sickened and killed.
While I'm not opposed to it, there is a pre-cursor of ostensibly more limited scope, and perhaps of greater benefit than just "throwing undifferentiated dollars" at a problem.
Access to healthcare. Not necessarily absolutely unlimited, spend 100K for an extra last week of life healthcare. But quality basic, effective healthcare.
If we value human life, then we should also value the quality of that life. Providing effective health care greatly enhances that quality. It greatly enhances the ability of people to take care of themselves, and their families. And their friends.
You may not live in a palace, nor anything close. But we'll do our best to help you have the physical wherewithal to enjoy the day. And to keep you that way. If you become injured or ill, you will not be alone -- and we will not let others prey upon you in your weakness.
If we -- here in the U.S., in my case -- can't do this. With all our resources and largess. Well, then, you can just go and stuff the rest of your moralizing and idealizing.