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It’s Time to Build

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Re: It’s Time to Build

#361

Post by decasteve »

kitotik wrote: post #187
decasteve wrote: post #138

I like the sentiment. I like the impassioned tone and the call to action. I'm sitting here thinking: where can I go to help run some machines, lathes, 3D printers, CNC, etc? How can I roll up my sleeve and help build what's needed in these times? How can I help move humanity forward through this pandemic and climate change? In these times I often turn to the wisdom of Buckminster Fuller, who was more prescient about…

Thanks for the Buckminster Fuller reference! Such an underrated thinker. I hate being overly cynical, but I think that there is a simple answer that can be found by looking at who’s incentivized to not make these systemic changes. To take that further, there’s a subset of that group that is incentivized to actively prevent such systemic change. It just so happens that those 2 groups wield the most authority, power, a…

I try not to be too cynical, especially when the article was such a call to action, but I am often prone to it as well.

I feel like I do live a life of privilege and as such I must try to exercise that privilege in ways that won't contribute to the systemic problems as best I can--that I don't contribute to a loss of rights, nor a loss of our essential ecosystems. I do my best not to empower those who wield their power and influence to the detriment of others.

When it comes to the internet, I try to keep McLuhan in mind: > Once we have surrendered our senses and nervous systems to the private manipulation of those who would try to benefit from taking a lease on our eyes and ears and nerves, we don't really have any rights left. Leasing our eyes and ears and nerves to commercial interests is like handing over the common speech to a private corporation, or like giving the earth's atmosphere to a company as a monopoly.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#362

Post by ridaj »

KirinDave wrote: post #289
harryh wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused why you think a VC who generally won't see returns on a good investment for a decade or so thinks that "value lies in quarterly profits."

Having been through the VC wringer I don't think you can be unprofitable for a decade.

You can. If your operation generates profit, but could grow faster by plunking the profit back into growth, the VC thing to do would be to demand you reinvest all profit towards growth. But if your business is losing money and not growing, or if its unit margins are negative à la moviepass, then it doesn't make sense to stick around for a decade.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#363

Post by pmarca »

oxymoron wrote: post #70

I'm in the process of reading _Why Nation Fails_. The central thesis is that the rich and poor countries are separated by inclusive vs extractive institutions. The extractive institutions are characterised by elites that attempt to defend their own wealth and status by maintaining the status quo and resisting the creative destruction that may threaten that position. It seems to resonate a bit here, when Marc speaks o…

Thanks, agree, great book. I think of it as "Why Nations Succeed" instead. Inclusive institutions = economic generativity = non-zero sum. A more philosophical version is https://www.amazon.com/Finite-Infinite-Games-James-Carse-ebo...

Re: It’s Time to Build

#364

Post by renewiltord »

harryh wrote: post #266
oxymoron wrote: post #70

I'm in the process of reading _Why Nation Fails_. The central thesis is that the rich and poor countries are separated by inclusive vs extractive institutions. The extractive institutions are characterised by elites that attempt to defend their own wealth and status by maintaining the status quo and resisting the creative destruction that may threaten that position. It seems to resonate a bit here, when Marc speaks o…

Point being, why not write simpler laws and regulations and leave it to the courts to interpret what adheres to the spirit of it? With the barriers of entry gone, I think we'd see a renewed vitality to many ossified sectors. I agree with your overall point, but you have the regulatory differences between the US and Europe exactly backwards. Europe (excluding England somewhat) has a statutory legal system. Things are…

Yeah, but when the practice of this is different with it often being up to regulators what actually is allowed and what isn't. The obvious recent example is that GDPR enforcement is (often intentionally) not strictly following the letter of the law.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#365

Post by pmarca »

tlb wrote: post #144
oxymoron wrote: post #70

I'm in the process of reading _Why Nation Fails_. The central thesis is that the rich and poor countries are separated by inclusive vs extractive institutions. The extractive institutions are characterised by elites that attempt to defend their own wealth and status by maintaining the status quo and resisting the creative destruction that may threaten that position. It seems to resonate a bit here, when Marc speaks o…

Getting an answer from a court (is X legal?) takes a long time: at least a few years and several hundred thousand dollars. Far too long to wait before building a business around X. Asking people to build the business first and then find out if it's legal isn't how a society of laws is supposed to work. Fast courts would be a huge benefit to society.

Yes! Law = code. Law should be turned into code, and made available to everyone. A great current attempt is https://donotpay.com/

Re: It’s Time to Build

#366

Post by mattbk1 »

MattGaiser wrote: post #157
tlb wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting an answer from a court (is X legal?) takes a long time: at least a few years and several hundred thousand dollars. Far too long to wait before building a business around X. Asking people to build the business first and then find out if it's legal isn't how a society of laws is supposed to work. Fast courts would be a huge benefit to society.

I also don't think you can just ask a court to answer a hypothetical in a binding way. You basically need to get into the legal problem first.

Not a court, but government agencies can and do issue "guidance" documents after receiving feedback. For example, the EPA guidance on Class VI (CO2) injection wells [1] and IRS guidance on 45Q CO2 capture and storage credits [2]

[1] https://www.epa.gov/uic/class-vi-guidance-documents

[2] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-answers-and-a-safe....

Re: It’s Time to Build

#367

Post by pmarca »

mikedilger wrote: post #192

I'm in favor of building things. But we build in response to demand. Once people need more of something (e.g. PPE), production ramps up. That effect has been in place and has worked quite well for thousands of years. It doesn't require any policy or government, or even a new social movement, it's just an emergent property of humans being free. You might argue that we could be smarter, and that we should build excess…

Anyone who builds a new product is creating supply ahead of demand.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#368

Post by pascalxus »

treis wrote: post #298
KirinDave wrote: post #167

I find this essay to be extremely frustrating, and a good example of the attitude I've personally witnessed Andreessen have in the few interactions I've had with him directly. > Is the problem capitalism? I’m with Nicholas Stern when he says that capitalism is how we take care of people we don’t know — all of these fields are highly lucrative already and should be prime stomping grounds for capitalist investment, goo…

>I find this essay to be extremely frustrating, and a good example of the attitude I've personally witnessed Andreessen have in the few interactions I've had with him directly. It's like it was written to be the perfect example of SV myopia for the rest of the world. Some examples: >Even private universities like Harvard are lavished with public funding; why can’t 100,000 or 1 million students a year attend Harvard?…

>>You see it in transportation. Where are the supersonic aircraft? Where are the millions of delivery drones? Where are the high speed trains, the soaring monorails, the hyperloops, and yes, the flying cars?

>Because none of this stuff is economically or physically practical. He seems to want us to live in a science fiction fantasy world.

I'm pretty sure most of that stuff is highly illegal. Make things illegal, and they don't happen. It's that simple. I mean, just look at uber: it's just a glorified taxi company that was able to circumvent the taxi monopoly medallion system (yet, another system that made competition illegal). And, it took a huge army of lobbyists just to make that legal. Such a small innovation requires so much lobbying, it doesn't give hope for any other kind of innovation.

There was a start up in the bay area: all they wanted to do was put a few more buses on the street. It was rejected very quickly and made illegal. Turns out people would rather get buses off the road with all the pollution and traffic that would have saved, rather than allow workers to get to work a little easier.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#369

Post by pmarca »

pascalxus wrote: post #359

He's right about a lot of things. But, as far as education goes, if everyone got a degree, then what's the point? it would have no value at all. The whole point of awarding degrees is to separate those who have them from those that don't. How are employers supposed to know who to higher, if everyone has a degree?

In that case, we can replace degrees with an IQ test and a personality test and call it a day. Hmmmmmm...

Re: It’s Time to Build

#370

Post by riazrizvi »

MR4D wrote: post #305
oxymoron wrote: post #70

I'm in the process of reading _Why Nation Fails_. The central thesis is that the rich and poor countries are separated by inclusive vs extractive institutions. The extractive institutions are characterised by elites that attempt to defend their own wealth and status by maintaining the status quo and resisting the creative destruction that may threaten that position. It seems to resonate a bit here, when Marc speaks o…

Simple - politics is about control. Laws are a form of politics. Why would anyone give up control once they had acquired it?

100% it’s politics, it’s self-interest. The reason why we don’t have Musk’s Alien Dreadnought factories throughout the US is related to the reason Elizabeth I rejected weaving machines; the people who have power will not gain enough from it and may even lose. Elizabeth I feared the consequences of creative disruption on her constituents, and the knock on effect that might have had to her tenuous grip on power. Today in the US we see silly policies that are pushed to make a few people rich at the expense of society as a whole. The more we are able to dismantle monopolies, and weaken the capability of incumbent industries to skew legislation in their own favor, the more society will move forward.
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