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Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

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41–50 of 60 posts

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#42
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More that Amazon can take away your books. Don't need to burn them, just remotely remove them.

Then more applicable advice seems like it could've been "Everyone should go to their Kindle library and download their ebooks as soon as they purchase them."

Ironically, Amazon has previously deleted copies of 1984 their customers had already downloaded to their kindles and other devices.

https://theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle...

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#43
“Current thing” in this context is the “current thing the Internet is outraged by or is perceived to be overly-concerned about”. An oblique reference to Cancel Culture.

It seems like he’s become emboldened by Elon Musk’s tweeting and is trying to play a similar role.

(I have no opinion of pmarca, good or bad, except perhaps that he wastes too much time thinking about Internet drama.)

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#44
He’s talking about how the mainstream media is whipping people up into a fury over one crisis after another while civilization collapses, with free speech crumbing, supply chains failing and the potential for large scale war and disease a real possibility.

Also some stuff might get even more exciting in the political arena, WRT the revelations of corruption around certain high profile figures.

Also the threat of cyber attacks seems very real.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#45
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person being surveilled, censored and my ability to travel impaired, how would you suggest I best frame the argument? While you're at it, I'm rather tired of the value of the money I saved being destroyed by lifetime high inflation rates. Thanks for helping me frame my arguments better.

Where are you trying to travel?

Canada.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#46
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have some reverence for the man. This isn't someone who "just got lucky". We was working on the forefront of the internet with Netscape IPOing in 1995 and being bought by AOL for 4 billion in 1999. He then went on to found another company that had a $1.6 billion exit just 4 years after the AOL acquisition. He then ran a VC that went from 300mm to 2.7bn in three years. I would say he knows something about the…

I think it's fair to give (a lot of) credit for the Netscape work, but people like Andreessen at some point have so much money and clout that in particular in the VC field they can literally make reality as they wish and turn everything into a successful exit or just absorb an almost infinite amount of failures that nobody else would get away with. I put a lot more weight on what people do when they had no name than…

OTOH he gets to see what ultimately is succeeding or not, but that comes with the caveat that the metric by which what is "succeeding" is what ultimately gets more money, which he has a ton of influence over.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#47
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have some reverence for the man. This isn't someone who "just got lucky". We was working on the forefront of the internet with Netscape IPOing in 1995 and being bought by AOL for 4 billion in 1999. He then went on to found another company that had a $1.6 billion exit just 4 years after the AOL acquisition. He then ran a VC that went from 300mm to 2.7bn in three years. I would say he knows something about the…

I think it's fair to give (a lot of) credit for the Netscape work, but people like Andreessen at some point have so much money and clout that in particular in the VC field they can literally make reality as they wish and turn everything into a successful exit or just absorb an almost infinite amount of failures that nobody else would get away with. I put a lot more weight on what people do when they had no name than…

Only 5% of modern VC funds make enough to cover investor risk: https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/01/the-meeting-that-showed-me... 50% don’t even make their money back (figure is much worse when you adjust for overheads and depreciation).

Assuming that VCs are successful just because they have money is selection bias, because you mostly only hear about the successful VC funds.

Aside: VCs partners themselves can make money even if their fund doesn’t due to the 2% management fees of a normal 2+20 fund structure.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#49

I've never heard Andreesen say anything I thought was particularly insightful or intelligent. He seems like a caricature of a Silicon Valley programmer who got lucky and made a bunch of money who now thinks that makes him a genius thought leader for the rest of his life. I hate his tagline "software is eating the world" If a homeless person standing outside a grocery store said these things you wouldn't listen becaus…

No… lol. If I a homeless person said that, it would seem weirdly insightful for a homeless person.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then more applicable advice seems like it could've been "Everyone should go to their Kindle library and download their ebooks as soon as they purchase them."

Ironically, Amazon has previously deleted copies of 1984 their customers had already downloaded to their kindles and other devices. https://theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle...

I don't mean downloading to Kindle, but actually downloading the book file to your machine where it is no longer at Amazon's mercy. If the book has DRM Calibre takes care of that, it's how many people transfer Amazon bought books to other ereaders.
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