Musk vs Bezos - I haven't heard or read much in the way of comparisons between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. It's an interesting comparison because they have both ran very successful internet businesses (Paypal, Amazon) and are now the two biggest players in the space race (SpaceX, Blue Origin). Some in depth coverage of Musk's background was done in the recent We Study Billionaires Podcast reviewing a recent biography. Also recently, Jeff was on the Lex Fridman Podcast, where he spoke quite a bit about his childhood, spending much time growing up on ranches.

Both episodes are really worth listening to in order to get a better feel for both men. They are building the infrastructure of humanities future.

I might have this very wrong, but my impression is that Elon's upbringing was a lot more chaotic than Jeff's. Of course it's possible to thrive in chaotic environments, Elon clearly has, but I wonder how much of his success is despite the chaos rather than because of it. Is it possible that in a less chaotic environment, Elon could have been 10X more performant than he already is?

It's an important question because if it is the case that chaos hinders progress, how can we ensure to pull out performers from chaotic environments? Or is there something about the modern world that requires choas in order to make progress. These might be increasingly worth considering in a world ever more mediated and organised by AI. #

Christmas - Happy Christmas to all. Thanks for reading my writtings. Wishing you and all your loved ones the best over the holidays :) #