markjgsmith

2023/11/18 #

• cat << EOF > All-in Dirty Sanchez

  The latest All-in Podcast episode where they have a discussion with presidential candidate Dean Phillips, is another great episode. They've really perfected the 4 successfull entrepreuneurs joking around but also having serious discussions format. It got me thinking, why don't we have a comparable podcast coming out of the UK?

  I guess it's got something to do with the UK not being anywhere as big and important as the US. We are after all a nation of part-time gardeners. Or are we? It brought back memories of Dirty Sanchez, which was Britain's, or more specifically, Wale's answer to US created Jackass. If you are at all squeamish I would avoid searching for episodes on YouTube. Dirty Sanchez was the smaller but much more hardcore version Jackass, which was a tremendous shocker when you discovered it, because surely nothing could be more hardcore than Jackass. And so you watched Dirty Sanchez and you just thought, holy fucking shit with your mouth wide open. It's 10 years on and I still find it difficult to believe.

  And UK politics is so much less large than the US, how could the UK ever ceate an All-in Podcast competitor? Yeah that's true. And it's a lot duller. But maybe that is bizarely it's greatest strength. I think the thing that made Dirty Sanchez so good, wasn't just the shocking things they were doing, it was that it was a complete break from how media until then had been produced. It didn't feel like it was made by any of the terrestrial TV stations.

  And also remember the stage is potentially a lot bigger than just the UK. A dive and a quick swim and you're in the European Union, a rich fertile ground of dysfunction, just waiting to be analised by techno entrepreneurs trying to set themselves up for time in government while creating fancy self promotional vodka. Although what they get up to might be very different, especially if they are gardeners.

  Just an idea, it might seem impossible for the UK to create something like the All-in Podcast, but I'm here to tell you that not only have we done it before, but there is ample scope to create something really really great, probably without ripping your nipples off. There are many less painfull dimensions that remain unnexplored.

  I wish I could articulate all this with better prose, but I can't right now. I don't even have an AI assistant, times are tough. The point is that we could create something quintessentially british or dare I say it european. The time is now. There is no better time to be the media than when the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Feel free to turn this half baked idea into something amazing.

  EOF

• cat << EOF > Surrounded by Bears (Issue #141)

  This week’s newsletter is out! (2023-11-18)

  In this week’s edition:

  Oh gosh it’s another one of those weeks, emergency issue, with 1 podcast, 1 article and 1 thoughtful bit of analysis :)

  Issue details:

  • Title: Surrounded by Bears
  • Issue: 141
  • Page: issue webpage

  EOF

• Automattic Combinator? - Automattic has been in the news recently for restructuring Tumblr. Apparently it's loosing money. It's cool that they were able to move most of the employees to other projects within their other conpanies. Matt Mullenweg has done several question and answer sessions about the whole thing. It feels like they are doing the right thing.

  I look in from the outside at Automattic and I see a very interesting company. It doesn't quite have the finess and polish of other large web companies. I've previously described the collection of companies under the Automattic umbrella as hodge podge, but I don't mean it disparagingly. In fact, in many ways it's very web-like, very opensourceish. They have some of the web's core values embeded deep in their DNA, and it shines through. It would be great if we could ensure that way of thinking, that way of building things got passed on.

  Why doesn't Automattic setup a YCombinator type entity? To help create the next wave of the web, the next chapter of the ecosystem, ensure web values get passed on to the next generation, give them some guidance from all their years experience. I think that would be awesome. #

• Better than physics - Friedberg has a closing segment on the latest All-in pod about the latest LLMs that are being used in various specialised areas. The AIs can consume vaste amounts of data and make predictions based on what they see. The mind bending thing they are realising is that some of the models are literally better at predicting the future than current models used in physics. Yes that's right, actual physics, as in the discipline.

  I imagine this could result in an explosion of new science discoveries, as scientists start to use LLMs to hone in on new theories, and discredit or improve existing theories.

  On the other hand, could it innadvertantly lead us into a world of halucinations? Some mathematics is mind bending enough already. I mean we are still arguing over the number 0. #

Today’s links:

• Tether Reveals Bitcoin Mining Expansion With $500 Million Investment - They will be opening bitcoin mining farms in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador. I guess since we are at the bottom of the market, it's probably the time when mining operations start to ramp up, with expectations of a bull market. There was recently the first city hall to experiment with bitcoin mining, with the mayor of Fort Worth in the US installing nodes, aiming to become a big commodities hub. Oil, beef, natural gas and now bitcoin. If more institutions start this type of experimentation, the next phase of bitcoin adoption could be very interesting. cryptobriefing.com #

• 67 Weird Debugging Tricks Your Browser Doesn't Want You to Know - Not sure I agree with the title, there might very well be forces out there that don't want you to be able to debug, but I don't see why the browser would necesarily be that entity, though it could be. In any case, there are some really useful debugging tips and tricks in this article. alan.norbauer.com #

• New Post: All-in Dirty Sanchez - Why don’t we have a podcast of similar caliber to the All-in Podcast coming out of the UK? If we want to compete in tech, and maybe politics, we are going to need one of those. Otherwise even the french will have one. markjgsmith.com #

• 🚀 Latest Newsletter: Surrounded by Bears (Issue #141) markjgsmith.com #

• Some kind of purge happening over at OpenAI - The company that arguably kicked off the recent revolution in AI tech appears to be going through some kind of purge. Sam Altman looks to have been pushed out, and a bunch of others including founders are quiting. It's always weird when this happens, but it's very common for this type of thing to happen in companies that are growing quickly. I've had it happen at two previous companies I've worked for. It will be super interesting to hear their side of the story. www.theverge.com #