In The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Keynes wrote about investment through the metaphor of a newspaper contest to select the six best looking people from a group of photos, with the prize being awarded to the contestant whose choice most closely corresponded to the average of all contestants. Keynes’ point was that,… Continue reading Why venture capital should be consensus-averse
Category: Article
The Negligible Cultural Impact of AI
Good art (including novels, games, movies) is defined by the humanity involved. Emotion, humour, tension. Even when AI attempts to mimic those attributes, we’ll still prefer human experiences over synthetic ones. We’re inclined to believe each new innovation is the ‘best’, and that the technology-driven approach is always superior. To overlook almost anything in pursuit… Continue reading The Negligible Cultural Impact of AI
Growth incentives – web3’s failure
Web3 has largely failed, and we should talk about it There’s an elephant in the room. In the space of just a few months, NFT PFPs have vanished from Twitter, .eth usernames have fallen out of vogue, and a whole category of social media celebrities has vanished. The tech world went from frothing at the… Continue reading Growth incentives – web3’s failure
Ticketing – the model for consumer tokens
I’ve been labelled a ‘Web3 skeptic’. If you’ve read any of my other content here, you’re probably just confused about how I feel. So, let me clarify: Much of the capital that has been poured into Web3, to date, has been wasted. Too many get-rich-quick schemes and half-baked ideas. We need to do better. Specifically… Continue reading Ticketing – the model for consumer tokens
Virtual Worlds – a social, not technological, phenomenon
To begin, a quote from Tom Boellstorff, Professor of Anthropology at UC Irvine: The metaverse’s history indicates that social immersion is the metaverse’s foundation. Tom Boellstorff Tom is a bona fide expert in virtual worlds, and I recommend reading the whole article.1 Through his work, he has spent a tremendous amount of time in Second… Continue reading Virtual Worlds – a social, not technological, phenomenon
Screening Pitches
There are five straight-forward questions with which you can quickly evaluate a startup pitch, combining the strength of a proposition with its delivery. These questions bear some some resemblance to the Scorecard Method of startup valuation, which focuses on qualitative measures for early-stage companies, but with an additional focus on quantifying the market need. I… Continue reading Screening Pitches
Metaverse – the hunger for digital industry
What is a metaverse? Is it a metaverse, or the Metaverse? Ask most people these questions and they’ll picture ‘Lawnmower Man’ style scenes of people strapped into virtual reality rigs, flying through digital 3D environments.1 That has very little to do with what a metaverse is. The term metaverse simply applies to the digital mirror… Continue reading Metaverse – the hunger for digital industry
Web3 – learning from science fiction
You cannot call yourself a futurist if you aren’t also a student of other great futurists. The best of them, in my opinion, are science fiction writers. The inspiration for much of my writing lies in science fiction, and how it connects with innovation today. It is a thread which connects my professional life with… Continue reading Web3 – learning from science fiction
Making the case for Web3
The Web3 market seems to move in waves of enthusiasm. A surge of ideas and optimism, followed by a slowdown, and then the cynics and skeptics beat it back. This happened first in fintech, where blockchain cut its teeth on DLT and cryptocurrencies. Decentralisation would sink the banks, smart contracts would make regulation irrelevant, and… Continue reading Making the case for Web3