Things I spent time thinking about this week / talking about:
More or Less Gen-Z's 'Digital Rejection'? … This was my favorite discussion with the quad in a long time -- and I thought very hopeful. The youth seem to be all about their bodies, the physical world, etc. and pretty 'meh' on tech (old people love chat-gpt-poems, not the youth)... this makes sense, each new generation needs to own something new culturally because they are born into a world where the *olds* squat on all existing assets and trends... But if digitization is not a one way arrow but a cycle, does that leave room for another real digital wave in the future vs. a single arrow of history? what does it mean that young people are so sick of filters and hyper-engagement from AI that they are willing to pay the HUGE tax of physical world connection and community?
John Manning Moving The Chains at Harvard : For those keeping score at home, Manning being the 'permanent' provost along with alan being the 'permanent' (but penny set a weird explicit timeline so she can still pick a next president while running the corporation) is great news. He represents real intellectual diversity (that the school needs)... the place is still a MESS and this year is going to be crazy, (watch out for grad-students organized under UAW protests, whatever FAS faculty silliness not enforcing their own rules, etc.)... but still good.
The Black Magic App for those following along with the 'sam thinks you can make high quality 100k documentaries' story -- I have been messing around with Davinci Resolve (which is excellent) and the Black Magic iPhone app -- which blows me away even more... The quality you can now get off of this stuff and the speed at which you can edit / make things that look really really good is just stunning compared to what it was. It is insane.
Inflation Localization Kamala Harris seems to be generally running the 'say nothing' playbook ... buy this car, does it have an engine? who knows - but it isn't that car over there! -- but is saying some stuff about inflation and price gouging... Having spent some time in North Carolina, Maine Outlets, and then a bunch of fancy vacation towns this summer -- I am pretty sure what is going that makes things so confusing is inflation localization. $6.75 on cape cod gets you a small soft serve ... but in Maine it gets you a bucket of ice cream. $23 in NC gets you a full meal for 2 with beer -- on the Vineyard it gets you a small piece of cheese. Who feels the inflation really is the middle class hanging out in vacation towns, even if it is much lower in reality.
Self-Driving Cars Honking At Each other One of the funniest things I have seen in a long time
Is Owning Equities (not real estate) the new way to be invested in society? This chart is interesting view of where different societies keep their wealth (housing vs. other stuff) -- it seems healthy that in US housing is low percentage and equities are material. This seems like the 2024 way to be dealt in to society vs. being stuck with money in the ground
Best,
Sam
Mt Washington With Lion I climbed it with my dad at 7... lion did it this week with me at 7 -- and crushed it (probably took him half the time). Tuckerman's really is special even if you are used to the West... only disappointment is you can no longer hitchhike down... also, Lion edited a film himself using resolve and it is great! (here is middle section climbing part!) https://www.instagram.com/p/C-tKPdtPDx6/
Fairlife Chocolate Milk I finally found a version of chocolate milk with a ton of protein in it that my kids will drink after a year of searching!
sam lessin | @lessin | https://calllist.app/lessin | stop