What’s Nextby Jordan Gonen
by Jordan Gonen
Hi there 👋 A ton of really valuable, interesting content in this week’s newsletter that will challenge your perspective and help you learn something new.
Also, I like helping people think. If you need help figuring out what to do/work on next, or getting a job/internship — email me 📩 hi@jordangonen.com (sometimes, you just have to ask)
8.14.2017
Articles to Read.
A Hundred Years of Crypto Anarchy — Why Crypto Matters
For most of existence, identities were local. People could selectively reveal information depending on where they were. Now that we have all these big data companies, there’s a stupid idea that people should have only one identity that follows them everywhere.
This is the visa application for entering the US. It asks for every email address you’ve used for the last five years, and a list of all your social media accounts. Cripes.
Marc Andressen’s Guide to Career Planning [tons of content]:
These posts are aimed at high-potential people who want to excel throughout their careers and make a significant impact on their fields and the world.
The first rule of career planning: Do not plan your career. Career planning = career limiting.
People who manage money professionally don’t think about individual investments in isolation; they think of those investments as part of an overall portfolio. Each investment has its potential return — the benefit you get from owning it — and its potential risks — the things that can go wrong. A portfolio, then, is a set of investments, and the portfolio assumes the return and risk characteristics of all of the investments blended together. Viewed in that context, it is often logical to have individual investments within a portfolio that are far more risky than one would normally find comfortable — if the potential return is good enough.
I believe you should look at your career as a portfolio of jobs/roles/opportunities.”
VIDEO — A Conversation on the Future of Blockchain with Naval and Ryan Shea (30 minutes, highly recommend)
Biohackers Encoded Malware in a String of DNA :
A group of researchers from the University of Washington has shown for the first time that it’s possible to encode malicious software into physical strands of DNA, so that when a gene sequencer analyzes it the resulting data becomes a program that corrupts gene-sequencing software and takes control of the underlying computer.
Why Does Dole Own Container Ships? [Flexport Blog]:
Dole operates the largest refrigerated fleet, or reeferships, in the world. It can carry over 1500 TEUs, and its fleet includes the world’s only fully containerized reeferships.
If bananas were a seasonal product, then it wouldn’t make sense for Dole to own and operate its own ships; why would it idle ships for the months of the year when bananas may not grow?
Even if you are not interested in esports, this is massive.
“We’ve created a bot which beats the world’s top professionals at 1v1 matches of Dota 2 under standard tournament rules. The bot learned the game from scratch by self-play, and does not use imitation learning or tree search. This is a step towards building AI systems which accomplish well-defined goals in messy, complicated situations involving real humans.”
The Difference Between Professionals and Amateurs on Farnam Street (Quick Read)
- Amateurs stop when they achieve something. Professionals understand that the initial achievement is just the beginning.
- Amateurs see feedback and coaching as someone criticizing them as a person. Professionals know they have weak spots and seek out thoughtful criticism.
- Amateurs focus on first-level thinking. Professionals focus on second-level thinking.
- Amateurs make decisions in committees so there is no one person responsible if things go wrong. Professionals make decisions as individuals and accept responsibility.
Nick Kyrgios, The Reluctant Rising Star of Tennis (4500 words)
Kyrgios, a twenty-two-year-old Australian, is the only active player ever to defeat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic in their first meeting.
People tend to tell one of two stories about Kyrgios. Either he is a talented kid who is wasting his gift with a bad attitude and a terrible work ethic, or he is a talented kid who has struggled, sometimes severely, with his motivation, but who is maturing. Other people believe that he could be the future of men’s tennis.
More:
– Computational Zoom Lets You Remix Focal Lengths
– Tweets on the Self
– Reputation Economy Dystopia
– Extremely Unpopular Ideas, Crowdsourced (Curious what you think about this)
Companies to Watch.
Unanimous Swarm — Consumer Insights
Zipline — Lifesaving Drone Deliveries
Facebook Watch — Facebook TV?!?
You made it to the end! Thanks for reading 👋
If you enjoyed, would really appreciate if you shared this link!
Want to read more? I write daily, and tweet too!
My Update:
– Leaving San Francisco! Was an awesome summer. Learned so much and met really great people.
– Building out Mesh — an email bot that connects teams/new hires — appreciate your feedback!
– Back to school in ~ 2 weeks. The past 6 months have been incredible. The next will be even better. Lots to figure out.
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Thanks for reading, I really hope you learned something new
– Jordan
Personal Website
By jordangonen on August 14, 2017.
Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.