entrepreneurial insights, economic misconceptions & good news

CC#44 - The Bicycle is at Fault, EA criticism & Replacing Stock Images

Sep 4

Hey there and welcome to ✨ CuratedCuriosity - a bi-weekly newsletter delivering inspiration from all over the internet to the notoriously curious.

Things I Enjoyed Reading.

👨🏻‍💼 #143 Andrew Wilkinson: Entrepreneurial Insights [Podcast]
Another recommendable edition of the Knowledge Project - impressive and inspiring to hear how the daily life of a billionaire and owner of over 40 companies looks like.

Canadian businessman and billionaire investor Andrew Wilkinson has made a successful career out of channeling his entrepreneurial spirit, but he knows that sometimes that energy can be a double-edged sword. On this episode, Wilkinson goes in-depth on the lessons learned from a career that’s seen him build a business empire of more than 40 companies, but also why he’s had to re-calibrate his personal goals after struggling to find happiness in the summer of 2021. He also discusses mimetic desire, building a business in a small Canadian market, competing with venture-backed companies, strategies for hiring CEOs, the mistakes that have cost him millions of dollars, and so much more. Wilkinson is the co-founder of Tiny Capital, which boasts an enterprise value of more than $1 billion and owns 35 different companies including AeroPress, MetaLab and Dribble. He is also the co-founder and chairman of WeCommerce, a holding company that starts, buys, and invests in the world’s top Shopify businesses. He is based in Victoria, British Columbia.

💸 Economic misconceptions of the crypto world

Some things to consider when thinking about the mechanisms at play in the cryptoeconomy.

Most regular shlubbs who buy into crypto are probably not going to do a deep, careful analysis of its fundamental value, either as a currency or as a technology. Instead, they’re probably going to buy in because some guy at work bought Bitcoin back in 2013 and now he drives a Lamborghini, or their cousin turned a profit on some NFT. But the stories associated with Bitcoin and web3 probably do have some importance here. When regular shlubbs ask themselves “Wait, why am I buying this thing again?”, it helps to have a story to tell for why it’s a good investment, even if that story alone wouldn’t have convinced them to buy. (…) I think there are some important economic errors in the stories I see people telling about crypto, on Twitter and elsewhere — errors that have important implications for how we should think about the value of Bitcoin and other blockchain assets.

🚫 Why I am not an effective altruist

Generally speaking I am quite sympathetic too many ideas advocated for by the effective altruism community. All the more, I think its super interesting to read well reasoned criticism about it.

Why give $5 to your local opera when it will go to saving a life in Bengal? In fact, isn’t it a moral crime to give to your local opera house, instead of to saving children? Or whatever, pick your cultural institution. A museum. Even your local homeless shelter. In fact, why waste a single dollar inside the United States when dollars go so much further outside of it? We can view this as a form of utilitarian arbitrage, wherein you are constantly trading around for the highest good to the highest number of people.
But we can see how this arbitrage marches along to the repugnant conclusion—what’s the point of protected land, in this view? Is the joy of rich people hiking really worth the equivalent of all the lives that could be stuffed into that land if it were converted to high-yield automated hydroponic farms and sprawling apartment complexes? What, precisely, is the reason not to arbitrage all the good in the world like this, such that all resources go to saving human life (and making more room for it), rather than anything else?

Food for Thought.

💨 Despite the Nord Stream 1 pipeline currently only running at 20% of its operating capacity, European countries are racing to fill their gas storage before the heating season starts in order to mitigate the risk that Moscow might cut supplies. Interestingly, Poland, Portugal an Denmark are the ‘leaders’ in this race with more than 94% of their respective national storage already filled up.

Europe’s dash for storage gas as winter looms

💚 Some good news for once

Max Roser @MaxCRoser

More and more countries achieve to decouple economic growth from CO₂ emissions. Just made this new chart that shows the evidence for 25 countries. Growth is up, emissions down.

📑 Some hard facts.

Random Stuff.

🖥 CNN’s first report on the internet

Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc

CNN's first report on the internet in 1994 aired concerns it was 'elitist': “Critics say one danger is this could turn out to be an elitist system, one available only available to people with a computer and a modem. And thus widen the gap between the haves and the have nots.”

🤖 Prediction: Stock photos will soon be replaced by AI generated pictures. An intro on using DALLE 2 for image generation for blogs etc.

AI image generation for google slides — Wouldn’t it be great to have an AI image generator built into google slides?

🚲 A curious list of things that have been blamed on bicycles…

Paul Fairie @paulisci

A decline in furniture sales

The Bicycle Blamed

Now the furniture makers are blaming the bicycle for the dullness in their trade. They say that people who own wheels care very little how their homes are furnished during the summer months. They are not at home to enjoy these esthetic surroundings which were once so dear. What does a devoted wheelman care for a new bookcase when he has no time to read? Are not his books the open volumes of nature in her charming moods? What does Juliet care for a sofa built for two when Romeo has his tandem? Home has become but a sleeping place, and the tired wheelman isn't a bit particular what sort of a bed he sleeps in. No doubt the furniture makers are right.

--The Arizona Republic, 30 May 1897.

Personal Update.

Got to go on a research retreat for work and had to do a pecha kucha presentation. While it certainly was a lot more work to prepare it than a ‘normal’ presentation, I have to say I also benefited substantially more as it forced me to really structure my thoughts. Also, its definitely more entertaining to listen to multiple pecha kuchas in a row than normal presentations → big recommendation, the world needs more pecha kucha.
Otherwise not many news. All good on my end. Lot’s of bike tours and trying to savour the last sunny days in DK.

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