Share this page!

Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture
Twitter logo
29 Oct, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Meta comment on Meta

Notice that Zuck went direct with his announcement. And when he decided to give an interview, he gave it to a smart independent like Stratechery, not a legacy media corporation. And it's a good interview.
stratechery.com/2021/meta/
Go watch Zuck's keynote.

Because it's not just a talk on the metaverse. It's about standing firm in the face of a nation state attack — by the US government — and articulating a vision for the future that's about building, not banning. facebook.com/facebookrealit…
Always remember that the establishment organs that seek to "protect" you from ostensible misinformation on Facebook are the same ones that told us there were WMDs in Iraq.
Please note: we must still fund people to decentralize Facebook. I'm glad that Zuck discussed interoperability, and virtual economies, but we do need alternatives.

However, the only substantive critique is a constructive one: build the future better.
Note something else: lesser men would have crumbled in the face of years of relentless attacks from all sides. Easy to just give in.

But the modern arena is a crucible, selecting for the kind of leader who can somehow notch record wins despite all that.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Balaji Srinivasan

Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @balajis

Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture
29 Oct
FaceID scans hundreds of millions of faces per day. Can we articulate a difference between that vs Worldcoin, or any similar opt-in technology for proof-of-human?
If you run any service with more than a few trusted users, you'll immediately discover the need for some kind of proof-of-human. Not necessarily the state's old-fashioned and bureaucratic KYC impositions, but *something*. Otherwise you'll have bots, frauds, trolls, fakes, etc.
If you've ever taught a class, you have a point of view that a perpetual student alone does not.

Similarly, if you've ever built a service, you understand something a pure user does not.

One of those things is founder/user/community disalignment (1/2).
Read 6 tweets
Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture
29 Oct
The ledger of record.

How do we know what is true? We're transitioning from mere assertion by media corporation to decentralized cryptographic verification.
How important is metadata, anyway?

Well, a corporate journo basically called for invading Brazil after he saw a photo of fires. Then a verifiable timestamp proved the photo was actually taken at least 15 years prior. Encryption may even prevent invasions.
See this whole thread.
Read 4 tweets
Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture
29 Oct
Everyone becomes an investor, in part because everyone must become an investor.
High inflation & low interest rates push people into high risk/high reward investments just to stay above water.

Same dynamic as the 2010s, except next level. Rather than endowments investing in startups via VCs, it's everyone investing in cryptocurrencies on their own.
If inflation is 6% and the bank is paying you basically 0%, you need to start finding investments at 7% just to keep your head above water.

The MMT people are thus driving all investment into high risk/high return areas: technology and cryptocurrency.
Read 5 tweets
Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture
29 Oct
Zuck & Jack are the Gates & Jobs of this era. Truly great founders who built and ran organizations through multiple decades and tech transitions.

Now they're pivoting to web3 and Bitcoin respectively, while founderless web2 companies of similar vintage are not gonna make it.
Parallels can be overdone but there are quite a few. Zuck, like Gates, a Harvard dropout. Jack, like Jobs, founded a second company and won back his first. Zuck with the massive middle class-oriented vehicle, Jack with the eye for culture and the attention of the intelligentsia.
Recent podcast with all new content where I talk through the impact of cryptocurrency and decentralization on all legacy tech firms, and why Jack and Zuck are perhaps the only two founders of that generation that fully get it.
Read 4 tweets
Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture
28 Oct
Meanwhile, in India...we're seeing a free market renaissance?

"...privatizing state-owned enterprises...overhauling taxes, relaxing foreign direct investment rules and deregulating labor and agriculture markets."
archive.md/pjhDh
As I've said, I am only moderately bullish on the Indian state. As the saying goes, India disappoints both the optimists and the pessimists.

But there is a dark horse chance that by 2030 it's the *least bad* of the big three relative to China and the US.
It's important to remember how long a period a decade is. Ten years ago, Bitcoin was at $1. A lot can change.

An achievable vision for India may turn out to be that it is a reasonable home base *and* more friendly to emigrants than either the US or PRC.
Read 8 tweets
Balaji Srinivasan Profile picture
27 Oct
Tech starting to show real spine.

Zuck says he doesn't report to legacy media corporations. He serves his constituents, namely billions of users. And they don't want the increased surveillance and censorship that these "whistleblowers" are calling for.
fool.com/earnings/call-…
We should of course decentralize every FB service. And fund countless things toward that end.

But in the interim, know that the state & press aren't seeking to protect your freedoms. They're seeking to take them away to prop up a decaying establishment.
On the spectrum of decentralization:

BTC > FB > NYT

That's the ethical compass. Decentralized media over social media, but social media over legacy media. Because you don't have *any* voice on a legacy media corporation's platform.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @balajis has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @balajis!

Read all threads by @balajis

:(