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Sonal Chokshi Profile picture
Sonal Chokshi
@smc90
traveler between worlds, worldbuilder, reader, I heart art + tech. Editor in Chief a16z crypto; EiC a16z + podcast showrunner 2014-2022; fmr WIRED, Xerox PARC
2 subscribers
Mar 19, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
I was super annoyed by this cover and photo choice tbh -- is it just me, or is there a kinda gross othering of tech founders/visionaries in Time covers over, well, time?! ..my immediate, visceral reax on seeing this was that Time coulda done much better art direction/ composition for this cover, visually conveying creative superpower of subject than what this cover conveys -- I'll share more of the specific elements I noticed, via an editor's eye:
Mar 12, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
oohlala ❣️❄️

this model can explain the overarching features of the snow crystal morphology diagram -- which has been an enduring scientific puzzle for nearly 75 years:
arxiv.org/abs/1910.09067
Mar 11, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
love the question
my favorite answer (emotionally, viscerally)
Mar 11, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
"inspired by entangled serpents, wind instruments, and vintage perfume"

...from senior concept designer on Witch Queen/ D2

[is also about the art of weaponry (and crafting)]

when glyphs are both familiar and alien

Feb 27, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
on architecture as code derived from nature

on art derived from nature

Feb 26, 2022 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
v thought-provoking, @CJHandmer on significance of Starship (followup to prev pieces on why it+Starlink matter):

“obliterates the mass constraint and every last vestige of cultural baggage that constraint has gouged into the minds of spacecraft designers”
caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2021/10/28/sta… these bits on how both government funding-innovation mechanisms AND industry incumbents don’t or can’t adapt especially resonate;

see also this bit [third image] from @CJHandmer 2019 piece on Starlink satellites breaking the space-hardware cost paradigm caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2019/11/02/sta… ImageImageImage
Feb 20, 2022 • 4 tweets • 4 min read
re-read @eugenewei's "Invisible Asymptotes" this am (forgot how good it was!) -- but this time around noticed this bit on indivs (v orgs)

on how most successful people are much more conscious of their own personal asymptotes at an earlier age than others:
eugenewei.com/blog/2018/5/21… Image related (not necessarily only discovering one's limitations early but opps)-- on how smart, ambitious people can stay working in an area where they have no long-term ambitions; the lure of current/wrong hill they're on; and wayfinding highest hill: @cdixon
cdixon.org/2009/09/19/cli…
Feb 4, 2022 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
1/ OK. So I have an exciting career update – after nearly 8 (!) years building a16z’s editorial operation (newsletters, websites, countless pieces & packages + ofc, my beloved podcast 💕) – I am joining the a16z crypto team (!!) to lead content. 2/ It was only when I joined a16z that I realized my career -spanning education, tech, and media- has been all about advocating for innovation, broadening audiences, discovering talent & getting ideas out into the world. It all came together here. But what does one then do next?!
Jan 21, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
weird obsession: circular sets and layouts!

first noticed this when I saw Michael Freyn's Copenhagen play in 2000 (was back when I lived in NYC so saw on Broadway)

here's a picture i found indicating partly what i mean (can't find original) -- here's a good description of its symbolism:

"Michael Blakemore’s illuminating production – designed, as in 1998, by Peter J Davison and lit by Mark Henderson –

***treats the stage as a space for the collision of human particles***"

(see also )
Jan 21, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
kinda embarrassed to admit this, but in case anyone has ever noticed my weird tweeting it's that i have a tiny ocd-like urge to connect unrelated tweets in some 'related' order as perceived

(there is a method to this madness; left one should be obvious to anyone who knows Dali): (i attribute to left-handedness - or even creativity/ connecting dots across domains - not apophenia or anything like that:))
Sep 4, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
important idea in here that applies in many contexts now, for creators to makers to marketers:

[also elevates social from “status seeking monkeys” to more human/ humanity — monkeys to humans, so evolution, if you will;)] by the way, obvious implications of this are need for more community managers, creators as community leaders, chief meme officers etc etc -- all true but the word community is so overused, so broadly it means many things;
Sep 4, 2021 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
Here are 3 pieces to understand Loot, from what's going on and significance of to much broader trends at play:

collisions.substack.com/p/gimme-the-lo… @kylebrussell

platformer.news/p/loot-is-a-vi… @caseynewton

future.a16z.com/fantasy-hollyw… @cuysheffield

[bonus: for all things NFTs a16z.com/2021/04/02/nft…] But I also like to situate things on much broader arc of history and much much more macro scales (especially as someone obsessed w storytelling and arts) so am gonna posit the evolution of human narrative, along these lines:
Sep 4, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
am a bit struck by the split in my feed rn between

all the raves & reviews for Dune, which those at Venice Film Festival just saw, directed by vision of Villeneuve

all the energy & engagement around Loot, which others are building, from seeds released into internet-wild by dhof ...which is especially striking to me as I have been delving lately into all the past discussions and debates around auteur theory as it applies to creative works (particularly movies)

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur
Sep 2, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
On a more fun note, here's an absolutely must-bookmark thread to understand & follow NFT discourse -- a glossary of internet culture, if you will
I love this thread for 3 reasons -- one, it shows how to keep a culture inclusive vs exclusive; two, it shows the importance of making the lingo & the lore explicit when *world building* of any kind; and three, it gets past a false dichotomy:
Sep 2, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
this is not only a compelling thread unfolding a very large n study of mask-wearing effectiveness (including type, they confirm surgical > cloth) — but is also an excellent thread-of-threads offering data, implications in context of other literature, policy, more:
Oct 4, 2019 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
people sometimes wonder how someone like me (on many fronts - brown, feminist, creative and supporter of creatives, and someone who I think most people would affirm is genuinely kind;) is SO pro-capitalism the reason is, I saw first-hand, through visiting India (long not short trips, immersed in parents' village w no amenities - oh god I have stories and honestly a bit of ptsd too;)

the power of capitalism vs a more socialistic democracy: deregulation, growth of middle class, etc
Jul 19, 2019 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
this is my philosophy, strategy, tactic in a nutshell -- I always tell people, most of the work in the a16z Podcast is in the pre- (topic, brainstorm, episode lineup, angle/diff, packaging, etc.) and post- (editing:)
furthermore -- because of course the talent and experts are everything, but it's all audio only (which has multiple dimensionsvs. text) -- you have 5 levers to pull:
*content
*energy/chemistry/warmth
*charisma/personality/voice
*differentiation/angle/POV/freshness
*timing
so,
Feb 25, 2019 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
finally read the scarlet letter (i.e., publicly branding the bad moves and bad communications in NY re Amazon HQ), and it's as good as everyone said it was
governor.ny.gov/news/open-lett… "While Amazon is not a unionized workforce, Amazon had agreed to union construction and service worker jobs that would have provided 11,000 thousand union positions.
...if one union becomes the enemy of other unions, the entire union movement - already in decline - is undermined"
Jan 2, 2019 • 15 tweets • 12 min read
these were our top 10 podcasts + 6 videos (16 total, natch;) of 2018:
#1 was this episode eavesdropping on a conversation between @cdixon + @fredwilson riffing on tech trends, capital, and internet 'disruption':
a16z.com/2018/09/23/tec…
Nov 4, 2018 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
so in lieu of candlelight diyas for Diwali this year my parents did electric ones;)
instagram.com/p/Bpv1npYgRHJ/ ...if you think about the fact that my dad grew up with kerosene lights in his house as a kid and then their village later got electricity and now these electric diyas are made for the masses in India to buy and use, then you will realize why I am so blazingly a capitalist
Mar 1, 2018 • 25 tweets • 4 min read
...here's a story, true story from my family: My paternal grandfather's younger brother owned the family gold business in a small village in India. [My grandfather was a failed architect. Failed in the sense that it was his passion but he couldn't make money doing it, so he left Ahmedabad and moved back to family village.]