Monday Musings (4/8/19)

Hey everybody, 

Greetings from Morocco. I’m with two friends, and as I write this, we’re driving from Casablanca to Marrakesh. Afterward, we’re going to the Tangiers at the Northern tip of the country, before one final stop in Chefchaueon. 

If you have any recommendations, please send them over. Books, experiences, people, places, stories. Everything is fair game.

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Before Morocco, I was in Washington D.C for a panel at Bloomberg. The panel was about my Twitter and the benefits of writing on the internet. 

On the panel, I was asked about writing online and what it means to be “from the internet.” 

(That’s me on the right)

Inspired by Erika Nardini, the CEO of Barstool Sports (who I recently interviewed on my podcast), I said that being an internet native changes your perspective on the world.

When I was applying to college, our parents and advisors always told us to delete our photos and change our names because they thought sharing online was a risky thing to do. But they don’t say that anymore. The internet has become an amazing way to get access to people, ideas, and opportunities. 

Being from the internet gives you an intuitive sense for how to make things happen in the modern world. Three examples: 

1. When you go to networking events, you use Twitter to search whose at the event and direct message the biggest names there. By doing so, you skip the normal small talk and connect directly with people you want to meet.

2. In a recent article, I told the story of a 19-year-old friend and Monday Musings subscriber from a rural town in Western Ireland, taught himself to build a fusion reactor on the internet. He explored high vacuum equipment, high voltage electronics, neutron detection, and plasma physics. When he had questions, he didn’t meet experts in person. Instead, he posted questions on fusor.net, an online forum for nuclear fusion reactor constructors. He relishes the independence of learning on the internet. When he needs money, he crowdsources it with online campaigns instead of relying on an institution. In short, people on the internet know how to learn without institutional guidance.

3. And my favorite… people from the internet understand the power of writing online. When you create content, people can access your knowledge without taking your time. You no longer need to sell knowledge by the hour. Until recently, the average