Hardware is a Fruit
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Alan Kay
13 min read
The article mentions Alan Kay as Anjan Katta's mentor and a 'computer legend.' Kay pioneered object-oriented programming, the graphical user interface, and the concept of personal computing at Xerox PARC. Understanding his vision for computing provides essential context for why Daylight Computer's approach to 'good for you' software matters.
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Moloch
14 min read
The article references 'Meditations on Moloch' as 'one of the internet's greatest essays' and discusses multipolar traps. Moloch, the ancient Canaanite deity associated with child sacrifice, has become a powerful metaphor in rationalist circles for coordination failures where everyone loses. Understanding the original mythological context enriches the essay's core argument about capitalism's race to the bottom.
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Externality
12 min read
The article's central argument hinges on the economic concept of externalities - costs or benefits that affect parties not directly involved in transactions. The essay explicitly discusses how markets fail to account for negative externalities like 'brainrot and depression' from social media, and positive externalities from 'good for you' software. This economic concept is foundational to understanding the essay's thesis.
Welcome to the 494 newly Not Boring people who have joined us since our last essay! Join 255,469 smart, curious folks by subscribing here:
Hi friends 👋 ,
Happy Thursday! I want to try something new, which might grow into something bigger. A little seed of an idea, if you will.
One of the coolest parts of my job is that I get to talk to really smart people who are building products and companies based on the thoughts in their head. Sometimes, I write long essays on these people and their companies. Typically, the easiest way to get their ideas out into the world is by going on a podcast and yapping for an hour.
But there are a lot of ideas that deserve more than a passing mention on a podcast and less than a 10k word deep dive, and that are better expressed by the person whose idea it is than by me once-removed.
So I’m playing around with different ways to host those ideas, starting by co-writing an essay with Anjan Katta, the founder of Daylight Computer, on something he mentioned in passing when we were texting over the weekend.
If this series sticks around, Anjan will probably be a recurring voice. He’s one of the most original thinkers I know, and happens to be interested in a lot of the same weird stuff I am. I highly recommend his conversation with Jackson Dahl on Dialectic, the video he did with Jason Carman last year, and the conversation he had with Mario Gabriele and his mentor / computer legend Alan Kay.
I will also say that while I’m not an investor in Daylight, I bought one and I use it every day, and if you’re thinking of a Christmas gift for your favorite nerd… here.
If you buy one, you might just be supporting a world of much better software.
Let’s get to it.
Today’s Not Boring is brought to you by… Silicon Valley Bank
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