Collin McCune
856 posts
@Collin_McCune
Head of Government Affairs @a16z
Life pro tip. Not enough people talk about this. The secret to having a "fulfilling" life is doing new things. Radically doing new things. Consistently. Every day. New activities, people, goals, even something as simple as trying new foods. Life feels longer when you're a kid because every day is packed with almost infinite amount of new learning. As you get older, you've already acclimated to your environment, the new inputs stop, so your perception of time speeds up drastically. You fall into routine, which is a time accelerant. If you want to feel like you have a long infinite lifespan, like you did as a child, you MUST be having new experiences, which slows time down.
"Data centers are draining our water" is the new "plastic straws are destroying the ocean." It's a hoax, and many people pushing it know it's not true. At AFPI (@A1policy) we wrote a piece breaking down the numbers: 1) Data centers use very little water > Somewhere between 0.2% and 0.5% of U.S. freshwater consumption > 15x less water than we lose each year to leaky pipes > The biggest data center of 2024 uses less water than 3 square miles of farmland (America has 1.3 million) 2) Local water impacts are small, too > In one of the country’s most “water stressed” counties, data centers are 0.12% of its water use (golf courses are 3.8%) 3) This hasn’t stopped lawmakers from fearmongering about data centers > 5 senators, including Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey, wrote a letter to the admin complaining about data center water use > Lawmakers have introduced legislation and called for data center moratoriums because of fake water use claims. Denver might enact one soon 4) Data centers are one of America’s greatest strengths > Huge local tax revenues > The AI data center boom has created tremendous economic growth > Wages in construction and the trades have skyrocketed (construction up >30% because of data centers) We end by suggesting some ways to accelerate the data center buildout, while protecting local communities' interests. Full piece here: americafirstpolicy.com/issues/the-dat…
Legislating is like big wave surfing. You spend years building a team, practicing, and making sure you have the right equipment, waiting for the weather and the swells to be just right. Then when the wave arrives, you don’t miss your opportunity. Sometimes it only comes once in a generation. We’re in that big wave moment for crypto. We can’t miss our window to get the CLARITY Act done. You never know when you’ll have another chance to ride.
.@CFTC Staff Issues No-Action Position to Self-Custodial Crypto Asset Wallet Software Provider: cftc.gov/PressRoom/Pres…
A passenger flying in a Peruvian passenger aircraft took this chilling video showing scores of Chinese fishing vessels operating illegally inside Peru's water. The Chinese Distant Water Fishing Fleet operating illegally inside the waters of Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and other South American nations are so big that they can be seen even from the space. China's global fishing offense is ruining our planet.
Understand this: Waymo in DC is not being delayed because the City Council wants a study. Instead, the City Council is asking for a study because they want to delay Waymo in DC.
"Under Joe Biden, the share of Y Combinator companies that were AI companies rose from something like 20% to 90%. So this idea the Biden admin. wasn't going to allow AI startups to exist certainly runs in the face of the evidence." @DKThomp challenges Marc Andreessen's claim.
.@UnderSecPD Sarah B. Rogers: AI with a "Western soul" is the greatest soft power tool America can possess. "Tyler Cowen has this great phrase — he talks about AI with a Western soul." "AI that reasons in an individualistic way, a rules-based way, that prioritizes user consent — those are all Western principles." "And that is going to be the underlying reasoning model on which so much of the world's communication and commerce runs." "The proliferation of a Western AI stack is really a top priority for our entire administration. It should be a top priority for anyone who cares about freedom."
