Julien✌🏻️

1/ there is this sense when you are young that your accomplishments need to be a list of things that seem impressive to others. A list of several items you did. This isn't actually right, so here is another suggestion.

@deedydas Material abundance sure

I know this is not regular programming. The Silicon Valley talk track is “oh, but with AI we will have abundance!” but real people have real feelings and this is how they’re feeling.

The vibes in SF feel pretty frenetic right now. The divide in outcomes is the worst I've ever seen. Over the last 5yrs, a group of ~10k people - employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Meta TBD, founders - have hit retirement wealth of well above $20M (back of the envelope AI estimation). Everyone outside that group feels like they can work their well-paying (but <$500k) job for their whole life and never get there. Worse yet, layoffs are in full swing. Many software engineers feel like their life's skill is no longer useful. The day to day role of most jobs has changed overnight with AI. As a result, 1. The corporate ladder looks like the wrong building to climb. Everyone's trying to align with a new set of career "paths": should I be a founder? Is it too late to join Anthropic / OpenAI? should I get into AI? what company stock will 10x next? People are demanding higher salaries and switching jobs more and more. 2. There’s a deep malaise about work (and its future). Why even work at all for “peanuts”? Will my job even exist in a few years? Many feel helpless. You hear the “permanent underclass” conversation a lot, esp from young people. It's hard to focus on doing good work when you think "man, if I joined Anthropic 2yrs ago, I could retire" 3. The mid to late middle managers feel paralyzed. Many have families and don't feel like they have the energy or network to just "start a company". They don't particularly have any AI skills. They see the writing on the wall: middle management is being hollowed out in many companies. 4. The rich aren’t particularly happy either. No one is shedding tears for them (and rightfully so). But those who have "made it" experience a profound lack of purpose too. Some have gone from <$150k to >$50M in a few years with no ramp. It flips your life plans upside down. For some, comparison is the thief of joy. For some, they escape to NYC to "live life". For others still, they start companies "just cuz", often to win status points. They never imagined that by age 30, they'd be set. I once asked a post-economic founder friend why they didn't just sell the co and they said "and do what? right now, everyone wants to talk to me. if i sell, I will only have money." I understand that many reading this scoff at the champagne problems of the valley. Society is warped in this tech bubble. What is often well-off anywhere else in the world is bang average here. Unlike many other places, tenure, intelligence and hard work can be loosely correlated with outcomes in the Bay. Living through a societally transformative gold rush in that environment can be paralyzing. "Am I in the right place? Should I move? Is there time still left? Am I gonna make it?" It psychologically torments many who have moved here in search of "success". Ironically, a frequent side effect of this torment is to spin up the very products making everyone rich in hopes that you too can vibecode your path to economic enlightenment.

@fahdananta Titan

What’s the best book if I want to learn about Rockefeller?

@chongz @generalcatalyst @a16z the video places them in the same category as a16z (regardless of whether they are in reality or not)

Yesterday I thought this @generalcatalyst video was awful, but I’ve flipped after seeing the amount of discourse around it on X. This was S tier rage bait for @a16z, and it worked. It’s all over my fucking feed.

or autistic in a charming way

@davidlee finally, it's my time

Best hire right now is a lazy smart ~40 year old who has kept themselves in shape physically. At that age, wisdom starts to compound. Wisdom plus smarts is a killer combo.

@glenjaminc if you hover over the stats, it should explain what they mean

I know Jays suck right now, but I built this anyway: jays.baby It's a daily stats panel that uses Fangraphs, MLB Stats and Savant data to show a ton of interesting information. I'm constantly adding new things too. I made this for the people, so RTs appreciated.

@_sullivan0_ I’d be like trade me

I feel so bad for Adam Frazier. This is the second time I’ve seen him have to pitch for the Angels 😭

Buy physical books and hold on to them. If you have a niche interest have a collection of books from that interest and protect them.

Does the Matrix ever clarify how they make babies in the techno world or nah

@typesfast I mean in the case of human extinction my portfolio doesn’t matter right, so

Financial Times perfectly illustrates our possible futures

@tobi Number 5 is alive

God these were amazing movies as a kid Must be why I ended up here

@elonmusk He’s running

@liamcadigan @thescottbarber @NevinHollett Put this on Google Maps

@thescottbarber @NevinHollett One of the last old trading posts up North in Iqaluit. Still technically a trading post in my books tbh. Canadian Tire is a good next home for the brand.

Hudson’s Bay once owned 5% of the Earth’s land surface and now it’s a kiosk in a Canadian Tire

@kirstenagreen @michaelyork @miz @getcasa @nytimes fuck, this is a really good idea

Our first meeting with @michaelyork and @miz, Cofounders of @getcasa, was a 30 minute call that spilled into 90 minutes, immediately followed by a dinner that lasted nearly 6 hours. Today, Casa launches in @nytimes with $27M led by Forerunner, available in SF & LA.

@patio11 Was it a human morality

Today is April 30th, 2026, and today was the first day I can recall being impressed with moral reasoning articulated by a software product in refusal to do a thing I asked it to do. It misparsed my intent, and I do not *agree* with its moral reasoning, but clear and cogent.

@tolstoybb it's the best

What goes on here?

this dude is gonna be so grizzled in 5 years

this shit is gut wrenching

BECOME UNGOVERNABLE

@Noahpinion He died as he lived- on the edge of being trampled by antelopes

Tiniest violin