Gentry Underwood
5.7K posts
@gentry
Design is conscious evolution. Cofounder @mailbox (→dropbox), @bringatrailer (→hearst media), and @playdotspace (→google).
What would spontaneous coordination look like? Could software create a collective consciousness that requires no central control or hierarchy? If you take cost of collaboration to zero, apparently yes. (via All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace ep 1 by Adam Curtis)
I'm going to make some obvious points. (1) Blowing up all the oil infrastructure in the Middle East is an insane idea, and may well result in a global economic crash and humanitarian crisis unrivaled in the lives of those now living. We're talking about the price of everything everywhere rising, from food to gas, at a moment when inflation was already high. All of that will be laid at the feet of the authors of this war. (2) The antebellum status quo of Feb 27, 2026 was just not that bad, but we're unlikely to return to it. Expect indefinite, long-term, ongoing disruptions to everything out of the Middle East. (3) Also assume tech financing crashes for the indefinite future. The genius plan to get the Gulf states caught in the crossfire has incinerated much of the funding for LPs, for datacenters, and for IPOs. Anyone in tech who supported this war may soon learn the meaning of "force majeure" as funding gets yanked. (4) Many capital allocators will instead be allocating much further down Maslow's hierarchy of needs, towards useful basic things like food and energy. (5) It's fortunate that all those progressives yelled about the "climate crisis." Yes, their reasoning about timelines was wrong, and much of the money was wasted in graft, but the result was right: we all need energy independence from the Middle East, pronto. It's also fortunate that Elon and China autistically took climate seriously. Now they're going to need to ship a billion solar panels, electric vehicles, batteries, nuclear power plants, and the like to get everyone off oil, immediately. (6) It's not just an oil and gas problem, of course. It's also a fertilizer problem, and a chemical precursor problem. Maybe some new sources will come online at the new prices, but it takes time to dial stuff up, particularly at this scale, so shortages are almost a certainty. That said, China has actually scaled up coal-to-chemicals[a,c] (C2C), and there's also something more sci-fi called Power-to-X[b] which turns arbitrary power + water + air into hydrocarbons. But all of that will need to get accelerated. I have a background in chemical engineering so may start funding things in this area. (7) Ultimately, this war is going to result in tremendous blame for anyone associated with it. It's a no-win scenario to blow up this much infrastructure for so many people. Simply not worth it for whatever objective they thought they were going to attain. But unless you're actually in a position to stop the madness, the pragmatic thing to do is: scramble to mitigate the fallout to yourself, your business, and your people. [a]: reuters.com/business/energ… [b]: alfalaval.com/industries/ene… [c]: reuters.com/sustainability…
This is wild. theaustralian.com.au/business/techn…
Millions of files related to Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of a 'global criminal enterprise' that carried out acts meeting the legal threshold of crimes against humanity, a panel of independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council says reut.rs/3OnDpPM
As the Year of the Horse approaches, we welcome a robot Kong Fu master. AGIBOT(智元)'s new-generation full-size humanoid robot, the Expedition A3, has successfully performed a series of high-difficulty maneuvers including aerial flying kicks, consecutive flying kicks, and mid-air walking. AGIBOT is a technology company based in Shanghai, China. #Robotics #Technology @AGIBOTofficial @CNYouthDaily @ChinaScience @fncischen
@big_duca Someone has to prompt the Claudes, talk to customers, coordinate with other teams, decide what to build next. Engineering is changing and great engineers are more important than ever.
🚨 WATCH THIS. Newly released body cam shows Border Patrol agents deliberately steering into Marimar Martinez — an American teacher — before shooting her 5 times. DHS falsely claimed she “ambushed” them. Kash Patel amplified the lie. Prosecutors later dropped the case. Texts show agents celebrated: “Good shooting.” This was a cover-up.
