Jackie Lightfield

@Scobleizer @SawyerMerritt Human behavior is hundreds of thousands of years baked in. Humans like tactile things. Humans like tactile feedback. Humans like to do things without having to read, think, or otherwise get distracted from looking at all the bad driving and bad roads around our vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz engineers told me the reason for this. When they do consumer research, most people like tactile things: buttons, knobs, sliders, and stuff like that. They like the tactile experience. The problem is, if you stop there, you make mistakes. The world is moving toward an autonomous vehicle future where everything is done automatically with screens. The consumer can't tell you about that world because they haven't thought about it or been presented with it yet. As a result, the auto industry continues serving the past and not the future. Ferrari is just an example of that. They are selling to old people who have a fuckload of money. That doesn't mean these people have any sense or any care for innovation; they over-index on the physical experience of being in the car because they can't imagine a world where a car would drive them around. That is certainly true of the rich class in America. I hung out with them last year. They love their old mechanical cars because they can afford them, and Ferrari has to compete with that old mechanical car mentality just to sell them another $500,000 vehicle. Tesla, on the other hand, is going for the everyday person. And the everyday person knows it's stupid to rely on buttons when you can have a touchscreen like the one on your iPhone.

A large touchscreen does work in a car if you have great software. The Model Y became literally the overall #1 bestselling car in the world just three years after launching partly because people loved the software experience (among many other reasons).

🚨 UNITED PASSENGER CATCHES INSANE NASA ROCKET LAUNCH FROM PLANE WINDOW — FLIGHT ATTENDANT LOSES IT MID-AIR A United flight just turned into a front-row seat to history. A woman captures the exact moment NASA’s Artemis II rocket launches… straight from her window at 30,000 feet. And then you hear the flight attendant: “15 years of flying… I’ve been praying to see something like this.” • Rocket blasting through the clouds • Crew calling it a “once in a lifetime” moment He said he flew to Florida multiple times just to see a launch… Canceled. Every time. And then this happens midair. What are the chances you randomly look out your window… and see history taking off?

I don’t think people realize how much healthcare costs are driving big companies to fire and not hire. It costs them $30k per family, per year for premiums and care. Most of that goes to the massive, vertically integrated insurance companies that send weekly bills that no one reviews in details. And it doesn’t include the company overhead to deal with it all. It’s usually the 2nd largest expense after payroll. Which is insane It’s far easier to blame AI than it is to blame Healthcare costs. Want to increase jobs, wages and improve affordability for every American ? Break up the biggest insurance companies. Make divest non insurance companies. They don’t need thousands of subsidiaries. That’s how they game and abuse the system and increase costs for all of us. Call your senator and tell them to support the BreakUp Big Medicine Bill by @HawleyMO and @SenWarren.

Just sent the latest batch of my Gilded Age Mystery by Mail, “To Have and Have More.” It’s the best gift to give when you want your gift to last for at least 90 days. armchairexpeditions.com

@realEstateTrent 💯 true. Also, showing up in person is another real life hack.

You want a real life hack, here you go: Don’t be lazy.

@MKBHD Ok a question. What iOS were you using for each phone?

iPhone 1 thru iPhone 17, taking the same photo

@booshabear Thanks for letting me know. armchairexpeditions.com

@turfgrrl Congratulations!!! Your link has an extra s in it

Happy to finally launch armchairexpeditionss.com

@Teslaconomics Maybe by year 10 there’s a fully automated fleet. But since no one can solve the NYC left turn, weather, sharing roads with bad human drivers, and passenger behavior, the model will need to have people filling in the gaps.

I plan on owning my own Tesla Robotaxi fleet one day. And the more I run the numbers, the more I realize this new business could become one of the most powerful income opportunities I've ever seen. This is how I'm thinking about it. Based on many analyst models and Tesla’s long-term vision, a reasonable base case assumption is about ~$30,000 per year in net profit per Robotaxi to the owner. This is after things like Tesla’s platform fee, charging, tires, maintenance, insurance, and cleaning. Of course, the network is still early and Tesla is just beginning to roll this out in pilot programs in a few cities, so there’s no official real-world owner earnings yet... but using reasonable assumptions around utilization, pricing per mile, and operating costs, the math starts to get really interesting. If one Robotaxi can earn around $30,000 per year, here’s what a fleet might look like: • $100,000 per year → about 4 Robotaxis • $500,000 per year → about 17 Robotaxis • $1,000,000 per year → about 34 Robotaxis It may sound a bit crazy at first, but when you break it down, it starts to make more sense. These vehicles could potentially drive 50,000 to 100,000+ miles per year in high demand areas. If the economics land somewhere around $0.25-$0.50 profit per mile after all costs, you end up right around that ~$30k per vehicle per year range. And remember, the Tesla’s Robotaxi network is going to work a lot like Airbnb for cars. You add your vehicle to the network, Tesla handles the software, routing, payments, and rider experience, and they take a platform fee (often modeled around 25-35%). The owner keeps the rest after operating costs. Another thing that makes this interesting is the expected cost of the vehicles themselves. Tesla has talked about the purpose-built Cybercabs costing roughly $25k-$30k and Elon told me production is starting in 1 month! If that’s even close to reality, a fleet capable of generating around $1 million per year could theoretically cost somewhere around $850k-$1M in vehicles. That ROI is pretty freakin good! Now to be clear, none of this is guaranteed. I'm just thinking out loud and sharing it with you... a lot still depends on regulations, how fast unsupervised FSD scales, demand in each city, insurance costs, and how Tesla structures the network. But if the system works the way Elon has described it for years, owning a Robotaxi fleet could become one of the most powerful forms of passive income I've ever seen. And I plan on sharing the numbers with everyone on 𝕏 when the day comes. Personally, that’s why I’m paying such close attention. Bc one day, owning a fleet of autonomous Teslas working for me 24/7 might be the modern version of owning a rental property, except instead of tenants, you’ve got robots driving people around all day while you sleep. This next book of Tesla is going to be so exciting!

@Tim_Denning When everyone does the same thing it’s like announcing you are a snowflake in Antarctica.

Nobody gives a f*ck about websites anymore. Your social media profile IS your website. It's more persuasive because it's updated every day, whereas websites are mostly static and don't usually have daily content. For people to buy from you, they must trust you. Trust comes from the number of minutes they spend on your content. So if you have no content, you're f*cked. Anyone can build a product or service. 90% of people can't build distribution because: 1. They don't think it's important 2. They can't create content ideas 3. They can't use AI to outline content 4. They overthink content to the point of insanity Writing is the first skill to master. You master it by doing it in public on one social media platform daily. That's gives you practice. And reps. The goal isn't to go viral. It's to hit 5000 followers on one platform as soon as possible. This gives you signal. And authenticity. It also helps you refine your voice through deliberate practice. Skipping social media is a bad idea. It forces you to rely on ads which cost money and provide cold traffic. You can go from $50 a lead to $500 and have no control over it. But a personal brand is power. If I was building a personal brand right now, I'd do this: • Master one platform • Write daily • Funnel everyone to an email list • Hit 5000 followers • Renurture the email list with Youtube videos Youtube builds trust the fastest because it's long-form video with you that let's people try you out. But Youtube won't promote new channels. So you need social media + email list to drive people to your videos. Bottom line: Stop sleeping on a personal brand if you want to get wealthy.

@donwinslow Those alligators are a long way from Florida.

There are different ways to deal with problems.

The Golden Age of Detective Stories was a swell time. It gave us Dashiel Hammet, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Raymond Chandler, and many more. Who should round out this top 5 list?

@clareschoenwald try this armchairexpeditions.com

This is the year to explore the geography of America’s history. Join me on my spring launch of Lightfieldtrips.com. What is the most interesting town less than 2 hours from Manhattan?

From blowtorch to operating profit. Every project I work on starts with one ideal customer.

With a delivery window of 9am to 8pm, three door tags and a tracking number unable to be recognized in @fedex database, I think its fair to say that AI and automating customer service has turned FedEx into a kafkaesque experience. Share if you agree.

@girdley AOL disks in the mail.

Fun parlor trick When you're with a group of adults of the same age, ask "What is the defining event of your generation?" You'll be shocked how they give the same answer. For Gen X, it's the Challenger disaster in 1986.

These are the top 8 mistakes I’ve seen developers make: (Ranked from costliest at the top) 1 - Hiring the wrong team 2 - Hiring the team at the wrong time or in the wrong order 3 - Not using the best contract strategy for construction 4 - Hiring marketing/leasing teams too late or not at all

5 - DIY-ing things they should hire professionals for 6 - Overbuilding/overdesigning for the market 7 - Not keeping their own accounting during design/construction 8 - Not reviewing the details of change orders

The link below: open.substack.com/pub/jlightfiel…

I shared a few thoughts on Thanksgiving from New England on my substack.