Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
People who have adopted agentic AI tools like Claude Code or Cowork run a real risk of becoming addicted to their detriment. I know, because I feel that same emotional tug of AI when I use it. But I think I’ve also figured out how to use AI without losing control. At this point, most … Continue reading Use AI For Productivity, Not For Feeling Productive
Many criticize American politics as broken, but misidentify the cause of the problem. The problem isn’t that the Founding Fathers failed to anticipate that bad men (and back then, they were only concerned with men) might win power. They anticipated this possibility, and designed the Constitution to address it through the separation of powers between … Continue reading The Founding Fathers’ Design Didn’t Fail
If you’re an American, you might be feeling sick, angry, and helpless right now. You see injustice and wrongdoing on your screen seemingly every day. One outrage after another. And you wonder what you can do and if you can possibly make a difference. These kinds of feelings are natural. I feel them too, as … Continue reading Democracy is the Answer
In December of 1955, a young Alabama pastor who had been on the job for just a year agreed to lead a citywide bus boycott. One of the reasons that much older and more experienced activists and leaders picked the young clergyman for this position was because being new in town, he hadn’t yet had … Continue reading You Can Make A Difference (in memory of MLK Jr.)
With my father visiting for the Christmas holiday, it was a great opportunity to visit one of the most interesting attractions in the Bay Area, the Walt Disney Family Museum. You may be wondering, “What was Walt’s connection to the Bay Area?” There isn’t one. The Walt Disney Family Museum was created by Walt’s daughter, … Continue reading Learning From The Life of Walt Disney
In 1996, I was home for the holidays. Just months prior, I had started working for D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. in its Cambridge, Massachusetts office, and had endured my first encounter with a New England winter. As a child growing up in the Los Angeles area, I had always dreamed of living somewhere … Continue reading George Clooney and AI Magic
Since nothing attracts clicks like KPop Demon Hunters, I thought I would use the movie to illustrate a point about AI. Like many a KPDH fan, I’ve gone down the YouTube rabbit hole of “Golden” cover versions. Eventually, I found an “almost” heavy metal cover, which I quite enjoyed. Then when I read the comments, … Continue reading What AI Covers Of KPop Demon Hunters Songs Teach Us About AI
Too many companies confuse buying AI with adopting AI. A new report from MIT’s NANDA initiative (Networked Agents and Decentralized AI) analyzed 300 public AI deployments, and found that only 5% saw rapid revenue acceleration (mostly at startups). This issue isn’t technology. It’s adoption. The majority of AI application budgets are going to sales and … Continue reading Don’t Confuse Buying AI with Adopting AI
Ever since I hit my 30s, I’ve made it a practice to make younger friends (in a non-creepy way of course). I was glad when people like Ramit Sethi or Ben Casnocha came into my life. (Conversely, I was also glad to meet older friends like my friend Don Yates.) At the time, I was … Continue reading Make Younger Friends
I knew the day would come when I would lose my friend Don. When you become friends with someone who is four decades older, you have to realize that you’ll be saying goodbye sooner rather than later. But it was still a sad moment when I heard from his daughter Sharon that he had passed … Continue reading Remembering my friend Don Yates