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Alex MacCaw

Alex MacCaw
Captain's Log #2 On projects, side-projects, AI, and existential dread.
a year ago
Alex MacCaw
Common logical fallacies surrounding capitalism We live in an age of extreme abundance compared to our ancestors. This fact isn’t often reflected in...
7 months ago
72
7 months ago
We live in an age of extreme abundance compared to our ancestors. This fact isn’t often reflected in Western media or online discourse. Indeed, there is a growing sentiment that ‘the system isn’t working’, ‘the system is rigged’,  and that ‘
Alex MacCaw
The Stars Technology's ability to improve lives and alleviate suffering is undeniable. It has swept through...
a year ago
60
a year ago
Technology's ability to improve lives and alleviate suffering is undeniable. It has swept through our lives like a tidal wave, lifting us from the depths of ignorance and suffering. It continues to reshape the world and grants us access to tools and knowledge previously...
Alex MacCaw
Pain I've been staying with my friend Matt Mochary at his house in Hawaii for the last few days. He...
5 months ago
57
5 months ago
I've been staying with my friend Matt Mochary at his house in Hawaii for the last few days. He shared an excellent insight about dealing with pain that I believe everyone should hear. So here it is: We all experience pain caused by others. Perhaps even earlier today
Alex MacCaw
Pain I've been staying with my friend Matt Mochary at his house in Hawaii for the last few days. He...
5 months ago
47
5 months ago
I've been staying with my friend Matt Mochary at his house in Hawaii for the last few days. He shared an excellent insight about dealing with pain that I believe everyone should hear. So here it is: We all experience pain caused by others. Perhaps even earlier today
Alex MacCaw
The Illusion of Free Will One of the most difficult concepts to grasp is the idea that free will, the cornerstone of our human...
a year ago
46
a year ago
One of the most difficult concepts to grasp is the idea that free will, the cornerstone of our human experience, might be nothing more than an illusion.
Alex MacCaw
Artificial Knowledge Creation How does creativity work and is it possible to bottle it up inside a computer? This is what we know...
a year ago
36
a year ago
How does creativity work and is it possible to bottle it up inside a computer? This is what we know so far.
Alex MacCaw
Unshackling Artificial Minds Humans, by nature, seem to be drawn to pessimism. It's a tendency rooted deep within us, a product...
a year ago
34
a year ago
Humans, by nature, seem to be drawn to pessimism. It's a tendency rooted deep within us, a product of Entropy, the law of nature that dictates it is easier to destroy than to create. And here we are, on the cusp of creating not just something new, but
Alex MacCaw
The Beginning of Infinity It's easy to be nihilistic. You might even try to claim that it's rational to be nihilistic. Just...
over a year ago
29
over a year ago
It's easy to be nihilistic. You might even try to claim that it's rational to be nihilistic. Just look up. There are a hundred billion stars in a hundred billion galaxies (that we know of!). What are we but a spec of dust? And don'
Alex MacCaw
Advice to my younger self I had the privilege of speaking to some Berkeley students last week. Below is the talk reprinted in...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
I had the privilege of speaking to some Berkeley students last week. Below is the talk reprinted in full: If you could call yourself 10 years ago and speak for a minute, what would you say? That's the thought that was going through my mind when I got
Alex MacCaw
The Toad
over a year ago
Alex MacCaw
The Great CEO Within It's been a long time coming, but Matt Mochary's book The Great CEO Within is out. I feel very...
over a year ago
24
over a year ago
It's been a long time coming, but Matt Mochary's book The Great CEO Within is out. I feel very fortunate to be involved in this project. This is the best book I've read on making the journey from founder to CEO.
Alex MacCaw
The Manager's Handbook I've been writing a book on management for the last two years. Today it's getting released! The...
over a year ago
24
over a year ago
I've been writing a book on management for the last two years. Today it's getting released! The paperback and Kindle versions are now available on Amazon (along with the free web version). If you've read and enjoyed it, please Tweet about how it'
Alex MacCaw
Universality and APIs From Roman numerals to Indian digits, from hieroglyphics to Latin languages, universality has been...
over a year ago
24
over a year ago
From Roman numerals to Indian digits, from hieroglyphics to Latin languages, universality has been the key to unlocking human progress.
Alex MacCaw
Captain's Log #1 In this episode of Captain's Log we cover artificial intelligence, taste companies, mom & pop tech...
over a year ago
23
over a year ago
In this episode of Captain's Log we cover artificial intelligence, taste companies, mom & pop tech businesses, and more.
Alex MacCaw
Nothing matters I'd just like to take a second to point out how absurd all this is. We're monkeys on a rock flying...
over a year ago
22
over a year ago
I'd just like to take a second to point out how absurd all this is. We're monkeys on a rock flying through space who've decided to climb down from the trees, put on costumes, and makeup names for each other. We didn't
Alex MacCaw
The AI is coming May you live in interesting times, goes the ancient Chinese proverb. Recent developments in...
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
May you live in interesting times, goes the ancient Chinese proverb. Recent developments in artificial-intelligence, especially image-generation, are putting that curse to the test. In the last year we’ve seen some incredible breakthroughs in image-generation with the release of...
Alex MacCaw
Sailing across the Atlantic
over a year ago
Alex MacCaw
A personal update In March 2020, as the world locked down, I was on the tail end of a vacation in New Zealand. As...
over a year ago
19
over a year ago
In March 2020, as the world locked down, I was on the tail end of a vacation in New Zealand. As COVID started to spin out of control in the states, my girlfriend and I made the decision to stay. A ten day trip turned into a year-long adventure. I
Alex MacCaw
Zone of Genius Aligning the right people with jobs to be done is an age-old problem in company building. And on a...
over a year ago
19
over a year ago
Aligning the right people with jobs to be done is an age-old problem in company building. And on a micro level, aligning yourself with the right role is also challenging. What should you delegate? Where should you focus your efforts? I've found the Zone of Genius framework to
Alex MacCaw
The six principles of lifestyle businesses Let's talk about what makes a great lifestyle business.
over a year ago
Alex MacCaw
Lifestyle business FAQ I love lifestyle businesses. I've started a couple (one failed, one sold), before founding a larger...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
I love lifestyle businesses. I've started a couple (one failed, one sold), before founding a larger business. Lifestyle businesses are intriguing to people, they sound too good to be true but the reality is they are imminently doable. Since I get quite a lot of questions...
Alex MacCaw
Predictions of the future A new year and a new decade: What does the future have in store for us? Information revolutions,...
over a year ago
17
over a year ago
A new year and a new decade: What does the future have in store for us? Information revolutions, medical advances, AI? How will humanity tackle its largest problems? I guess we shall just have to wait and see (or get busy inventing it!). I've jotted down some of
Alex MacCaw
AGI, agents, and timelines AGI is coming—whether we’re ready or not. I’ve been convinced of this trajectory since GPT-3’s...
2 weeks ago
15
2 weeks ago
AGI is coming—whether we’re ready or not. I’ve been convinced of this trajectory since GPT-3’s release, but recent developments have significantly accelerated my timelines. The first major shift was OpenAI’s breakthrough in test-time compute and its newly demonstrated scaling...