In the last ten years his biggest mistakes have all been in the dimension of, ok, this might work, but if it does, i just won't get that big. Social conformity is so strong people are motivated to conform with the environment around them and to get the agreement of their friends. People who really care about other people should spend more time spending time with those who care about others. Utterly my adventure needs to be able to meet people and talk to people on earth unless one's after your talks. Have you ever wanted to write a book? I will not do hellesky. Yes, right? No, exactly... I'm enjoying more these days working with people
Like the frontier characters from Deadwood, his favorite TV show, Marc Andreessen has discovered that the real challenge to building in new territory is not in the practicalities of learning a trade, but in developing a savviness for what makes people tick. Without understanding the deep patterns of human behavior, how can you know what to build, or who should build it, or how? For Marc, that means reading deeply in the humanities: “I spent the first 25 years of my life trying to understand how machines work,” Marc says. “Then I spent the second 25 years, so far, trying to figure out how people work. It turns out people are a lot more complicated.”
Marc joined Tyler to discuss his ever-growing appreciation for the humanities and more, including why he didn’t go to a better school, his contrarian take on Robert Heinlein, how Tom Wolfe helped Marc understand his own archetype, who he’d choose to be in Renaissance Florence, which books he’s reread the most, Twitter as an X-ray machine on public figures, where in the past he’d most like to time-travel, his favorite tech product that no longer exists, whether Web will improve podcasting, the civilization-level changes made possible by remote work, Peter Thiel’s secret to attracting talent, which data he thinks would be most helpful for finding good founders, how he’d organize his own bookstore, the kinds of people he admires most, and why Deadwood is equal to Shakespeare.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded April 14th, 2022 Other ways to connect