Challenges and Insights in Consequentialist Utilitarianism and Startup Entrepreneurship

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This chapter explores the challenges of underweighting uncertainty and local knowledge in the consequentialist utilitarian perspective, emphasizing the importance of focusing on personal communities before global changes. It also delves into the lessons learned from startup experiences, highlighting the significance of tailoring advice and the necessity of understanding user needs for successful startup ideas.

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How does Emmett's worldview differ from the standard Silicon Valley worldview? What's the difference between an ideology and a worldview? What's middle management useful for? How might democracy be improved? How important is optimism? Why do people seem to get less done each day than they expect to get done? When is high variance beneficial? Does every startup have a point where it seems like they're going to fail? What's the best and worst startup advice out there? What's the right way to learn from users / customers? When should companies follow trends? How should we think about the different types of AI risks?

Emmett Shear is an entrepreneur and investor. He was part of the first class at Y Combinator in 2005. He co-founded Justin.tv in 2006 and its spin-off company Twitch in 2011. In the same year, he also became a part-time partner at Y Combinator, a role in which he continues to advise new startups. He very briefly (for 2.5 days) acted as interim CEO at OpenAI in November 2023. Follow him on Twitter / X at @eshear.

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