a16z Podcast Read Write Own: A New Era
Chris Dixon, founding partner of a16z crypto and author of 'Read Write Own,' dives into how blockchain technology could redefine the internet as a more open and democratic space. He shares insights on the art of writing in a digital world, emphasizing the enduring value of books. The conversation explores the complexities of blockchain, its dual nature, and the cultural implications of cryptocurrencies. Dixon also highlights innovative concepts like collaborative storytelling and speculates on the future of technology, AI, and the creative economy.
01:19:51
Books' Unique Power
- Books offer unique depth and breadth, transmitting worldviews beyond a simple collection of blog posts.
- They create "canon events," deeply impacting readers and permeating culture.
Communicate Worldviews
- Share your worldview effectively through books, reaching a broader audience than blogs or podcasts.
- Books offer the depth and breadth to discuss complex ideas thoroughly.
Power of Catchy Phrases
- Distilling complex information into simple, memorable phrases helps ideas gain traction.
- Chris Dixon's "come for the tool, stay for the network" illustrates this principle.
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Intro
00:00 • 3min
The Art of Book Writing in a Digital World
02:43 • 13min
Crafting Catchy Phrases: The Intersection of Tools and Networks
15:23 • 5min
Navigating Blockchain's Dual Nature
20:13 • 6min
The Intersection of Blockchain and Literature
26:23 • 24min
Navigating the Future of Tech: Startups, AI, and Blockchain
50:22 • 17min
Exploring Cryptocurrency's Creative Revolution
01:07:23 • 11min
Envisioning the Next Era of the Internet
01:18:14 • 2min
#18929
• Mentioned in 2 episodes
An Investigation of the Laws of Thought
George Boole
#16986
• Mentioned in 2 episodes
The end of education
Neil Postman
In 'The End of Education', Neil Postman critiques the current state of American education, arguing that schools have lost their purpose and are overly focused on economic utility and consumerism.
He proposes alternative narratives, such as 'Spaceship Earth' and 'The American Experiment', to inspire and unify students.
Postman emphasizes the importance of shared narratives in creating a cohesive public through education.
#226
• Mentioned in 64 episodes
Gödel, Escher, Bach
An Eternal Golden Braid
Douglas Hofstadter
This book by Douglas Hofstadter is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary work that explores the interrelated ideas of Kurt Gödel, M.C.
Escher, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
It delves into concepts such as self-reference, recursion, and the limits of formal systems, particularly through Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem.
The book uses dialogues between fictional characters, including Achilles and the Tortoise, to intuitively present complex ideas before they are formally explained.
It covers a wide range of topics including cognitive science, artificial intelligence, number theory, and the philosophy of mind, aiming to understand how consciousness and intelligence emerge from formal systems.
#1926
• Mentioned in 14 episodes
The Cold Start Problem
Andrew Chen
#156
• Mentioned in 88 episodes
The Black Swan
The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
David Chandler
Nassim Taleb
The Black Swan is a landmark book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb that investigates the phenomenon of highly improbable events with massive impacts.
These events, termed Black Swans, are unpredictable, have a significant impact, and are rationalized after the fact to appear less random.
Taleb argues that humans are hardwired to focus on specifics rather than generalities, leading to a failure to consider what we don’t know.
The book delves into cognitive biases, the limitations of mathematical models, and the importance of robustness and antifragility in navigating a world filled with uncertainty.
The second edition includes a new essay, 'On Robustness and Fragility,' offering tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.
#166
• Mentioned in 84 episodes
The Tipping Point
How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell
In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell examines the phenomenon of social epidemics and how ideas, products, and behaviors spread rapidly.
He introduces three key principles: the law of the few (the role of connectors, mavens, and salespeople in spreading ideas), the stickiness factor (how messages or trends must be memorable to spread), and the power of context (how environment and circumstances influence human behavior).
Gladwell uses various examples, such as the rise in popularity of Hush Puppies shoes, the decline in New York City's crime rate, and the success of children's TV programs like Sesame Street, to illustrate these concepts.
The book provides insights into how small changes can lead to large-scale social and behavioral transformations.
#255
• Mentioned in 60 episodes
Crossing the Chasm
Geoffrey Moore
In 'Crossing the Chasm', Geoffrey A. Moore explores the Technology Adoption Life Cycle, which includes innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
He highlights the significant gap or 'chasm' between early adopters and the early majority, where early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, while the early majority waits for evidence of productivity improvements.
The book provides strategies for narrowing this chasm, including choosing a target market, understanding the whole product concept, positioning the product, building a marketing strategy, and selecting the most appropriate distribution channels and pricing.
The third edition includes new examples, strategies for digital marketing, and connections to Moore's subsequent works like 'Inside the Tornado'.
#325
• Mentioned in 51 episodes
Read Write Own
Building the Next Era of the Internet
Chris Dixon
In 'Read Write Own,' Chris Dixon argues that the dream of an open, decentralized internet can be saved through blockchain technology.
He describes the internet's evolution through three eras: the 'read' era, where early networks democratized information; the 'read-write' era, where corporate networks democratized publishing; and the current 'read-write-own' era, or web3, where blockchain networks grant power and economic benefits to user communities.
Dixon provides a clear and compelling vision for a better internet, distinguishing blockchain's potential from cryptocurrency speculation and offering a playbook for navigating and building the future of the internet.
with @cdixon @rhhackett
Welcome to the web3 with a16z crypto podcast. I'm Robert Hackett, an editor here at a16z crypto, and I'm here with Chris Dixon, founding partner of a16z crypto and author of the new book Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet. I had the privilege of editing Chris throughout the book writing process, and I'm thrilled now to talk to you about what went on behind the scenes, the big themes of the book, the challenges, and also about the crypto industry at large as well as what we can expect from it in the future.
Learn more at https://readwriteown.com/.
Resources for references in this episode:
- Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse
- "'It's a canon event' TikTok trend, explained"
- Chris Dixon's blog at cdixon.org
- The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen
- On Andrew Chen's writing habits
- On investing in Coinbase in 2013
- Guidance from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in 2019: "Framework for 'Investment Contract' Analysis of Digital Assets"
- On blockchains as "a programmable computer that lives in the sky" via a16z crypto head of research Tim Roughgarden
- Gödel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstader
- "How Aristotle Created the Computer" by Chris Dixon for The Atlantic
- "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" by Claude Shannon
- Principia Mathematica by Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead
- An Investigation of the Laws of Thought by George Boole
- The End of Education by Neil Postman
- "Inside out vs. outside in: The adoption of new technologies" by Chris Dixon
- "The Inevitable Showdown Between Twitter and Twitter Apps" by Chris Dixon
- "Elon Musk says X is discouraging links in posts" by Sara Fischer
- "Make Ethereum Cypherpunk Again" by Vitalik Buterin
- "What Will Happen in 2024" by Fred Wilson
- "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity" by McCullough and Pitts
- Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
- On "thesis, antithesis, and synthesis" and Hegel's Dialectics
As a reminder, none of the following should be taken as business, legal, tax, or investment advice; please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.