Weekend Briefing No. 527
Trust Flip -- Tech and San Francisco Politics -- Nuclear Battery
Welcome to the weekend.
Sorry about last week. I accidentally sent the briefing out a day early. My fault! I hope you enjoy this week’s briefing.
Prime Numbers
193,900,000 — In its first full quarter of operation (Q4 2023), Sphere, the next-generation music venue in Las Vegas, lost $193.9 million on revenue of $167.8 million.
50 — Here’s a list of 50 truly wild and wondrous places to eat from all corners of the globe.
1.19 — A stable population requires a 2.1 replacement rate. The average fertility rate of an advanced economy is 1.4, but the U.N.’s official estimate based on China’s Census is that their fertility rate is 1.19 as of 2020.
Trust Flip
For most of human history, it was very hard to determine whether what someone told us was true. The answer came down to two factors: 1) does the claim make sense with what we already believed to be true and 2) is the source credible. The invention of photography changed this dynamic. We came to believe a photograph as evidence of truth. You might claim something, and I might not believe it, but if you showed me a photograph of it, I HAD to believe it. The advent of AI generative technology has now reversed this dynamic. We are starting to assume images are altered or fake unless proven otherwise. Trust must now be established through metadata tagging an image's origins as real, or trusting the source as reliable from past truthfulness. We have returned to our historical default state of disbelief, where claims must be verified before trust is granted, rather than trusted automatically. Images are now guilty until proven innocent, a seismic shift from the temporary anomaly of photographic truth being accepted at face value. This is the “trust flip.” Technium (3 minutes)
Tech and San Francisco Politics
For years, Silicon Valley stayed out of San Francisco politics, but now tech executives and investors are getting involved to back moderate candidates and ballot measures they believe will make the city safer and more business-friendly. The tech industry feels current progressive policies have allowed crime, homelessness and drug issues to spiral while negatively impacting schools, so they are funding campaigns to elect less liberal candidates to the Board of Supervisors that can block the agenda of Mayor London Breed. This has created a divide among Democrats, with progressives arguing the tech-backed campaigns disproportionately harm minorities and the poor. Tech leaders aim to curb the exodus of workers from San Francisco and change perceptions that the city has swung too far left. Wall Street Journal (9 minutes)
High Cash-on-Cash Granted
If you are getting used to high-yielding savings accounts and ever-increasing treasury yields, it is time to seek out alternatives. Fixed income rates are falling, but OneWall Communities is offering immediately available, liquid, fixed-rate Notes at 8% for 1 year with monthly interest payments. This return is more than 13x the average savings account and more than 300 bps above 1-year treasury yields. In a time when the stock market is frothy and inflation is still elevated, adding high-yield fixed income with zero correlation to the stock market and no reliance on day-to-day property performance for repayment can provide diversification and stable monthly income to your portfolio. Weekend Briefing readers are getting priority access to the remaining current offering plus first look at future opportunistic multifamily deals before the wave of institutional dry powder crashes in. More than $300B is available for commercial real estate investment. OneWall (Sponsored)
Nuclear Battery
A Chinese startup called Betavolt is developing a coin-sized nuclear battery that can continuously power devices like phones and drones for up to 50 years. These batteries have 10 times the energy density of lithium ion batteries. Betavolt joins companies like Australia's PhosEnergy also working on ultra-long-life nuclear batteries. While promising continuous charging, the proposed beta-radiation-based battery poses potential public health risks, especially if swallowed. Safety concerns and regulations could hinder Betavolt's vision of powering phones and gadgets indefinitely with its tiny nuclear battery. Nuclear batteries hold appeal for their extraordinary life span but require scrutiny to ensure public and environmental safety. Cosmos (6 minutes)
Sleep and Reality
Sleep deprivation is astonishingly common, with research indicating one in three people suffer from insufficient sleep. Lack of quality rest has profound impacts on our cognitive abilities and emotional state. During sleep, our brains process the day's memories and emotions, consolidating important information and pruning irrelevant details. Without adequate sleep, these memory processes become disrupted, leading to jumbled recollections where negative thoughts and intrusive feelings are disproportionately retained. Our higher faculties are remarkably dependent on sound sleep. Well-rested individuals are not only more alert, but calmer, more patient, and better equipped for a range of cognitive demands. By ensuring sufficient sleep, we can optimize our mental faculties and emotional balance. Big Think (7 minutes)
Evaluating Character
This article offers eight techniques to evaluate a person’s character. Here are a few of my favorites: 1) Rather than listening to what people say, look at who they marry, as a spouse reveals their innermost longings and values; sizing up someone's partner provides insights you can't get any other way. 2) How people treat service workers reveals their true nature, as they often feel free to unleash their worst sides on those with no power to fight back; in contrast, those who treat staff with care and respect demonstrate admirable character and trustworthiness. 3) To assess character, observe how people handle unexpected problems, as their true nature is revealed when forced to improvise and make spontaneous decisions; some rise to the occasion with poise while others lose their composure, but their core values come to the forefront. The Honest Broker (8 minutes)
An Unoptimized Life
We get caught up in the daily grind, pursuing the next rung on the ladder, and lose sight of simply being; small things distract us from focusing on what's important. Real freedom, according to David Foster Wallace, involves awareness, attention, discipline and caring for others through daily sacrifices. Productivity hacks are seductive as they promise success with little effort, but there are no shortcuts to meaningful work. In technology, we deal in god-like powers of creation, so it seems foolish to waste time optimizing marginal gains instead of leaving space to think and live fully. Rather than an optimized life, we need room to be unoptimized. Maybe that would help us produce work that matters. The unoptimized life provides the space to do and be more. Every (6 minutes)
Should We Work Together?
Hi! I’m Kyle. This newsletter is my passion project. When I’m not writing, I run a law firm that helps startups move fast without breaking things. Most founders want a trusted legal partner, but they hate surprise legal bills. At Westaway, we take care of your startup’s legal needs for a flat, monthly fee so you can control your costs and focus on scaling your business. If you’re interested, let’s jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit for the firm. Click here to schedule a one-on-one call with me.
Founder Fridays
Check out my other email, Founder Fridays — a Friday morning briefing helping startup founders and operators scale smarter.
Weekend Wisdom
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. - William Shakespeare