What was not admirable: he didn't really care who he ran over.
R World (Ron Davison muses aloud)
12 October 2026
11 October 2026
10 October 2026
Totemic Energy for Different Times
Traditionally, a lot of college mascots were named after the animals or occupations that defined their regions. Grizzlies. Lumberjacks. Miners.
Still, it was a tad disorienting to watch the San Jose Programmers play the Santa Monica Lapdogs.
Still, it was a tad disorienting to watch the San Jose Programmers play the Santa Monica Lapdogs.
The Rise and Fall of Populations
Just as the birthrates of humans is falling, the birthrate of artificial intelligences is exploding.
*no AIs were harmed in the creation of this post.
Tired of waiting for an alien species to arrive by spacecraft, we're downloading them just like we do e-books or songs. By one count, the population of AIs is 3 million. (Specifically, that is the number of publicly available AI models on Hugging Face.) And growing daily.
*no AIs were harmed in the creation of this post.
US Created Half the World's New Millionaires Last Year
From Harper's ....
Estimated number of millionaires created in the United States last year : 441,078
Estimated portion of the world’s new millionaires that this figure represents : 1/2
September 2026 • Source: UBS (Zurich)
Estimated portion of the world’s new millionaires that this figure represents : 1/2
September 2026 • Source: UBS (Zurich)
09 October 2026
Live Streaming Executions
For a time, I would occasionally find myself in a restaurant showing MMA on a big screen. And I remember wondering how it was I landed in the crasser parallel universe that put violence on the big screen rather than nudity.
Meanwhile, the guy who lives in the White Trash House is going to live stream an execution because cage matches don't feed his appetite for violence quite enough.
One Way We Look Into the Future
We use telescopes to see into the past.
We use financial markets to see into the future.
We use financial markets to see into the future.
08 October 2026
What People Are Paying to Live in the World's Most Entrepreneurial City
From Harper's Magazine
Minimum number of homes in San Francisco that sold for at least $1 million over the asking price in 2025 : 25
In the first seven months of 2026 : 160
In the first seven months of 2026 : 160
Our Fascination with Sports
We're fascinated with sports in part because they offer a little oasis of clarity.
Decades into your own life, you may still have doubts about whether you're winning or losing.
But you can turn on a game three quarters of the way through and know—in an instant—who's winning.
Decades into your own life, you may still have doubts about whether you're winning or losing.
But you can turn on a game three quarters of the way through and know—in an instant—who's winning.
07 October 2026
Would You Go for High Score or ...?
Suppose you suddenly learned that you were simply a dollop of consciousness in the midst of a virtual reality game that had, until this moment, seemed entirely real.
Would you suddenly care less - or even more deeply - about who you were, what you felt, what you inspired in others (for better or worse), and the consequences of your life? Er, game.
Would you try for a high score in joy? For yourself and your fellow players?
Or would it suddenly be game over, so to speak?
Would you try for a high score in joy? For yourself and your fellow players?
Or would it suddenly be game over, so to speak?
The Current Gap Between US and Chinese AI
Martin Chorzempa - in a Peterson Institute presentation - reports on the current gap between American and Chinese chips. It is substantial.
Chorzempa reports that Chinese chip production is improving but remains far behind US quantity and quality. Deepseek's Liang Wenfeng reportedly said that the chip gap between US and China is currently "fourfold plus two years." What that means is that it takes four Huawei chips to match one Nvidia chip from two years earlier. (These are leaked remarks reported in July of 2026.)
Further, the US AI global revenue is greater than Chinas. In May of 2026, Anthropic reported $47 billion. In July of 2026, Zhipu reported $1 billion and DeepSeek about half that.
06 October 2026
With a MU MU Here, and a GPU There
By far his most sweeping idea was AI-EI-O: artificial intelligence applied to agriculture and farming.
Well Read or Just, Well ...
He claimed to be well read, but occasionally undermined the claim by doing something like quoting Moby Dick. The whale, not the novel.
05 October 2026
Cowboys and Cattle from 2100
Cowboys in the future will use very different technology to move cattle.
The Reminder in Each Nobel Prize
Nobel Prizes will be announced over the next week. They are such a wonderful reminder that we are so far from exhausting the possibilities of new knowledge. The best chapters of the human story still lie before us.
A Package Deal
“I put the Trump in triumph,” he said proudly.
“And, of course, the I and h.”
“I! Ha! Yes. But h? What’s the h for?”
“Hubris, apparently.”
“And, of course, the I and h.”
“I! Ha! Yes. But h? What’s the h for?”
“Hubris, apparently.”
An Odd Bit of Pandemic Nostalgia
She didn't miss COVID but she did miss some of the norms. Shy, she liked avoiding people as the default. And she always thought she had great eyes but a weak chin; a mask seemed like the perfect aesthetic for such a face, curiously giving her more confidence as she was out and about.
04 October 2026
Haphazard
"Random? That makes me sound undisciplined. I prefer haphazard. That makes me sound dashing."
His boss continued to stare at him blankly, finally adding, "I hardly think that change in your annual review is going to make a promotion any more likely."
"It's all just a roll of the dice, isn't it Clive?"
"Well, the way you approach it, yes. Yes it is. And again, my name is not Clive."
"It's all just a roll of the dice, isn't it Clive?"
"Well, the way you approach it, yes. Yes it is. And again, my name is not Clive."
Investigations of a Metaphysical Detective
Idea for a metaphysical detective show.
Each episode he dives into another faith tradition, embracing their beliefs and practices, congregation and clergy.
One drawback, of course, is that given it takes so long to properly immerse into a particular religion, the show may take a few years to release each episode.
Guy investigates various religions to explore how they answer the big questions, the biggest being "How does this change my life?"
Each episode he dives into another faith tradition, embracing their beliefs and practices, congregation and clergy.
One drawback, of course, is that given it takes so long to properly immerse into a particular religion, the show may take a few years to release each episode.
03 October 2026
Silicon Valley Isn't Just Further West - It is Further into the Future
In 1849, at the height of the California Gold Rush, eggs that cost pennies elsewhere sold for $1 to $3 apiece in California.
Silicon Valley has always meant higher prices. Years ago, when I traveled to work with clients in the heart of the Valley, I paid at least three times, and sometimes five or six times, what a nearly identical hotel room cost anywhere else in the country. This was during the internet buildout. I remember business trips in those early days spent scrolling through page after page of search results just trying to find a hotel with a vacancy, at any price.
The AI boom is, curiously, yet another California gold rush. About three-quarters of Nvidia employees are reportedly millionaires, and a huge share are worth tens of millions.
Why do Valley prices stay so far above everyone else's? Some are just spikes. Gold Rush eggs didn't stay at $3, and Valley hotel rates fell when the dot-com bubble burst. But I have an odd theory about the rest: Silicon Valley sits closer to the future.
If you had told someone in 1970 that a typical home would someday cost over a million dollars, they'd have dismissed you as speaking nonsense. In Silicon Valley, that day has already come. Time has a way of making outrageous prices seem normal.
Silicon Valley isn't just a place out West. It's a place further into the future, where people are already paying prices that will seem normal nearly everywhere in a decade or three.
Silicon Valley has always meant higher prices. Years ago, when I traveled to work with clients in the heart of the Valley, I paid at least three times, and sometimes five or six times, what a nearly identical hotel room cost anywhere else in the country. This was during the internet buildout. I remember business trips in those early days spent scrolling through page after page of search results just trying to find a hotel with a vacancy, at any price.
The AI boom is, curiously, yet another California gold rush. About three-quarters of Nvidia employees are reportedly millionaires, and a huge share are worth tens of millions.
Why do Valley prices stay so far above everyone else's? Some are just spikes. Gold Rush eggs didn't stay at $3, and Valley hotel rates fell when the dot-com bubble burst. But I have an odd theory about the rest: Silicon Valley sits closer to the future.
If you had told someone in 1970 that a typical home would someday cost over a million dollars, they'd have dismissed you as speaking nonsense. In Silicon Valley, that day has already come. Time has a way of making outrageous prices seem normal.
Silicon Valley isn't just a place out West. It's a place further into the future, where people are already paying prices that will seem normal nearly everywhere in a decade or three.
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