I love investors and investors love me – I believe. But if you spend time on VC Twitter, it’s hard to avoid some well deserved criticism. This week, I’m sharing a bunch of articles that question the morals of venture capitalists. We’re also looking into how VCs raise funds with LPs.
As usual, I’m also sharing some articles about Big Tech and how to keep it under public scrutiny.
The case of Timnit Gebru, ethics researcher at Google, is appalling.
At the same time, DeepMind (part of the Google empire) is unveiling a breakthrough in protein modeling that will impact the lives of millions.
Don’t worry, we also provide your weekly dose of business insights in community building, newsletter, podcast and marketing.
Book
Future Of Text 2020
A single sentence on a piece of paper does not hold the same power as a single sentence in a tweet and the ease of publishing vastly overpowers what was possible to print and read on paper.
Digital text holds real, untapped potential because of its inherent interactivity and we have a choice: We can learn to control the vast sea of digital text–or be controlled by it.
- Link (Free Download): futuretextpublishing.com/future-of-text-2020-download/
- Author: The collected work is © Copyright ‘Future Text Publishing’ and Frode Alexander Hegland
Venture Capital
Some of our readers complain about VC bashing. Guess what, we know who’s behind @VCbrags!
VCs Congratulating Themselves- Link: vcbrags.medium.com/blog-post-ba33bd710d96
- Author: VCs Congratulating Themselves
How Venture Capitalists Are Deforming Capitalism
Even the worst-run startup can beat competitors if investors prop it up. The venture capital firm Benchmark helped enable WeWork to make one wild mistake after another—hoping that its gamble would pay off before disaster struck.
Charles Duhigg- Link: newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/30/how-venture-capitalists-are-deforming-capitalism
- Author: Charles Duhigg
The VC “Strips off” – Silicon Roundabout Ventures VC Fund Deck Reviewed Live by Draper Esprit LP
- Link: siliconroundabout.tech/the-vc-strips-off-silicon-roundabout-ventures-deck-reviewed-live-by-draper-esprit-lp
- Author: Francesco Perticarari
Alternative Assets
Window shopping for expired Domain Names
Want to Build a Side Business? Just Buy a Great Domain Name
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Politics
Democratic Source Code for a New U.S.-EU Tech Alliance
I found this one particularly relevant to our Selected Salon with Dr. Jen Schradie.
tysonbarker- Link: lawfareblog.com/democratic-source-code-new-us-eu-tech-alliance
- Author: Marietje Schaake, Tyson Barker
We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here’s what it says
The company’s star ethics researcher highlighted the risks of large language models, which are key to Google’s business.
- Link: technologyreview.com/2020/12/04/1013294/google-ai-ethics-research-paper-forced-out-timnit-gebru
- Author: Karen Hao
Marketing
Social media predictions for 2021
- There will be more censorship (ie: Twitter) and less censorship (ie: Parler)
- Community and commerce will converge
- The rise of implicit social networking
- There will be two breakout audio social networks
- Paying for social will become the norm
- We will see one breakout crypto community
- There will be 1-2 new novel ways of hanging out virtually
- TLDR; social is becoming “stretchy”
Greg IsenbergThe Online Community Engagement Ladder
The community engagement ladder is a framework that acknowledges that members interact with your community in different ways, and creates opportunities for them to interact, regardless of how engaged they’re able to be at any given time.
Noele FlowersStrategy
The Unusual Signs of a Billion Dollar Company, with Elad Gil
Newsletter
Peak Newsletter? That Was 80 Years Ago
Radical poets like Allen Ginsburg used mimeographs to sell chapbooks, while genre aficionados relied on them to print science-fiction fanzines. Mimeographs also fueled the growth of marginalized communities: Some of the earliest gay publications, like the 1950s lesbian newsletter The Ladder, ran on the machine.
Michael Waters- Link: wired.com/story/peak-newsletter-that-was-80-years-ago/
- Author: Michael Waters
Science
Contemplating the End of Physics
One could argue, the seeds that led to these discoveries were all planted in the good old days. Black holes and gravitational waves are direct consequences of the equations Albert Einstein discovered in 1915. Maybe physics has run out of original ideas?
Robbert DijkgraafDeepMind’s AI makes gigantic leap in solving protein structures
“This is a big deal,” says John Moult, a computational biologist at the University of Maryland in College Park, who co-founded CASP in 1994 to improve computational methods for accurately predicting protein structures. “In some sense the problem is solved.”
- Link: nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03348-4
- Author: Ewen Callaway
Podcast
Meet the young podcast generation
“Our ultimate goal is to make sure everyone feels like they’re a part of a worldwide community and gets an opportunity to share their stories first-hand.” – Ekram Esmael
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- Link: atlasofthefuture.org/project/wadup
- Author: Caitlin O’Rorke
Seasonal
8 Hours of 4K footage and ASMR audio of a cozy fireplace
Because when you can’t have an actual fireplace, this is the next best thing.
- Link: https://youtu.be/AWKzr6n0ea0
- Author: Balu – Relaxing in Nature in 4k