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- 🏠Balaji Makes a Bet
Gm. Did Balaji’s post send anyone else into a state of existential confusion? Ok, just me, that’s cool. No idea what I’m talking about? Keep reading.
POLLS
Wow, Friday’s poll was almost split down the middle
“Yes […] then I'd have more time to answer ridiculous polling questions” Priorities are crucial.
“No, it'd be too sad” True there may be riots lol I didn’t even think of this.
“Yes, TikTok has had no domestic allies beyond an army of zombified consumers with low attention spans.” We want our dopamine and we want it now!!
Ok on to today’s poll.
Did you have a good weekend?Hit me with some good stories plz |
FRESH POWDER
Looking at three startups that just raised. Congrats!
If you want to get your company in front of 21,000+ founders, investors, and operators, let us know! Contact [email protected] with any questions
CRYPTO
Balaji Bets BTC Will Hit $1M in 90 Days
Alright, ladies and gents.
Balaji Srinivsan, the former CTO of Coinbase known for his epic 4-hour long podcasts and writing a book about how to start a new country, has finally become the main character of Twitter.
An anonymous account known as James Medlock posted, “I'll bet anyone $1 million dollars that the US does not enter hyperinflation”.
Out of nowhere, Balaji quote-tweeted Medlock’s tweet saying, “I will take the bet. You buy 1 BTC. I will send $1M USD. This is ~40:1 odds as 1 BTC is worth ~$26k. The term is 90 days.” He posted a pic of Bitcoin rising to $1 million and added the hashtag #BitSignal.
Under this tweet, Balaji dropped a tweetstorm explaining why he was willing to take this massive bet: massive hikes in interest rates leading to banks collapsing and people exiting to Bitcoin.
“Just as in 2008, the bankers lied. This time, the central bankers, the banks, and the bank regulators have lied to all dollar holders and depositors. This isn't your typical fractional reserve situation. The problem is that there isn't enough in the banks on a mark-to-market basis to cover withdrawals. They knew this through all of last year, and communicated it internally in their coded language.
The central banks, the banks, and the banking regulators all knew a huge crash was coming — the phrase is "unrealized losses. But they never notified you, the depositor.
Instead the regulators allowed banks to hide their literal insolvency in footnotes, until one guy figured it out.
It's Uncle Sam Bankman Fried. Just like SBF used your deposits to buy shitcoins, using accounting tricks to fool himself and others into using the money, so too did the banks.”
Sheeeeesh. Uncle Sam Bankman Fried is an absolute bar.
Who knows if Balaji is right? All I know is that since Balaji tweeted out the #BitSignal, Bitcoin has risen from 25k to 30k for the first time since June 2022.
Are we about to see another bull market???
TECH
Computers, But Give Them Brain Cells
Artificial Intelligence is dope. It’s given us DALL-E, ChatGPT, tons of new businesses, and endless memes.
But, despite the beliefs of some mainstream journalists, AI has still not reached human-level intelligence. GPT-4 gets us a bit closer, but we would still cook AI in various intellectual pursuits.
So, how do we close that distance between AI and humans? Do we just work to make the AI better?
Nah, that’s boring. Let’s use brain cells to make a biocomputer instead.
Organoid Intelligence
Yep, you heard me right. Scientists are actually building biocomputers where three-dimensional cultures of brain cells, known as brain organoids, are the hardware.
In other words, a computer with a literal brain.
This new field is called organoid intelligence, and the overarching idea is that brain cells make a good computer because brains are superior learners and are more energy efficient.
Basically, instead of pure artificial intelligence, you create a form of cyborg intelligence that is actually more powerful than AI.
If it sounds like a crazy-ass idea, that’s because it is. The organoid intelligence field is still in its infancy, and there are still ethical considerations to sort out behind forcing brain cells into a computer.
But, if it works, it could lead to the kind of computing and AI breakthrough that us nerds dream about.
QUICK HITS
Seed Round
Stat: 90%: The percentage of electricity that could be clean by 2030. Throw in some carbon capture and suddenly things don’t look so bad.
Story we're watching: Elon is planning to open-source the Twitter recommendation algorithm on March 31st. Besides the fact that this might help my threads pop off, it’ll be interesting to see if this will start a trend of social media companies open-sourcing their usually secretive algorithms.
Rabbit hole: Statistically Speaking, You Are The Patsy (Neckar)
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON
Microsoft announced its new AI assistant, Copilot.
Rolls Royce is building a moon base nuclear reactor.
Sam Altman’s a teeeeny bit scared of AI.
Tesla’s looking like the perfect car for gamers.
MONDAY MUSIC
Still hypes me up every time I hear it. J Cole’s verse is 🔥
LAYOFFS TRACKER
Notable layoffs this week
Course Hero: 42 people (15%)
Freshworks: 90 people (2%)
Wipro: 120 people
FOUNDERS CORNER
The best resources we came across this weekend that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.
🚀 Check out this piece on How MrBeast Learns. Although he’s disguised as a YouTuber, he’s a founder thru-and-thru.
🧬 Want access to free research papers? Check out SSRN.
👩🏼‍💻 I keep thinking about A Hacker’s Mind by Bruce Schneier. Excellent book about making sh*t happen within the rules of the system.
IRL
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