DALL-E/Every illustration.

Crypto’s Prophet Speaks

A16z’s Chris Dixon hasn’t abandoned the faith with his new book, 'Read Write Own'

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@Mark_5418 over 1 year ago

Excellent post. Per your last paragraph, what do you think about blockchain as an infrastructure for an AI based economy, ie a ledger for AI to transact with AI.

Evan Armstrong over 1 year ago

@Mark_5418 i think it could work? Honestly, the devil is in the details—attribution, what blockchain, etc—that I don't think anyone has sorted out yet. The theory could be right? Vaguely similar to my feelings on crypto before writing this review. Good idea, details are iffy.

@sajjad585 over 1 year ago

Loved this post! The arguments were very strong, nuanced, and well researched. They were written with great clarity in thought and simplicity in style. I enjoyed your writing style a lot and was taking notes — will be back for more

Evan Armstrong over 1 year ago

@sajjad585 Thank you! I appreciate that :)

Georgia Patrick over 1 year ago

So glad you decided to take this on and provide the benefit of your experience, wisdom, and well-calibrated bullshit sniffer. Your article proves again why Every in on my desktop. I don't have to care about crypto and I don't. I am curious. You write to the curious. You provide worldview information and being well-informed makes for rich and deep conversations. And better questions.

Evan Armstrong over 1 year ago

@[email protected] Thanks Georgia! appreciate that

@Garrett.galow over 1 year ago

Really good write-up! It's hard to read a book by him as anything other than looking to prop up his investments but I think you approached it very fairly.

I'm failing to find the clip but there was one with Chamath and some other crypto investors basically describing how they would fund tokens and then exit early at the peak. It was so damning of the entire VC industries treatment of crypto as purely a speculative investment vehicle while they try to say otherwise.

I say all this as someone who was amazed by Ethereum and its promises for computing years ago. I still find it all technically very impressive, but I am not convinced it really offers enough to go spend my time trying to build with it.

@Garrett.galow over 1 year ago

Found it - https://twitter.com/SilvermanJacob/status/1595059806200643589

@j.lang over 1 year ago

Well balanced article. Agree on risks of hard coded “laws “ - we know the problems this causes with literal religious zealots. Also the need for an effective organizational architecture to have both carrot (incentives) and stick (punishment).I am excited by the transparency blockchain record keeping brings, plus the joyful self adaptation of these huge open-sourced systems

Carl Bischoff over 1 year ago

What a rollicking great read!
‘ If everyone’s in charge, nobody is.’
I'm thinking chaos & Blockchain & patterns like a roller coaster with no track.
Driven largely by emotion and fantasy.
Blockchain is pushing change which is a good thing.

@DanielDuggal over 1 year ago

Almost bought the book but now I don't feel that's necessary given this clear summary and incisive analysis. My Every subscription is paying for itself! Pls keep it up

"I may be a little bit nit-picky with these examples" No, the specificity and attention to detail is what makes this article great. I think Dixon is someone who got in early, made a lot of money, and now he is "the guy" to go to about crypto. He succeeded in this space, he is still making his living off of it, winning is great, but failing teaches. He hasn't failed, his job is secure, he is managing billions of dollars, so he holds firm to the ideas that ignited his passion for the space in the first place. He is to crypto what Ninja is to streaming: the man who got in at the right time, became the face of the movement/ idea, and made the most money/ had the most success that anyone ever will. More than anything, I just have to believe that anyone who is so sure in such extreme, "all-in" views is wrong in some way, because everything is nuanced, there is no magic wand to wave that will make everything perfect.

Jwvals valles over 1 year ago

Hello:

I just listened to an interesting podcast with Mr Dixon on the a16z network and he stated that he would like to respond to comments, pro or con. I think it would be interesting to learn from the two of you chatting???