Media – Page 10

Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling

pixar-movies-collage

Thanks to my friend Jason’s tweet, I re-discovered this resource. Just wanted to highlight some of my favorites — and it’s always interesting how your favorites will change with each review or re-reading. Hope you find some favorites too!

Rule #3: Trying for theme is important. However you won’t see what the story is about until you’re at the end of the story. Got it? Now rewrite.

Rule #11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

Rule #12: Discount the first idea that comes to mind. And the 2nd, and the 3rd and 4th and 5th. Get the obvious ones out of the way. Surprise yourself.

Rule #17: No work is ever wasted. If it doesn’t work, let go and move on. It’ll come back around and be useful later.

Rule #20: Exercise: Take the building blocks out of a movie you dislike. How’d you arrange them into what you do like?

Ark’s Big Ideas 2023 report: Pure tech dopamine

Full PDF here.

Bitcoiners don’t want no gubmint gettin they hands on dem coins:

There’s a similar statistic which shows average LA<>NY flight times have not decreased in generations, either:

It continually surprises me, how much more we can do online:

Apparently robots don’t just dance and somersault:

web3 is the lovechild of blockchains, tokens, and VCs:

Ack, I just drooled onto my keyboard:

The best description of “The Metaverse” that I’ve seen yet: “the Metaverse is not one thing or one piece of technology. It is every technology”

Andrew was an early NFT / crypto adopter, and is now jumping full steam into the metaverse. So it’s no surprise he lives in the future. And this recent essay of his was the best description I’ve yet read about the metaverse, ie, what Facebook spent $10B and renamed its company to achieve.

Link: https://andrewsteinwold.substack.com/p/metaverse-what-it-is-how-it-will

Some excerpts:

In my eyes, the Metaverse is not one thing or one piece of technology. It is every technology – the internet, AR, VR, AI, crypto, NFTs, etc all working together in one seamless system.

I agree that it will encompass many things, there is no clear dividing line (except maybe between “online” and “offline”)

Economic – The financial system of the metaverse will likely be accessible to all, transparent, and operate on blockchain rails. If you want to buy a digital good in the metaverse and have to wait 5 days for the wire to hit the seller’s account in Germany, that is not going to cut it.

Surprise – I agree! Though there will also be centralized options too, but the most innovative – and likely most valuable – components will be blockchain-based, open source, and permissionless.

In the past, we had “internet” companies, but now almost every company is a “tech” company. Similarly, the metaverse is a collection of technologies and capabilities that will soon transform every company into a “metaverse” company. With the world becoming more digital and connected, the impact of the metaverse will be felt by everyone and everything.

Also agree. Just as every company who wanted to stay competitive and relevant had to incorporate “the internet” over the past 20 years, everyone today will – willingly or otherwise – integrate “the metaverse”. And probably “AI.”

Nat Friedman – Some things he believes: “Energy is a necessary input for progress”

Lovely list of perspectives and insights he’s gained over the years, at nat.org

A few of my favorites (copied verbatim):

—

The efficient market hypothesis is a lie
-In many cases it’s more accurate to model the world as 500 people than 8 billion

We are often not even asking the right questions

Where do you get your dopamine?
-The answer is predictive of your behavior

Going fast makes you focus on what’s important; there’s no time for bullshit

Enthusiasm matters!
-Energy is a necessary input for progress

—

Added to my personal bible

Superb essay on Nietzsche on master and slave morality: “The last man seeks comfort above all else”

Source: https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/nietzsche-on-slave-morality

Nietzsche was worried about this instinct suppression that slave morality enabled. He feared it would lead to the rise of the most despicable kind of person — the /last man/. The last man seeks comfort above all else. The last man no longer understands the value of suffering and chaos and so avoids them. This makes him weak and ineffectual, but the last man calls this “happiness”.

But Nietsche also believed that something was gained in this transition to Slave Morality: /A rich inner-life/. The inner conflict created by the tension between group-beneficial social norms and self-serving instincts drove us to create great art in an attempt to reconcile those tensions. This inner conflict led us to become philosophers, psychologists, novelists, etc. There’s no Woody Allen or Larry David or Dave Sedaris in Master Morality.