Building the Future, Drugs, Brain Disease & Driving Records - Weekly Mix #145

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Building the Future, Drugs, Brain Disease & Driving Records

Happy Friday !
Work has been a bit hectic for me the last few weeks, given that we're at the end of our fiscal year, but I did manage to get some article reading done. Hoping to get back to some longer-form reading soon.

The weather here also started to look like spring (despite some snow), so I've been managing to incorporate a little more exercise in my routine again, which feels good.

Hope you're all staying sane and healthy!

Articles I'm Reading:

It's Time to Build - Marc Andreessen - I finally got around to reading the controversial article Marc Andreessen (well-known investor at Andreessen Horowitz) published a couple weeks ago. It's inspirational from my point of view, but others had some criticisms.

How Tech Can Build - Stratechery (Ben Thompson) - Several of these criticisms are addressed here, as well as some suggested solutions. The main criticism is that while Andreessen is calling for lots of real-world, non-software building (infrastructure, for example), he's spent most of his life building and investing in software. Thompson's conclusion is spot-on: the point of Andreessen's article is the sentiment.

America's Other Epidemic - The Atlantic - At first, this may seem like a complete topic shift, but as I read these articles this week, I couldn't help but think about how they are related. Andreessen is calling for more boldness when it comes to imagining our physical world, and that we should expect to have progressed more. A similar sentiment could be expressed in relation to the War on Drugs. How are some of the richest countries on earth still struggling so much with these problems, while other countries like Portugal have essentially solved them? Why aren't we world leaders in these areas?

If you haven't read it: 14 Years After Decriminalizing Drugs, This Chart Shows Why Portugal’s Bold Risk Paid Off

The Highland Park Drug Ring - D Magazine - To demonstrate just how deeply this problem reaches, read this story about a mother of 10 and a cop involved in a drug ring run from a gated community in Dallas.

The Devastating Decline of a Brilliant Young Coder - Wired - A heartbreaking story about one of the founders of Cloudflare, and his struggle with a degenerative brain disease.

Whoosh! That Car That Just Soared by Might Be Heading for the Coast - NYT - The Cannonball Run is an illegal time-trial from New York to Redondo Beach, California. Roads are more open than usual due to COVID, and teams are taking advantage. The latest record-breakers averaged over 100MPH (!!).

Photos from this week: We've been lucky to have some absolutely beautiful sunsets here, which makes staying at home that much easier...

Have a great week!

Graham

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