David ex Machina

We've all heard the warnings: "Don't click suspicious links!" "Be wary of unsolicited emails!" But what happens when the scam isn't a glaring red flag, but a carefully woven web of trust and delayed tactics? What happens when a seemingly innocuous catch-up call nearly compromises your digital life? That's precisely what happened to me recently, and it was a chilling reminder of how vulnerable we all are to sophisticated social engineering. You never think you'll be the target – until you are. And when that feeling hits, the panic that you're about to lose everything is very, very real. From Conference Connect to Cyberattack It all started innocuously enough. Back in February 2024, I went to EthDenver and amidst the networking, I met a "Zoie Zhang", who worked for a VC firm, “Paramita”. We exchanged contact info on Telegram, snapped a quick photo to remember each other, and that was that. A crypto-standard conference connection. Fast...

Almost two years into the COVID pandemic and with the Omicron variant on the rise, it seems as though we, as a society, should have learned a few important lessons by now. Most of these gaps seem obvious and addressable, but it’s frustrating how little, sometimes even backwards, progress there has been. I hope in pointing some of these gaps out, we can start to build a better society; one that is resilient to pandemics, rather than hope our emergency measures will take us back to the way things used to be. People need space, so space is valuable, but hard to come by. Look at real estate prices ! But public space infrastructure is also lacking, both in the quality of the space and the total area. It’s very difficult to find a place to sit down in a downtown. We should build more housing of course, but that will take years. Right now, we can be investing more in parks, recreation, and opening up private spaces: more seating capacity, more space per person, more open spaces, more multip...

via Goodera Environment Theory - The theory that the environment constrains your behavior and significantly affects your psyche, and these effects generally outweigh your will power over time*. Where environment is defined broadly, as any input to your mind and body that is external from your own person. Let’s look at a few examples: People You are the average of the five closest people you interact with . Chances are if all your friends were talking about Bitcoin in 2009, you’d probably be a millionaire many times over by now. But if most of your friends did drugs, you’re more likely to be an addict.  This affects people in corporations too. How else could the same person who did cocaine and pulled 100 hour weeks at Goldman Sachs be a vegan, meditation retreat employee at Apple? Though controversial, the Stanford Prison Experiment shows how normal people can exhibit sadistic tendencies when adhering to perceived roles of authority. Information Numerous reports show how doomscrol...

https://xkcd.com/552/ Correlation is  often confused for causation . You learn this in mathematics and statistics, and most people think it’s obvious, and then forget about it. Of course the color of my socks did not affect my grade on a math test. If it’s so obvious, can it apply to real life? Turns out, it does. And the weird thing is that oftentimes the correlation is in the exact opposite direction of the true causation. Let’s see some examples (going from more to less obvious): Fact: LeBron James wears these shoes and is g.o.a.t. at basketball. Correlation: If I wear those shoes I will be good at basketball. Causation: LeBron James has his own shoes because he is good at basketball. Fact: Selena Gomez is on Instagram and is famous Correlation: If I get an Instagram account I will be famous Causation: You have to do something that warrants fame in order to get fans. Fact: Many successful people are on Twitter and tweet great ideas and learnings all day. Correlation: I need to...

Adapted from Flickr and transparentpng.com ( cc 4.0 license ) Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an SF tech exodus emerged. There are many well documented reasons for the exodus, namely a high cost of living, unaffordable housing, and increased crime - all accelerated by the switch to remote-first work. But few have been more vocal than Keith Rabois , the paypal mafia venture capitalist, after physically moving and encouraging others to move to Miami. The level of hype raised tech eyebrows, including my own, to wonder if this is self-serving publicity, or something more?  Before I dive in, let me get a few things out of the way. First, I don’t have anything against the city of Miami. Second, I actually think it’s a good thing for tech to diversify and have many intellectual strongholds, not just one mecca. One of the few positives of the pandemic is making people reevaluate their lives and figure out what matters to them, including where to live. I also agree with many of...

Crowd waiting in line outside of White House for New Year reception. Most people hear the word, patience, and think of a boring personality trait, a social virtue that demonstrates calm, rational thinking. A desirable self-control mechanism: the ability to forego short-term pain (or gain) for larger, longer-term gains. But it comes with the cliche, “patience is a virtue”, so much so, that the value of patience has been obscured. Many folks assume patience only benefits others and not themselves (i.e. politely waiting in line), when in fact you stand the most to benefit from being patient. Patience is correlated with success. “Good things come to those who wait”, a related cliche proven by the now-infamous marshmallow experiment, paints patience in a passive tone. Sit around, hold still, and you’ll get more marshmallows. But patience is an active trait. It underpins almost all of today’s success stories. Look back 10 years and pick any asset class whether it’s investing in the stock ...