Brad's Brief - Status Monkeys, Kobe, DALL-E, and Status-as-a-Service (StaaS)
Yo
The singularity freaks me out.
What happens when AI can read, write, and think better than we can?
Prediction: They will control all of the output created on the internet.
They have started with text (GPT-3). But next is photography. And then video. And then the metaverse. One day, we’ll be living in a world created by AI. 😬
We cover this concept and a lot more today.
Let’s dive in.
What I'm reading
DALL-E, the Metaverse, and Zero Marginal Content
The capabilities of AI are pretty incredible.
Recently, OpenAI released DALL-E 2, an AI that can take a simple text description and turn it into realistic images. These are images that have never been seen before (it’s not just searching for old photos that match your criteria). It’s creating brand new art.
Check out some of these examples:
The primary take in this article is that this type of AI represents the future of the metaverse. AI will essentially create the worlds that we will inhabit in the metaverse all by itself. AI is already proven capable of creating text and now images.
Video will be the next frontier.
In the very long run this points to a metaverse vision that is much less deterministic than your typical video game, yet much richer than what is generated on social media. Imagine environments that are not drawn by artists but rather created by AI: this not only increases the possibilities, but crucially, decreases the costs.
It’s crazy to think that everything we consume in 10 years could be generated by AI.
What does that mean for creativity? Will it die?
Status as a Service (StaaS)
Most people think of social media platforms as just ways to communicate with others, but this article argues that they are actually selling Status as a Service (Staas).
What does that mean?
People are always seeking out ways to gain status with their peers. But if status were easy to gain, it wouldn’t be worth anything. So gaining followers and having others know you on social media must be difficult. Social media platforms must keep this difficulty in the system to be relevant over time.
It’s much like the concept of proof-of-work from crypto.
If you don’t have to work for the followers, they aren’t worth anything. Because everyone has them.
As with cryptocurrency, if it were so easy, it wouldn't be worth anything. Value is tied to scarcity, and scarcity on social networks derives from proof of work. Status isn't worth much if there's no skill and effort required to mine it. It's not that a social network that makes it easy for lots of users to perform well can't be a useful one, but competition for relative status still motivates humans. Recall our first tenet: humans are status-seeking monkeys. Status is a relative ladder. By definition, if everyone can achieve a certain type of status, it’s no status at all, it’s a participation trophy.
What I'm listening to
Into the Funtier with Packy McCormick | Bankless
What would it be like to join the crypto world from scratch?
In this episode of Bankless, David and Ryan walk through Packy’s journey of getting up to speed on the crypto industry.
The episode is structured as a walkthrough of his 5 epic essays on crypto:
1 - Ethereum: Own the Internet - The Bull Case for Ethereum
Owning Ethereum is like owning a piece of the internet.
2 - Solana Summer
The next million users we will need to be onboarded with a better user experience.
3 - Status Monkeys
NFTs feel like a social network on top of a blockchain.
If nothing else, take a second to think about whether you could be making more money having fun, or having more fun making money.
5 - The Web3 Debate
Is Web3 perfectly decentralized and for the people? No.
In general, Packy is bullish on the entire industry and it's fun to see someone intelligent fall down the rabbit hole. He describes himself as dumb enough to not be able to understand everything outright, but smart enough to understand it with a lot of research and conversations. I think about myself this way, so I loved his insight.
Give it a listen.
What I'm watching
Kobe Bryant’s Greatest Speech | BEST Motivation Ever
If you want to get motivated, watch this video.
Here’s some great quotes:
You can rest at the end, not at the middle.
You have to do the hard stuff and watch the game you lost. Can’t do the stuff again because you were afraid to face it.
People would take vacations just to take vacations. I don’t want to retire and think, I wish I would have done more.
The obstacle cannot define me.
You gotta lead by example. Greatness is about inspiring the people next to you.
I just watched this again and I’m fired up.
Tweet of the Week
This is hilarious:
Thanks for reading!
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