Ep. 48: Henri Stern - Principled Enough to Be Pragmatic

This is excellent but I'm very disappointed to learn @sternhenri isn't in fact heir to the Patek Philippe family fortune

Everyone says AI is a talent multiplier, but Nicholas Thompson has a simple test: Show him a mid journalist producing exceptional work using AI. Not a great journalist moving faster, but someone actually skipping the jump.

"Elon Musk (@elonmusk) is a prophet trying to do a priest’s job." Celine Nguyen on Henry Farrell, Max Weber, and the thrill of finding an old idea that suddenly explains the present.

Ep. 48: Henri Stern - Principled Enough to Be Pragmatic

1 for privy also worth listening to @sternhenri on @dialecticpod with @jacksondahl from yesterday banger episode pod.link/1780282402/episode/…

Nicole Seah on not forcing Ikigai: Monet painted water lilies 250 times. Many founders rarely land on the "thing" immediately. The work usually converges after a long route of discovery, repetition, and enough grace to not demand an answer too early.

Ep. 26: Cyan Banister - A Fool's Dérive Cyan Banister (@cyantist) is an investor, artist, and co-founder and General Partner of @LongJourneyVC. Previously, Cyan spent four years at @foundersfund and has a legendary angel investing track record alongside her husband, Scott, including early rounds in SpaceX, Uber, and DeepMind. Cyan is as original as they come: she grew up on a Navajo reservation and was homeless by 15, with a series of unlikely serendipitous moments combined with optimism, agency, and love of capitalism taking her to a very different life than the one she grew up with. I focused this conversation not on Cyan's work, but her unique approach to living. We begin with Cyan’s “church”: a weekly visit to see Bobby McFerrin and co. do live, jazz acapella in Berkeley, CA. We discuss how this space ties to presence, openness, and play, and then talk about the tension between novelty and consistency as she continues on her own path toward self-love and mindfulness. She also tells me about her radical approach to accountability and the empowering results of assuming that everything is her fault. One of Cyan's favorite words is the French dérive, or an intentional drift, and it embodies her approach to the world. She moves with childlike wonder, seeking to see things and people from new perspectives and challenging others to react beyond their default settings. She daydreams about the outcomes she wants and has remarkable conviction and faith even when others do not believe her. We wrap with a grab bag representative of Cyan's diverse interests, from filmmaking and performance art to the US Constitution to Bill Murray. Cyan manages to combine randomness and intentionality, naiveté and sober-minded awareness, humility and conviction. I hope you are are as inspired as I am to live more playfully, seriously, and courageously. Timestamps: 3:45 - Cyan's "Church" 16:21 - Stillness, Mindfulness, and Introspection 28:47 - Learning to See in Original Ways 39:38 - People: When the "Light is On," "Collecting Minds," and Conjuring Friends 46:55 - Cultivating Childlike Joy and Refusing to be a Victim 52:30 - Radical Accountability 56:28 - Randomness, Faith, and Experimentation 1:06:22 - Conviction and Peter Thiel 1:12:54 - Returning to Seed Investing and Long Journey Ventures 1:18:23 - Thoughts on Art 1:23:42 - Performance Art 1:26:37 - Cyan's Creative Projects 1:32:51 - Boredom 1:36:06 - Living Around Elderly People 1:42:14 - Pete Buttigieg 1:45:57 - Being a Role Model 1:48:26 - Young People's Future 1:52:46 - Scott Banister and Lessons for Her Kids 1:55:35 - "It Just Doesn't Matter" And Who Pulls the Strings --- Quick note on video: Yes, it is here! Today’s episode isn’t perfect (a one-off set in a friend’s space, some audio-video sync issues, imperfect camera angles, so on). Alas, I’m ripping the bandaid off and you can expect some future episodes to include video versions. Feedback is welcome. --- All links and transcript avail below.

One of my favorite podcasts chatting with @sternhenri who's quickly becoming one of my favorite people to work with. Great guest choice @jacksondahl

Two of my favorite people JAMMING on two of my favorite topics (the crypto market and Privy) Give it a listen 🤩🤩🤩🤩

Some musings on crypto and morality on the web. I first met Jackson 4-5 years ago when Privy was embryonic and he was diving into crypto after 100 thieves. We've had a huge number of conversations since across so many topics -- loved recording one of them!

95% of the people on any plane today would have tried to kill the Wright brothers if they’d lived in their time. Today, they fly without a second thought. @paulscherer on why "inventor" becoming high-status might be bad for cutting-edge discoveries.

How does a founder know what to hold firmly and be unwavering on, even if VCs think they're wrong? 👇

The danger of getting blessed early: fewer people tell you when you're wrong. @paulscherer on treating disagreement as a privilege, and the rare founder skill of simultaneously being P99 humble and P99 confident.

Paul Scherer is building a mutual friend for the world. At @eigenhq, he’s building a pro-social AI designed to deepen & widen your relationships rather than replace them. Modern social products are built to keep you looking, clicking, and vaguely elsewhere. His bet is that the harder, more human problem is belonging. Not another machine for attention or visibility, but something that helps friendship happen. This is Dialectic Episode 47: A Friend That Brings Us Closer.

20 Favorite Lessons from Paul Scherer on fighting entropy, creating belonging, and building a mutual friend for the world. 1. Presence is a sacred gift. 2. You stop racing the clock when you start playing your game. 3. A friend is a mirror and a window. 4. A robust rolodex doesn't happen by accident. 5. When social and media converged, we lost real connection. 6. The internet smoothie is not enough. 7. Loneliness isn't a champagne problem. 8. The "mutual" matters more than the "friend." 9. Eigen is building a new kind of person, not a pretend human. 10. You can't change incentives with good intentions. 11. Iconic inventors of history were outlaws. Now invention is high status. 12. Great work resists entropy. 13. Great products are felt, not noticed. 14. Creating the new requires p99 confidence and p99 humility at the same time. 15. Find people who can break your model. 16. A founder must set the gravity. 17. Don't mistake smelling bread for tasting it. 18. Beware "iPad takes." 19. "You can't get everything, but you can get anything." 20. Authenticity is listening to the inner voice adulthood teaches you to ignore.