![]() ![]() And in the meantime, maybe a more serious answer about what I might be doing if I didn't work in tech is that I find the idea of being the mayor of a city compelling. There should always be room for another good country. And yet in this fundamental way we organize human existence and form our identities, we're very static, very backward-looking. Which is a shame when you think about it, because innovation is how humanity has always made major progress in a single leap. But a new country, here on Earth, created without military force? That's science fiction to most people! I'm joking, of course – because how do you do that? In fact, right now, thanks to the efforts of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, life on Mars is starting to seem like it could be in the realm of possibility. I like building things from scratch, I like allocating resources, and I've spent a lot of time playing Settlers of Catan over the years. What would you be doing if you didn’t work in tech? I am thrilled to feature him today – these are his meditations. It is perhaps no surprise, given Reid’s range of interests, and literary, philosophical bent, that I have admired his work for many years. Both projects are “co-authored” with GPT-4, bringing artificial intelligence quite literally into the conversation. In just the past few weeks, Reid has also launched a future-focused podcast, “ Possible,” and released a new book, Impromptu, discussing how AI can be used to “amplify” humanity. As well as being a former OpenAI board member, Reid co-founded Inflection AI with Greylock colleague and former Deepmind executive Mustafa Suleyman. ![]() Reid is also at the forefront of some of the most consequential changes happening in the world of artificial intelligence. ![]() He is a builder with a Wittgenstein obsession, a venture capitalist that cites Buddha and Aristotle. The LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock partner is a technologist with a deep, unabashed philosophical bent. As the technological frontier extends, sprinting out of sight (and beyond our abilities), fields like philosophy, psychology, history, and fiction are becoming increasingly essential.įew people embody the intersection of techno-humanism as clearly as Reid Hoffman. Creating these marvels undoubtedly requires technical ability, but truly grasping them benefits from a broader understanding. We live in an era of increasingly splendid machines and overpowering intelligences. However, one of The Generalist’s fundamental tenets is that it is also a humanistic discipline. Technology is often (and rightly) viewed as a scientific field. Where is the rigor in a poem? What is the output of a philosophical tract? It is with a degree of suspicion that some technologists treat the humanities. In doing so, we aim to bring new aspects of their personality and processes to light. This interview is part of the Modern Meditation series, where we ask the most interesting people in tech non-obvious questions. Future historians may think of our age as the “storm before the calm,” an unstable period that eventually gave way to greater prosperity and peace. What to make of our era? Though we live in chaotic times, Reid believes better days are on their way. ![]() But are we well-prepared for whatever follows? Reid argues that the societal challenges that arose during the last pandemic could stymie our abilities to manage “covid-20,” and other future epidemics. We are (mostly) on the other side of the covid-19 pandemic. Reid outlines how he treats friendship as a practice that benefits from explicit honing. Despite the affection we feel for the “charming gardeners” in our lives, many of us treat the experience of friendship as implicit and intangible. “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom,” Marcel Proust once wrote. The questions Magritte raises in his work have only become more pronounced thanks to the advent of AI and associated models like DALL-E and GPT-4. Magritte’s famous painting, better known by the phrase it features, “This is not a pipe,” serves as a foil for Reid’s exploration of reality. Reid outlines the importance of this form of human organization and why there should always be space for a new country. And yet the possibility of starting a new nation appears further away than ever. The work of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos may someday take humanity to Mars. If you only have a few minutes to spare, here's what investors, operators, and founders should know about Reid Hoffman’s meditations. ![]()
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