Banning Driverless Cars Is the New Landmarking
Tech reshapes cities, AI hip replacement, Block's sold-out magic wand.
Morning strikers,
Canada won its first World Cup match last night so that is good. đ
Weâve been busy at PvA HQ building out our Field Notes app so letâs keep this brief. You can head over there to see what weâve been talking about.
A few things that caught my eye. Brian is deeply annoyed by AI writing and I get it. Human connection is born of intention, effort, empathy, emotion. AI has none. Email is a personal communication channel. When you pull the human part out, its just robo bla bla. Brian comments on Field Notes:
Two contrasting product innovations this week. I like this magic wand that the people Block made. Itâs a $25 NFC payment accessory that works just like the tap-to-pay Cash App Card. It doesnât need batteries and is the first product born of Cash App Tags tech, a system that can turn small objects into payment devices. You are going to see these in all kinds of little objects. It sold out already.
Strikes me that this is a better idea than Snapâs new Specs. And much more affordable.
Fashion photo legend, Steven Meisel, did not take this photo of me. He did take this one of Jack Harlow. Snap is good at the tech meets culture stuff. It wonât save the glasses, sadly. Wall Street didnât think they were very cool. The stock is down 15%.
Speaking of taste, Taste Labs is trying to turn it into a prompt. From their announcement tweet: âOur mission is to end AI slop. Weâre building the data and infrastructure layer to give AI models and agents taste.â They may be missing the point, but the founders appear to be quite stylish for SV types.
Finally, you can read about AI all day and feel like the world is about to end and then you go outside and everything is just like it used to be, people walking dogs, eating at restaurants, etc. The edge of change is more apparent in San Fran and Miami where driverless cars and delivery robots dodge the marginalized. I love a driverless car because the robots are good drivers and I donât feel compelled to chit chat and I can connect my Spotify. That said, all cities will not embrace the change as eagerly as the frontier towns. This is going to create real contrast between the tech-forward and nostalgic cities. Banning new forms of automation, like self-driving cars, is the new âlandmarkingâ and will radically change how your city feels.
Have a great weekend.
Pod: Americamaxxing, AI Taste Wars, World Cup Soft Power
Out FRIDAY 6 AM EST Apple | Spotify | Substack
AI is the new source of American power, as Dario Amodei is finding out. We debate whether Anthropic painted itself in a corner with its safety messaging, if Snap Specs pass the taste test, Elon as American icon, and the World Cup and Trumpâs UFC fight showcasing the profound weirdness and contradictions at the heart of the American experience. Plus: Anonymous Banker on why Fox paying $22 billion for Roku makes sense and Troy says someone will buy Semafor.
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