Last week, there were a couple of things that came to mind so I figured I’d cover them in rapid-fire here.
Overrated Florida Living is Unsustainable
Oppenheimer vs Barbie?!?
xAI (whatever this means)
NC is Where it’s at
https://twitter.com/a1mish/status/1679254773978071040?s=46&t=fULwLBXr9zgEYwpt4QengA
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of one’s actions. Florida has been a hot spot for many residents looking for endless sunny days and no downside. But there is a downside. Farmers Insurance just pulled out of Florida which affects 100,000. About 30% of policies sold in the state. Home, auto, and other coverage will no longer be offered. This is in addition to three other major insurers who have pulled out of the state.
The reason? It’s quite simple. Florida is simply not built for dealing with extreme weather and the increasing risk of hurricanes. These natural disasters are driving up the cost of reinsurance (insurance for insurers), 42 percent higher than the 10-year average.
A bit of game theory here: who insures the reinsurers who are insuring the insurers? It’s never happened before, but best guess is the government. It’s really just a house of cards.
These increased costs are then passed on to policyholders in the form of higher premiums. And, of course, rampant fraud and litigation are driving up insurance rates.
But the main point here is that Floridian homeowners are finding it increasingly difficult to afford or even find property insurance. As a result, the real estate market in Flordia is being disrupted by what was an inevitable crisis and what will be an inevitable outcome: mass amounts of property owners will be uninsured and left to fend for themselves in which Uncle Sam will then swoop in with Gorilla Glue to patch things back together.
Florida is not the place to be right now, despite how glorious people make it look or feel.
In the ever-evolving landscape of Twitter, two seemingly disparate entities have come to the fore of our collective consciousness: Oppenheimer and Barbie. The former, a movie about the scientific prowess of the United States and the destructive potential of human innovation (sound familiar?). And the latter, an icon of childhood that just won’t die.
These two movies are going head-to-head this upcoming weekend in what’s going to be an absolute blockbuster. Thousands of tickets have already sold and tens of thousands have been purchased to see both Barbie and Oppenheimer. See? You can be a barbie fan and an Oppenheimer fan too. Me personally? Undecided. But I will be getting that cool BarbenHeimer shirt though.
Just as Oppenheimer’s work led to a broader discussion on the ethics of scientific discovery, the recent advancements in AI have led Elon Musk to create a new company called xAI which aims to understand “the true nature of the universe”. Details are far and few between but I’m interested in seeing where this goes. As for the “truth seeker” stuff I’m a bit skeptical. What he really means by that, I have no idea. We’ll just have to wait and see.
https://twitter.com/a1mish/status/1680016029555015680?s=46&t=fULwLBXr9zgEYwpt4QengA
Threads has proved to be a formidable competitor to Twitter… and a fad that is quickly dying out. Threads isn’t necessarily going to die completely but it’s going to have it’s own set of dedicated users who are either anti-Musk, anti-Twitter, or were only ever on Twitter out of necessity. Threads is mostly in favor of those who already have an existing audience on Instagram. Otherwise, I think it’s somewhat hard to grow an audience on Threads (besides the fact that the algorithm sucks).
I’m still going to be a Twitter power user. Even with Musk rate-limiting tweets, impressions are far greater on the platform than Threads. And bots have arrived on Threads so it’s lost the lust that was once so coveted.
Twitter may be stagnating in chaos but it is certainly not dying. Threads is not a “Twitter-killer” (not for now at least) and Twitter will live to die another day.
https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1679088463059058689?s=46&t=fULwLBXr9zgEYwpt4QengA
I’ve been thinking about a way to define my twenties: one that’s defined by “breaking glass”, moving fast (but not too fast), iterating upon my previous success in doing the things I love, and learning to just have fun.
Harrisburg, Pennyslvania has been my hometown since I was three. I’ve made many friends, acquaintances, and done many things that I think provide value. But now, I’m looking for something new, looking to “move on” in a sense. Obviously the same things I’ve been doing before to progress are not the same things that are going to get to the next level.
I think about Messi and the F.C Barcelona debacle, Grant Gustin marking Season 9 as his last, and others who have stepped into a next chapter of sorts.
"I just knew it was time for me to step away, have more time with my family, and just enter this next chapter of my life”
- Grant Gustin
These are people in sports, entertainment, and other areas, some of which have nothing to do with my career focus. But they all have a simple, underlying lesson: to carve one’s own path one must deal with the twists and curves that come with it (and potentially carve their own twists).
I’m not yet at the “final curtain”. Far from it. I do, however, find the need to close one chapter and open another. Moving on is not painless, it comes with things you’ll miss while also coming with things you’ll be excited about. Messi missed Barcelona but looked forward to securing his legacy on high note. Grant Gustin missed the Flash but also looks forward to raising a family. I’ll miss PA but I certainly look forward to potentially moving to NC after graduation. We’ll see if things change in two years when I’m done, but for now my gut and the data tells me NC is the place to be.
I can’t ignore the economic benefits of doing so either. In fact, if I’m being honest, there are economic reasons behind my attraction to this state. $100 billion worth of capital outflows has occurred from the Northeast and moved to the south (Florida, Texas, Georgia, Tenessee, and the Carolinas. And the south now holds 23.8% of the national GDP.
North Carolina (along with other southern states) is emerging as a significant player in the tech industry while also signaling the changing dynamics that innovation is no longer confined to the traditional powerhouses (California, New York, etc.).
I think NC is already emerging as a hub of innovation and I want to be in the midst of it. Part of my work is to seek out asymmetric opportunities and as we experience this socioeconomic shift, I think NC is going to play a large role in the changing tides.
I’m at a crossroads. And so are Oppenheimer and Barbie, xAI and Elon Musk, the Northeast and the South, as well as Florida itself. For all of us, the future is not a fixed point. But each of us have a decision to make, a path to forge that will define how successful our endgame is.
Adieu,
Mish
https://twitter.com/mdudas/status/1680374060985856001?s=20
https://twitter.com/A1Mish/status/1680335115614924805?s=20
https://twitter.com/tragicbirdapp/status/1680199922216214531?s=20
https://twitter.com/LoganPaul/status/1675123967135301633?s=20
https://twitter.com/ParikPatelCFA/status/1679191514243809283?s=20
That’s it (no really, it is).