Magic Number (魔法数字)
w.277 | Emerson, Meta Hiring, Cloudflare, Robinhood, & Dollar YTD
Dear Friends,
Happy American Independence weekend! Along with the regular festivities, everyone is processing the implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (other than, of course, recognizing that it is increasing the US deficit and rewarding a host of special interests but that’s simply the same story, different day in the course of US politics).
For this edition, I thought, why not focus on what makes America great and distinctive? The big beautiful blend…of people. Here’s to the mixed-culture families, collaborations, and companies!
P. S. My offer remains open on reimbursement of Yiming’s book! Thanks to everyone who participated to date. We are going to have a great book club in September.
Today's Contents:
Sensible Investing: Trends
Song of the Week: Magic Number (魔法数字)
Sensible Investing: Trends
Emerson, AI, and The Force: Notes from the Laude Institute Summit by Neal Stephenson. He reflects on his novel, Diamond Age, and what one truly needs to learn in the age of AI:
It’s a stance. A stance from which to address the world and all its challenges. A stance built on self-confidence and resilience: the conviction that one has a fighting chance to overcome or circumvent whatever obstacles the world throws in one’s path. The way you acquire it is by trying, and sometimes failing, to do difficult things. It can be discouraging, but if you have good mentors, and if you’re collaborating with friends who are in the same boat, you can find ways to succeed, and develop a knack for it. That’s true self-reliance.
List of Recently Hired Talent to Meta’s Superintelligence Team.
Interesting Company Developments Worth Following:
Cloudflare Launches a Marketplace that Lets Websites Charge AI Bots for Scraping. This could be an interesting model for internet publishers to get compensated for training AI models. It’s still early days, and I’m sure this will evolve, but it’s a move worth watching by a company with significant influence.
Substack, the platform on which Declarative Statements is written, is finally at an inflection point. There have been numerous defections from traditional media (e.g., Derek Thompson shares his reasoning here; the key reason is independence). And the network now has its own avid creator community (which I suppose includes me, although my format is not designed for their viral sharing).
Does the Pulitzer Prize Hate Substack? Should we care? It is a valuable piece that illustrates the reaction from traditional media to Substack, which I believe highlights the magnitude of the threat.
Robinhood Launches Stock Tokens. See the next line for more.
The Stocks Will Be Tokenized. I am not shocked that Matt Levine had the best explanation of tokenized stocks and Robinhood in Money Stuff this week:
But, as I have written before, these are minor distractions from the real prize. The real prize is that if you utter the magic word “tokenized,” that could let you sell private stock to the general public. It could let companies sell stock to the general public without complying with US disclosure rules. That is what it means. It means that the US securities laws that were put in place in the 1930s, that require companies to make public disclosures about their businesses to raise money from the general public, will no longer apply.
To be clear, we are not there yet. But that is the goal. This week Robinhood announced that it will offer tokenized stocks, though initially (1) not to US customers and (2) mostly for US public companies.
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I just want to be clear about what he is saying, about what is happening. “The general public should be able to buy shares of private companies” is an oxymoron. What makes a company “private” is that (1) it is not available to the general public and (2) it is not required to follow US public-company disclosure rules. Therefore, “the general public should be able to buy shares of private companies” means “companies should be allowed to sell stock to the general public without following disclosure rules.” That is not a crazy thing to think: Maybe you think the disclosure rules are outdated and expensive, that they deter innovation and capital formation, that they cannot be reformed and so we should just get rid of them entirely. But that is what we are doing here.
An Interesting Chart Prompting the Conversation about Dollar-Denominated Investments Compared to Global Opportunities.
Song of the Week: Magic Number (魔法数字)
Here on YouTube. The video is of the mixed-race duo eating hotpot.
Imagine catchy melodies that dance between English and Mandarin, with hints of Chinese mando-pop blended with the best of Western indie pop. That’s exactly what Wah!!! delivers. The album captures a spirit of joy and longing that feels both poignant and playful. Whether you’re singing along or just tapping your feet, this album promises to keep you engaged.
The comments on YouTube are similar to the ones below from people who have just discovered it.
This was playing at work, and I made everyone stop what they were doing so I could get the name and artists. Right now, it's 4 in the morning, and I'm just jamming out in my bed with my dog going through the album. Going to be buying it in vinyl on Friday.
“Magic Number (魔法数字)” by Chinese American Bear
The Moon is high
The Moon is low
The Moon is taking to the radio
I need you, and you need me
Show me everything that you could beSelfie of the Week
Austin Library is one of the city's gems. I made an early evening visit and read a few of the publications on the top-floor patio. Highly recommend making the trip.
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn