Gil Durán
The stuff I write about is so nuts that I find myself quadruple-checking the facts with pen and paper. For example, in 2020 Andreessen Horowitz led a $12 million investment round in the Clubhouse app (at a $100M valuation). It had 1500 users. It reached $4 billion valuation in 2021, then...poof.
May 12 at 12:16amWeb
Show threadGil Durán6d ago
Like...how can that be real? Such is the terrible power of venture capital.
Show threadGil Durán6d ago
Only by printing out a hard copies and matching word-for-word do I fully trust my eyes. I am pretty lax about many things, but I get very OCD about this stuff. Books—the original blockchains.
Show threadGil Durán6d ago
Not to mention the Antichrist/overthrow the USA stuff. Did the billionaires really say these things, or did someone spike my tea with LSD? Also, how do people trust AI to do this stuff? I hired a human fact checker. And yet I am reviewing every single fact and link again..because this is my baby.
Show threadGil Durán6d ago
I will say: reviewing all the facts with fresh eyes has yielded new info and insights. All of that would be missed with a hallucination machine fact check. One must suffer the thinking to obtain the knowledge.
Show threadGil Durán6d ago
Also, anyone who has witnessed an LLM completely hallucinate a juicy headline that doesn't actually exist...
Show threadGil Durán6d ago
I still have yellowed copies of my newspaper stories from the 1990s in storage. Was gonna toss them, but then realized: One of my major pieces completely disappeared from online archives. Another was defaced (word changes) by a rogue typist. The proof matters.
Show threadGil Durán6d ago
I tried to rectify the defaced piece some years ago...no one was interested! Some typist (back when print pieces had to be manually entered into databases) clearly didn't like my story, so they changed a word to reverse the meaning of a key sentence.
Show threadÓscar Morales Vivó6d ago
@gilduran.com my pet theory is that we have reached the final stage of financial capitalism so all the numbers are made up.
Show threadSusanna the Artist 🌻6d ago
@gilduran.com I feel a little bit vindicated by this. I tried to get an invite and nobody would give me one. 😛
Show threadPensionDan6d ago
@superflippy @gilduran.com No girls allowed in the clubhouse?
Show threadgotofritz6d ago

@gilduran.com

I remember Shawn Young, who at the time was a very respected React influencer (now AI coding influencer). He pontificated about #Clubhouse to death... when the bubble burst I asked him where does he stand on Clubhouse today, he just blocked me 😆

His epic (fail) "Everything You Hate About Clubhouse Is Why It Will Win" is still available
https://www.swyx.io/clubhouse-hate

Everything You Hate About Clubhouse Is Why It Will Win

Understanding new social media is a *sociological* exercise, not a logical one.

Show threadsamiamsam6d ago

@gilduran.com

everything is so stupid right now

Show threadJeff Craig6d ago
@gilduran.com I really want to know if Andreesen-Horowitz managed to cash out on the subsequent rounds of this deal.