Free the PMC
Yesterday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong laid off 14% of his company, citing AI “changing how we work.” Snapchat just cut 16% for the same reason, and in February, Jack axed 40% of Block due to “intelligence tools.” Critics called this ‘AI-washing,’ claiming Jack and Evan — and now Brian — were lying about plummeting stock prices or activist investors. And yes, layoffs are complex… but you can’t ignore the common thread: We don’t need “permanent middle management” (Jack) or “pure managers” (Brian) or “repetitive” work (Evan). Essentially, they’re cutting the professional managerial class, whose jobs are often 80% robotic behaviors (organizing shit) cloaked in politeness, while the real value is always at the tippy top (visionaries) and in a few genius ICs. Turns out, “just circling back” bots can save your company millions of dollars, while AI finally frees thousands of people who feel dead inside Slacking Kyle again about his mandatory training... and you’re blackpilling?
USA(I)
Monday, Dean Ball and Ben Buchanan (White House staffers under Trump and Biden, respectively) co-signed a bipartisan message in the NYT: AI is very powerful, could be deadly in the hands of our adversaries, and we need a plan to address that. Politically, AI acceleration is MAGA-coded right now, so Republicans love it and Dems love to hate it, but offline, there’s actually bipartisan consensus. Scott Bessent marvels at the idea of a country of small businesses in a data center while contending AI could produce a virus 10x worse than COVID-19. Even Ro Khanna admits AI can help cure cancer and slash housing costs. The takeaway? AI is America’s moonshot… if we can get ahead of its risks, and finally see some results in the world of atoms (cheaper healthcare, cancer cures), it may be the one thing to cut through our polarization. Or… we can watch as data centers burn and Washington turns into Carthage. Ave, Claude.
Doctor’s Orders
Ahead of an SF Board of Supervisors vote this week weighing whether the city should prioritize giving funds to supportive housing options that prohibit residents from abusing drugs (a novel concept, discouraging taxpayer-funded glorified fentanyl dens), a group of doctors is arguing against the measure, claiming any supportive housing that isn’t a glorified fentanyl den is inhumane, actually. While Supervisor Matt Dorsey has championed the fewer-drugs-in-your-free-apartment proposal, citing data showing 26% of the city’s fatal overdoses occur in said free apartments (see: not a great environment for homeless addicts), physicians at the San Francisco Marin Medical Society claim any policy that would evict residents for using “undermines evidence-based addiction care.” Ah, thank you, doctors, for reminding us the only “evidence-based” way to treat addiction, apparently, is giving addicts free real estate to smoke meth in. I forgot the first rule of the Hippocratic Oath was “don’t touch that tweaker’s needle.”
