# Eric Jorgenson - The Anthology of Balaji (Highlights) ![rw-book-cover|256](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/media/reader/parsed_document_assets/104368666/cover.jpg-cover_i2qL2GC.jpg) ## Metadata **Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/33647541) **Source**:: #from/readwise #from/reader **Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting **Status**:: #x **Authors**:: [[Eric Jorgenson]] **Full Title**:: The Anthology of Balaji **Category**:: #books #readwise/books **Category Icon**:: 📚 **Highlighted**:: [[2023-10-30]] **Created**:: [[2023-10-30]] ## Highlights - Those who like what you’re doing will just hit the like button, but those who dislike it will send angry missives. To not get trapped in being reactive, you have to intentionally focus on the positive. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdwf4sqkqceke62g4tv4s0eb)) ^617987749 - This was a useful experience for me because I learned to strengthen things that were previously weak areas. I brought an area up from a zero to a five out of ten just by grinding through it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdwfxwt34m9g5n9jx6d5s1m8)) ^617989497 - no matter how much I practiced lacrosse, I’d never be as good as someone who just had the instincts for it. Knowing what I was weak at allowed me to become strong. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdwg0gbjcgnvzh17eeg62qzb)) ^617989588 - In venture capital and content creation, originality is really, really valued. Whether you call it originality, being disobedient, or being contrarian—the combination of being analytical and not fully obedient has been important. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdwg5d2seardht4gh9dcadq2)) ^617989749 ### Part I: Technology #### The Value of Technology - I look at money as a tool to build things I can’t buy today. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdwgjj3vnb1dymsjctrvhyb9)) ^617991007 - Science is theory. Technology is practice. It’s applied science. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0f8qpby8r3rxear4gt4s0e)) ^618862987 - If you make life spans longer, you reduce the effective cost of everything. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0fdx2pmzv4mx11mc6phsys)) ^618869716 - At first that seems reasonable, except people pay for the value provided to them. They pay for the impact on them, not the cost to provide it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0ffpw604cjgkcpjetkrkwp)) ^618872790 - But companies using genomics or drones encounter the physical world. In that case, the main barrier is not technology. The primary risk is actually regulatory risk. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0fn1wkeb01bj1pymw87e7n)) ^618878969 - A philosopher named Frederic Bastiat has a parable about this, about what is seen and what is unseen. It requires more empathy and more imagination to think about value that isn’t seen. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0frjm16hejhcf3ag54ztmq)) ^618881512 Black swan - Regulators don’t have the same level of fast, precise, digital feedback between buyer and seller. Today, if you’re a bad actor, you’re banned from Uber or Airbnb within a few hours. These companies are accomplishing the goals of a regulated marketplace by banning bad actors and giving low ratings to poor quality actors, without coercion. We don’t have to send the police to raid and shut down a bad hotel or throw somebody in jail for an expired taxi license. We achieve the same objectives in a better way. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0fz6wzwnjs6kr894xk9mr5)) ^618882582 - You can’t invent planes without test pilots. We have to have early adopters. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0g0r1gq5vpe8knxtfb1c2k)) ^618882826 - We allow people to go bungee jumping and skydiving. We allow people to sign up for the military to fight and die overseas. There should also be room for people to take risks to advance technology. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0g0btbzkpxej9q6n077ghz)) ^618882795 - Being too conservative on safety actually leads to systemic risk. Systemic risk happens when you stop taking risks and get stuck with a system that no longer improves. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01he0g2y80cte0xkvqwrh3pfw8)) ^618883057 #### The Impact of Technology #### Our Digital Future #### Our Physical Future ### Part II: Truth ### Part III: Building the Future ### Bonus