LeWeb Breakfast Chat

I just boarded a plane back to NYC and sadly we won’t have wifi on this flight so I’ll share some quick thoughts from my “breakfast chat” with Loic at LeWeb this morning and you can all discuss them as I fly home.

Six or seven years ago Loic and I had a very nice breakfast outside at a French bakery in San Francisco. So Loic decided to recreate that vibe on stage today and we sat at a table with coffee, croissants, and juice while we talked about where we are right now in the world of tech.

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We covered a lot of ground but I thought the most interesting themes were

– the maturing/mainstreaming of the sharing economy and the likely IPOs of these companies in the next year or two which will cause them to become even more mainstream.

– whether wearables means watches (I don’t think so) or a whole ecosystem of devices/our personal mesh (I think so).

– the downturn in bitcoin which Loic thought means it’s over and I think means it’s a good time to invest

– European discomfort with tech innovation. Loic mentioned the Uber Paris issues and I mentioned Merkel’s wrongheaded stance on net neutrality

I’m fairly certain the video of our breakfast chat will be online soon and I will post it then. See you on the other side of the pond.

#Uncategorized

Comments (Archived):

  1. Mario Cantin

    Have a great flight back.Personally, the lower Bitcoin goes for now the better it is (I still bear your strategy in mind for buying an asset over a broader price spectrum to average it out, but the simple fact of course is you can buy more when it’s cheap).

    1. JamesHRH

      I think the BTC story has some sort of The Usual Suspects twist ending.Like, the value of BTC goes to zero but it somehow also becomes a huge success as the digital ledger for a major category of assets.A huge success that involves a major bloodbath.

      1. fredwilson

        That’s can’t happen because bitcoin has to have value or the miners will stop mining and if the miners stop mining then the blockchain will lose the computation that powers itOf course bitcoin can go to zero. But the blockchain will not survive if it does

        1. William Mougayar

          But the blockchain’s model will survive. Cryptography science & software are married for life now. You can operate a decentralized p2p App on a private blockchain and with distributed miners as users, and not touch Bitcoin, and that has a future with or without Bitcoin.I will go further in saying that crypto-based wealth appreciation will come natively via organic growth, and not via fiat transfers. This means that the DAOs & P2P Apps will create and grow their own wealth.

        2. JamesHRH

          That’s why it is fun of me to speculate outside my areas of expertise – I do not have the malice of the facts!

        3. falicon

          As much as I come across as anti-bitcoin, the truth is I’m not…I agree with you here, and I do think BitCoin (and the BitCoin Blockchain) has a strong future (just not as integral/strong as you do – yet).On a related note though, after a few years of casually thinking about/searching…I *finally* came up with a BitCoin related hack to work on…so we’ll see if/what/how my opinion changes once I get it released 😉

  2. Twain Twain

    “European discomfort with tech innovation.” It’s so ingrained that founders like me hop onto a plane and base ourselves in NY and SF for months on end.I track the huge amount of activity in cutting-edge research in AI, Neuroscience and Quantum Computing materials in the US (both in academia and at companies like Google, Facebook, IBM Watson, Baidu etc) and then I look at Europe and wish I was somewhere else.

    1. Richard

      Let’s not forget some of the great basic research that comes out of Europe.

      1. Twain Twain

        Examples, Rich?Examples also of European universities being able to commercialize that basic research compared with how Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Illinois Urbana, USC Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton etc repeatedly being able to commercialize ADVANCED research?

        1. pointsnfigures

          Europeans culturally are more risk averse than Americans.

          1. Twain Twain

            Unfortunately, yes.It took the “Big Bang” and the American banks buying the fusty, staid, conservative European merchant banks to jump-start London into the dynamic financial center it is today, over twenty years later.There’s no reason for this risk aversion historically. Think of Elizabeth I sending her ships forth to discover America and the Victorian empire spreading over to India and beyond.For whatever reason — perhaps the aftermath of WW2 reconstruction efforts? — there was a retrenchment.It’s all quite paradoxical.

          2. pointsnfigures

            Funny, but I never considered the island as part of Europe. That much was made very clear in 1939.

          3. Twain Twain

            Oh, there’s a lot of UK vs Continental Europe (especially France and Germany) that goes on and it usually revolves around the EU bills and rebates:’We won’t pay,’ furious Cameron tells EU over surprise bill* http://www.reuters.com/arti…If the US thinks it’s got immigration issues, ‘David Camercon announced benefits block to stem flow of EU migrants’:* http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a…When it comes to startups, the London vs Berlin competitiveness is like the England vs Germany in soccer one.

          4. pointsnfigures

            England has a soccer side? Just thought they hired it for the Premier League. (Kidding of course)

          5. Twain Twain

            Ha! Every time the World Cup happens, there’s always massive hype about how England are going to “Bring football home.”Then when they lose and get ejected in the early rounds the same excuse gets rolled out: “The Premier League is the hardest football league in the world. That’s why the English players all have tired legs”Conveniently they forget that all the Germans, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Brazilians who also play in the Premier League show no signs of exhaustion and progress into the later stages of the competition.The worst nightmare, of course, is when the US soccer team places higher at the World Cup than the “home of football” England squad.

    2. ShanaC

      Who are you following research wise in Europe

      1. Twain Twain

        University of Bristol do produce interesting prototypes like this:* https://www.youtube.com/wat…University of Cambridge has some advantages because Apple, Google, Amazon and MS all have a strong presence there, e.g.:* http://9to5mac.com/2014/11/…And Google Deepmind recently acqui-hired some Oxford AI researchers:* http://techcrunch.com/2014/…It is, though, still nowhere close to where the US is in terms of commercialization.

        1. ShanaC

          so cool

  3. awaldstein

    Personal mesh is a great metaphor. I like the idea of each of us being the center of and the filter that defines our own mesh.Safe travels.

  4. JamesHRH

    Safe travels as well.One wonders if, at some point in the future, the USA will ever be as stagnant as Europe. As far as I can tell, Europe lives looking backwards, is anti-innovation without qualification & is exporting most of its energetic people.Not that is didn’t have 400 or 500 really solid years there, but……….

    1. Ian Smith

      As a European, I see the US as a stagnant place in areas too. Innovation is stifled by too much regulation and the slow pace of change. Our deregulated markets offer us low cost cell phones, broadband, banking… We changed to have far less credit card fraud with PINs, excellent on-line banking, low-value currency in coins not paper; in the UK switching utility suppliers with a few clicks and usually uninterrupted service, most people not needing to file a tax return, and simple ones for the minoriry that do. We have also led the way with more energy-efficient gasoline & diesel cars.

      1. JamesHRH

        Ian, part of the fun of AVC is getting schooled.But, your list is mostly smaller scale innovations in that those ideas optimize large systems as opposed to creating them. Hardly the Industrial Revolution…..I worry, not that anyone cares, that the recent syphoning of wealth, via Wall St, will lead the USA into a long period of stagnation, because the vast majority of holders of capital now have a reason not to encourage innovation (they have already won).

      2. pointsnfigures

        you bring up some great points on regulation. I can’t argue with you.

  5. William Mougayar

    2 questions, based on the tweets I read (which reminded me how bad Twitter Search still is):1/ Can you elaborate that we will see the Ubers & Airbnb of healthcare?2/ Maybe the Apple Watch is not the main wearable of the future, but how are we supposed to get signals from our body with a smartphone in our pocket? Won’t there be some wearable somewhere on the skin?

    1. fredwilson

      1/ I think we will start to see some breakouts in 20152/ I think so but it need not be a watch and some of the most successful “personal mesh” devices aren’t worn at all

    2. awaldstein

      I can’t wrap my head around the metaphor of an Uber of Healthcase.Fixing healthcare is more than simply wiring logistics, it starts with how you train the doctors themselves.Help me understand why this is a category–I’m flummoxed on this.

      1. fredwilson

        That’s just a term Loic used for the “breakout companies” that will emerge from the intersection of tech/internet/mobile/wearables and healthcare It was not intended to suggest a particular approach to the market

        1. awaldstein

          it’s a good phrase.Healthcare is so complex it’s hard to get a simple hold on it.For me I start with two ideas: 1) each person must take control of their own and 2) Information access to make that workable.The model is so difficult even when I start with these two.I have standard PPO stuff and have searched down the best doctors that are available to everyone–who make themselves available through text and email, who respond and think it is their job to make certain that their patients get the best.The rub is I found what I needed, demand it but of course realize that at scale, what I have is unworkable as a model.

          1. fredwilson

            We have to find the things that are derided as toys in this market

          2. LE

            The rub is I found what I needed, demand it but of course realize that at scaleIt’s unworkable for sure when you consider the number of patients a doctor sees in a typical day. There actually has to be some friction in the system.I can’t imagine how text even comes close to being a solution to something. It assumes that the sending party (the patient) is disciplined enough to use it and not burden the doctor. Ditto for email.As far as “1) each person must take control of their own and” people are to stupid for that.

          3. Vasudev Ram

            Healthcare in the modern world is done the wrong way – paying doctors to cure us. The incentives for the doctors are misaligned with (completely opposite from, really) the needs of their patients – they get paid more when their patients have more health problems. I read a while ago that in olden times (*), the Chinese had a different model – they paid their doctors to keep them healthy, and fired them if they got sick.(*) Could have been an apocryphal story or a joke – IIRC I read it in Readers Digest or some such place. But the point holds, regardless.

          4. awaldstein

            There’s truth in this for certain.I agree that the system is way broken but I also know that if you take responsibility for your own health (as you should) you can find doctors to be your partners in maintaining it.

          5. Vasudev Ram

            Good points.

      2. William Mougayar

        I agree that doctors are a key piece of the health care equation, and many of the so-called self-reporting & self-collecting Apps are delusional about being taken seriously by the healthcare professionals who are the real decision-makers. That said, there is hope of course for a good blend eventually.

        1. awaldstein

          Agree–but I’m all in that this is a super important area to tackle. See comment to Fred below.Something simple Something obvious will crack a wedge that will shift the paradigm is my guess.

        2. fredwilson

          At my annual physical last month my Doctor asked if I had an iPhone. I said yes. He said “can I look at your Health App and I told him that he could but I had not connected it to anything yet. He then told me he finds the data really useful as part of his annual physical process for those patients who do capture data into the Health App. My Doctor is not young. He’s in his mid 40s I assume

          1. Supratim Dasgupta

            Fred, William, We are working on a similar idea that makes data from HealthKit and Fitbit tremendously useful.http://www.valenx.com/#about.Valens scans your health data from various sources like iOS HealthKit etc and looks at your physical activity from FitBit and automatically recommends the tastiest dishes you should be eating to stay healthy. The app lets you order in 3 clicks and in less than 9 secs. Its so convenient that you will never miss a meal because you are busy. Something that dangerously spikes your blood sugar..The iPhone app is awaiting review in App store and should be online soon. We are doing alpha testing now in NYC. Please let me know if you want to sign up.The food is delivered from quality sources like Whole Foods etc.

          2. William Mougayar

            Thanks. I’m checking it out. Can I signup and try it? wmougayar AT gmail.

          3. Supratim Dasgupta

            Hi William, Thanks for your interest. We would love to get your feedback. At the moment we are not on iOS App store(awaiting review) and we are alpha testing in Manhattan only. If you dont mind, you can send me your UDID # and I will send you a link to download the app. Fitbit and iOS healthkit integration wont work until the app is in appstore but the app builds your profile in a series of steps to capture your goals(weight loss, muscle gain), any dietary conditions(Hypertension, Hi Cholesterol, Diabetes), lifestyle(Sedentary, moderate,active) & allergies along with your BMR/BMI. So about 70% of core Fitbit and iOS Healthkit data is captured. I will connect with you from my gmail(supratim.dasgupta) to discuss further. Thanks again for your interest.

          4. William Mougayar

            That data could be additive to your medical record, but it is not your medical record. Big difference for diagnosing.

          5. awaldstein

            Intrigued but vague on this.What type of data can we collect that will be additive in any real way to the diagnosis at hand? Not input like food, sleep, exercise but auto generated that can make a difference?

          6. William Mougayar

            The medical record & patient case kind of determines what data is needed or useful.But for preventative & wellness stuff, the rigors are more relaxed & practioners are more open to user-collected data. You and I will talk offline.

          7. awaldstein

            Love to.I’m interested personally and professionally. We need a catch up call.

          8. Richard

            When it comes to healthcare life is not a bitch but rather it is a pitch. my partner is a 30 year old second year resident, more but high value data from patients, (particularly the healthy ones!) is important, as are the corresponding symptoms and reasons for the visit. Too often the patients are like the Disney’s seven dwarfs, and are too bashful, dopey, sleepy, etc. to convey in the opening 2 minutes why they are there are there and what information might be important for the doctor to know. If you have your elevator pitch ready, doctors can diagnose. More signal less noise vs more just more data.

          9. awaldstein

            Interested bit unclear what you are saying.Specific example if you could.

          10. just

            if u want the help i can help u.

          11. Richard

            That’s two emails I’ll send you.

          12. ShanaC

            any extra data is helpful. Yay epidemiology! The problem is tracking and making sense of it, because healthcare data is very unstandard and weird.

      3. LE

        it starts with how you train the doctors themselves.True but doctors don’t operate in a vacuum. There are lawyers and their are patients and there are patients families and their are hospital administrators. And they are trying to hit quality metrics that are total bullshit literally in the same way schools now go for what is tested and wins “blue ribbons” not necessarily what is good or what is needed. Gaming the system. An example is my …. (redacted) getting paid just to go in (on days off) and talk to patients to improve scores that the hospital is rated on. Just visit them. No care given during the visit. But if the scores increase other good things follow. It’s all about the scores.Training doctors, and I’m sure you realize this, is just one small part of “the problem”.Separately I had a really interesting thing happen to me at the Dentist a few weeks ago. The old timer turned over the practice to a younger dentist. The young dentist immediately was pushing me to do something that the older doc said “don’t worry about it”. He even said “and you can get insurance to pay for this before the end of the year”. I didn’t mind that but what I did mind was when I clearly said that I didn’t care about the insurance part he literally didn’t hear me. And instructed the office girls to see if it could be paid by insurance. My guess is that he has all those large school loans to pay off (as well as having to pay off the cost of the practice which he is buying into).The older guy doesn’t need the work or the money so he is in a different position.So the question is, since this is “human nature”, how are you going to train to overcome this?Not a question for you a question for people who think it’s all about some algorithm which seems like the point you are making.

        1. awaldstein

          We disagree on two things:-that finding complexity overrides simple solutions that drive greater change.-that human nature is to game the system and the people are basically stupid.I build the simplest systems to solve the most complex problems based the belief that the market is both smart and honest.That the corner cases are the idiots and the crooks.Different strokes my friend….

      4. ShanaC

        it is deeper than just training doctors – it goes into what epidemiology should look like, and what it current doesn’t look like.

        1. awaldstein

          Of course.Not implying that I have the answer to health care nor that training doctors is the next most important step.

        2. Chimpwithcans

          Maybe the smart watches of the future will take blood samples? Hopefully they warn you before the little pin-prick occurs! 🙂

    3. Richard

      I find twitter search to work.

      1. William Mougayar

        Tried searching @fredwilson on the mobile App & was looking for mentions of Fred, but all I get is his tweets.

    4. SubstrateUndertow

      Isn’t the watch the obvious intimate/optimally-transparent interface command/monitoring portal candidate for operating one’s personal mesh ?

      1. William Mougayar

        Maybe. But the v1 Apple Watch doesn’t cut it from a sensors perspective. Check the Microsoft band- it’s currently the most advanced with 10 sensors.

        1. SubstrateUndertow

          I thing that is by design ?Apple Watch is primarily a command/monitoring device not a fixed use-case sensor-array device .They have picked their poison to be a general purpose central hub for operating an external mesh of distributive sensors/actuators.

  6. mikenolan99

    Will wearables cure cancer? I’m fascinated by the idea that if enough people record every action, every excersize, every food particle and every environmental condition long enough… We would have a big data set to compare medical records… Throw in good DNA data, and we have cancer nailed…

    1. Richard

      What will cure cancer is immunotherapy. See last weeks wsj for an excellent piece on the subject. “Imagine reclassifying cancer…and understand that cancer’s a slew of rare diseases,” says Patrick Soon-Shiong. “It’s going to mean you have a better shot at having a better outcome and having a quality of life and actually turn the cancer, hopefully, into a chronic disease,” Patrick is the most successful entrepreneurial md in the game. That said, diet and lifestyle are two of the best immunotherapies.

        1. Richard

          quote was not from the article. Google Patrick Soon_Shiong to see about his latest venture. That said, there is so much more to the story. We are still debating whether mammography if warranted and for whom. After 40 years and 10 of millions of dollars of data ( I looked at alot of it). It is messy.

      1. ShanaC

        not exclusively – another thing happening – better computation to identify actually how the whole system works.

        1. Richard

          I yet to see any real progress in computational approaches to curing cancer

          1. ShanaC

            a lot are in lab, but I did hear about a new hormone discovered that is definitely a trigger in men with glioblastoma. (a couple of friends are working in other areas to identify gene, rna, and protein paths to figure out what makes cancers tick, without computational biology, none of this would be happening at all.)

  7. iggyfanlo

    Never said enough, but approprirate as we near year-end. Thanks for all you are willing to share.1. BTC. The blockchain and the cryptography solutions are unassailable in their brilliance in changing our view of what’s possible. I believe that our beliefs (i.e. our desire to “hold onto money” pun INTENDED) is what will slow BTC adoption; just like creidt cards, took 2 generations to REALLY be ubiquitous and still isn’t in many place. My personal belief is that the catalyst will be a major economy where fiat currency is challenged… can anyone say Japan??2. On teh Uber or AirBnB of health care, I think it’s right around the corner. Stay tuned .. I believe Albert’s combined views on sharing econmoy, income inequality and the need to share data will all combine to form a great solution.

    1. jason wright

      “just like credit cards”really?

      1. iggyfanlo

        I was obviously not clear. I wasn’t comparing the technologies in any way. They are far apart.I was comparing the human psychological resistance to change and positing that it is greatest when it comes to money, which as BTC shows is only information, but turns out it is the greatest and most powerful digital good, conveying power, influence, status, security, etc.. changing modes in this medium will be a very difficult psychological Rubicon for many people to cross

        1. ShanaC

          medical tech is different because of the type and data intensivity.

    2. Richard

      What does uber of healthcare even mean? Airbnb of healtcare? Now that we have ACA people are locked I got the healthcare system more than ever

      1. Matt Zagaja

        I’m not sure but it seems pretty scary considering the bar for medical professionals is a bit different than the bar for people that drive automobiles and the consequences of a bad uber ride aren’t quite a severe as an appendectomy gone wrong.

        1. Richard

          Took uber last night and wow was i ever concerned for my health! Advice, take uber black and not uber x, (amateur vs professional drivers).As for health care, having had cancer while in college, having a sister with type 1 diabetes, two parents who died as a result of questionable healthcare as well as dating a 2nd year resident throughout medschool and residency (and even applies to medschool myself), thinking about healthcare as a single system is like thinking about all of retail and payments and insurance as a single system.

          1. Supratim Dasgupta

            IMHO, UBERx is much cheaper and better experience. UBER BLACK and SUV are all professional drivers who will start rides before meeting you. try taking longer routes etc. I really dont enjoy being taken for rides by them(pun intented). UBERx is mostly people trying to make ends meet and in my experience have been more honest.

  8. Matt Zagaja

    I do not think discomfort with innovation is a unique thing to Europe. Look at all the fighting Elon Musk has had to do in order to sell his Tesla cars directly, or the recent kerfuffles in Utah with Zenefits or Portland with Uber. Places like New York City, Boston, and San Francisco are oasis of innovation where there seems to be more early adoption and maybe some more comfort with letting companies try things out. That’s to say nothing of the FAA and drone regulations which many are concerned about.

    1. ShanaC

      it is the kind and type of regulation, and how societies value certain things. And certain subsegments of society, who wax and wane with power.:/

  9. Richard

    Talked to many uber drivers over the last few days, all were unhappy with the 25% vig that goes to UBER. They all came in 15-18% as a reasonable number.We are not privy to the income statement of UBER, could a competitor step in @15%.

    1. LE

      It’s a tradeoff between “make hay while the sun shines” and “potential competitors see blood in the water”.If you have what appears to be high margins there is always going to be someone who says “shit I can do it for less or can charge less”.Uber obviously has decided to go for door #1 which is “make hay while the sun shines”. Impossible they haven’t considered that their pricing is going to invite more competition than if the fees were lower.

    2. Supratim Dasgupta

      A competitor can step in at 15% or 10% but its not easy to replicate the UBER algorithm to keep a driver on tasks as much as UBER. So overall they will make much less.. Been using UBER since they launched in CA and have seen how they have rapidly displaced Lyft and competitors with much sleeker algorithms. They used to have heatmaps to show drivers where to wait to get more passengers. They have stopped it now.

  10. Brian Levine

    Fred, watched the video: not sure if anyone posted the link yet. Here’s the YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/wat

  11. pointsnfigures

    downturn in bitcoin will help increase accessibility and drive adoption. Remember Fred’s idea about a slice of Bitcoin on a concert or sports ticket? What if you did that with warehouse receipts and commodity storage? Cheaper Bitcoin gets, the more applications that can utilize it. High prices put a fence around it. It cannot be free. Because it has value. It might not have fiat currency kind of value, but it’s not a fiat currency either.

    1. ShanaC

      with a limited number, won’t they go up at some point if they do get adopted.

      1. pointsnfigures

        If it’s a free market and has fixed supply then it’s a demand driven market. Coins are divisible though so the supply Is actually larger than the amount of actual coins. Too much demand too high a price and alternative coins will fill the gap.

  12. Andrew Kennedy

    “We’ll have lanes for humans and lanes for machines” –makes a lot of sense

  13. jason wright

    Was the first crowd sourced question a plant?

  14. Ciaran

    The sharing economy doesn’t exist, outside of, perhaps, Freecycle.When people are getting paid, it’s just capitalism – nothing wrong with that, but let’s not give it a pretty name to pretend otherwise. It’s no different to Ruchard Branson pretending to be a hippy because he has a beard.

    1. fredwilson

      would you say that Bla Bla Car is a sharing economy service?

  15. panterosa,

    Leftoverage

  16. Girish Mehta

    I am with you, don’t like the “Sharing economy”descriptor much either. Prefer “The Access economy”…

  17. falicon

    what about “timeshare”?

  18. LE

    The above sounds like something that I would write. Good work!So when the tech, investment, and startup media and bloggers came up with “The Sharing Economy”, they weren’t talking about you and I pooling our tools together, creating a tool library, and sharing it with others. They weren’t talking about a couple sharing a milkshake. “Came up with?”Who’s “we” sucka? By “came up with” you make as if said group had a meeting in the Poconos [1] and came to some agreement through a process as fair as a grand jury reviewing evidence? (I have no problem with the grand jury conclusions btw.)Someone used the word sharing, another person decided they liked it and so on. It spread that way. Just like the phrase “social media” spread.So if you want to have some cool word that you like and approve of describe something you have to:a) Come up with the cool wordb) Get the cool word in front of people who write. [2] Then they, if they agree and if the word is catchy, will use the word and others will copy them. Make sense?[1] Reference to the steel industry and smoke filled rooms determining pricing.[2] So you come up with the sound bites prior to writing to a reporter or before answering their questions. Is what I did back when I did things like that.

  19. Kirsten Lambertsen

    It’s worth while including the concept of the freelance economy here. Seems like all these ‘sharing’ businesses are basically freelance facilitators. And our current move towards a freelance-based workforce is important.

  20. jason wright

    economics is blind to real valuessociopaths covet excessive wealth

  21. jason wright

    The end of ownership?

  22. peterekstein

    Charlie exactly so – that being said, being able to capture that intangible good ‘ trust’ is the key to ‘disruption’

  23. Supratim Dasgupta

    Agree. I can see many issues cropping up with these sharing systems like AirBnb and Uber. They will soon get regulated and when the VC money dries up a lot of this will turn into what hotel and taxi industry is today.

  24. fredwilson

    you are right. it’s easy to call it that because that’s what people call it. there are companies, like Blah Blah Car in europe, which is really a sharing economy company. but most are not.

  25. panterosa,

    it appeals to the baker in you!muffin top-ups maybe too…. I like the merge of topping up a metrocard but with the spillover of the muffin as a way to describe the transaction genesis

  26. LE

    Charlie, I would stick to baking bread and making music. I’m being harsh to make a point by the way. There is nothing catchy about that name at all. Plus “access” has a negative connotation to it and is restrictive.

  27. LE

    Nowhere near as nuts as you will be when one of your competitors wins mind share from customers by slinging the BS while you go the honest route with your packaging. You know my saying, right? “You can only be as…”I’ve marveled over the years at the shit that people in business say that the public and businesses believe and never question. That’s what drives me nuts.Even though our fathers were quite different, I’m sure, the way we were raised played into both of our sensibilities in this area. My dad would call me out on any bullshit so I was raised believing the public actually had a clue. I found out, and that’s obvious now, that this isn’t the case.

  28. LE

    Never forget when my Dad called some guy who was 70’s a “young guy”.

  29. awaldstein

    As soon as info becomes digital, the only inhibitor to change is intent.That being said, trust that all is ok.I had a ‘healthcare experience’ of my own and was impressed honestly at the democratic nature of access to the very best you could find.The issue is finding the best, getting them to take you as the data is not the think, interpretation of it is.

  30. awaldstein

    I’m a fan of your thinking and writing as you know Carl.I don’t disagree that things for the poor are really serious. Not naive enough to not realized that the middle class gets the attention cause they vote.But–simply not a believer in resolution that the worse in inevitable. And enough of a marketer to know that you don’t get stuff to change by chiding or frightening the population, only by inspiring them.Or so I seriously believe.

  31. pointsnfigures

    I am going to agree to disagree with you about wealth inequality. Meaningless stat. We are learning “free healthcare” is far more expensive than the broken system we had. The more opportunity and decision making that is localized and driven down to individuals, the more prosperity in society you will have.

  32. jason wright

    good man.

  33. pointsnfigures

    Chickens definitely are liberal.

  34. LE

    I want you to take note of what a great moniker “free range” is.You have “free” which is always good. Use that liberally everywhere.And you have “range” which evokes olden times. Where the deer and the antelope play. Which is funny because deer are so disgusting (don’t know anything about antelopes).Anyway, imagine, for a second, if they were called instead “non confined chicken”. Doesn’t work as well, eh?In the case of Perdue “tough” isn’t a great word but juxtaposed next to “tender” it worked. Imagine if the word has been “nice” instead of tough. Not as good, no contrast.

  35. Supratim Dasgupta

    I spent good 7 years trying to find chicken that has some decent flavor. 3 weeks ago stumbled into a hole in the wall live poultry in NJ. The brown chickens are pure yummmm!!! Sorry if I grossed out few people here, but when it comes to chickens am pretty passionate about them…..I mean how they taste.

  36. jason wright

    Blockshare

  37. awaldstein

    Actually Free Range doesn’t mean non confined as it relates to chickens. It doesn’t necessarily mean less confined and has no relation to pasteur raised.The semantic, legal loop holes and animal cruelty of industrialized farming of animals is down right unfathomable as well as unbelievably unhealthy.Thankfully us New Yorkers have direct access to farmers thrice weekly and can buy grower direct.

  38. Supratim Dasgupta

    Free Range, Cage Free are all BS. There is no definition of how much they have to be free 😉

  39. LE

    Agree with paragraph two. I have to tell you that when confronted with buying vegetable lo mein and chicken lo mein I only buy vegetable. Not because I’m vegan (I’m not) but because I have jumped to the conclusion that the restaurants that I go to probably are buying the crappiest food service grade chicken possible. That might be all in my head and obviously I don’t follow that rule with everything I buy. But it makes me feel better.

  40. ShanaC

    someone or something still owns the item. And then you get into complicated questions, such as lockouts of cars where you are making a debt payment and missed one. That is also “sharing economy” in that the debt contract has you both co-owning the object.

  41. awaldstein

    You are a smart guy who believes in exercise I know.No surprise that you are smart about the impact of nutrition and the quality of food on our health.The advantage of living in this area is that you can buy anything, that the entire east coast artisanal farm culture shows up at the farmers markets and there are restaurants and shops to eat and buy anything without compromise.

  42. jason wright

    Never enough is the condition

  43. jason wright

    Temporary co ownership via blockchain?

  44. fredwilson

    exaaaaaaaaactly