Blog
A Recession Won't Bring People Back to the Office
Some analysts assume that employees will lose their leverage and return to the office as the economy slows down. This theory is based on a mistaken assumption.
If nobody's there, is it still a company?
The office and the corporation are intertwined. A big box full of people and things is the physical embodiment of the legal entity that "owns" these people, their tools, and whatever they produce. Once people are liberated from the box, what happens to the legal entity? We focus
Who Needs Web3?
The internet is a meteor that crashed into human civilization. We absorbed the initial impact. Now, we need to figure out how to fit all the pieces back together.
Designing the Future of Work
A recording of Dror Poleg's conversation with Kasey Klimes about designing for emergence, with a focus on the future of work.
Focus, Remote, and Volatility
This week, I wrote about urban planning, remote work, asynchronous work, focused work, and the productivity of American volatility. All the pieces are below.
The American Meme
China approaches memes in the same way it approaches pandemics. Its "Zero Covid" policy aims to control tiny aerosol particles that carry infectious viruses. And its censorship policy seeks to control tiny bits of information that carry contagious ideas. As I pointed out in The Meme Leak Theory,
Distracted by Default
The productivity of manual laborers increased 50-fold during the 20th century. One hundred twenty years ago, looking at a mechanic or factory worker, it was hard to imagine that such a dramatic increase was possible. And yet, it happened. And it facilitated massive improvements in the quality of life of
Remote First, Async Second
As remote work becomes more widespread, companies are allowing employees to have greater control over their schedules.
Remote Work and Urban Information
Companies tend to flock to large cities for two main reasons. One is that working in-person increases the odds of spontaneous “collisions” between people, leading to serendipitous discoveries. These collisions can be between people who work at the same firm, people in the same industry, or even across industries. The
