philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Travis is Back

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The lesson of Uber was, if people really want the product, then their everyday use of the product is undeniable legitimacy for your case to operate. And every battle, ultimately, is about your legitimacy to exist. ...

The backdrop to company-building today, unfortunately, is that a lot of people out there think AI shouldn’t exist, or shouldn’t be built by private companies, or other stances like that that are plain wrong. As a result, fast-growing companies that do things in the physical world will have to play on Hard Mode, and secure their social license to operate. This means, becoming essential to people, quickly. Uber won its battles, city after city, because they became essential to people so quickly that their social license with everyday citizens overcame the political and regulatory pressures to stop it. 

This lesson is going to be applied over and over again as AI and Robotics get deployed into the physical world. The future belongs to those products that become legitimate by bringing some hustle to industries that have waited for technology to happen to them.

This is the art and science of building “self-creating realities”. The ability to call your shots here, and execute on them, is like using the Force. ...

See the full story here: https://www.a16z.news/p/travis-is-back

My posted comment: You're celebration of “self-creating realities” is the Silicon Valley reality distortion field for what is actually creating the new Pharoah/slave society. How many Uber drivers were able to advance thru the barrier of the algorithm and advance their lives within the company? If it is 1% I'd be shocked. Uber drivers started off benefiting from the gig economy, but I haven't heard happy comments from Uber drivers in years. I don't see a whole lot of "thriving" except for Uber management. Similarly with his ghost kitchens and now this. All the "thriving" looks like a repeat of business models that simply consolidate wealth rather than improve people's lives.