humane, tech worship, vcs, & capital as art

raihan_ // 16 apr 2024

Interesting to watch the fallout of the MKBHD AI pin review, across a few vertices. one common thread is "the reviewer has too much power, ergo he must be stripped of it"? it's antithetical to anyone investing in "creator economy" stuff to say so, because that's the whole point of a non-press institution having this level of say. On the one hand, we have breathless LinkedIn posts proclaiming "the press release is dead," on the other, we have some people wishing death upon the anti-press release. Marcus is a good critic, in the traditional sense of critics. most of you don't know what the fuck that even means, because you have beans for brains and think all criticism is adversarial and all art that "doesn't advance the plot" is superfluous. anyway. A lot of people mad about this are bowing down at the altar of the singular tech auteur; but healthy ecosystems are what lead to growth, the same way a torn muscle grows.

Did he say the pin should never happen? No. Did he say it isn't better than the technology that's in most peoples' pockets? Yes. That's fine. I hope that Humane takes this in stride and makes a better product, hopefully via software (cf. Apple in the first months of the AirPods release!). The point of venture is to offer the ability to make these big bets, in ways that other funders normally wouldn't. The point of working on these big bets is to iterate and reiterate in cool ways. Writ large, most of the buying public feels tired and not in a position to spend $3k on VR ski goggles or $1k on glorified Siri, as mentioned in the review. He ain't wrong! There's a key reason why business schools teach a "good/better/best" positioning—it works!

Folks saying "well, YOU try to fit a small projector, cell antenna etc. into a device of this size!" are merely praying at the altar of capital worship. A more interesting lens: what if Humane is playing a Koonsian game with VCs? Tech people understand this kayfabe as a "pivot," part of the game to be played. Koons, hate him or love him, is often seen as a tech innovator and a financial wizard (not expanding on this here) as opposed to an artist. Humane would be wise to take a page from that book and maybe not be so serious in the process?

Update: you can find out more about me here and i’m always down to get coffee if you’re reading this and in LA. hmu. -r_