Welcome to Look Up! I’m extremely grateful for the influx of new members who joined this week after reading on Social Money. While I’m fascinated with the crypto industry, you should know that Look Up! covers a wide range of subjects. This frequently includes crypto, but not always! I hope you’ll stick around regardless. If you have any fun ideas that you’d like me to explore, or notice a trend over the weeks that you think I should hone in on, let me know.
In my latest Look Up! interview (coming next week), my friend and the founder of Aglet, Ryan Mullins, called me one of his “chimps” - a huge honor. He was referencing this 2016 conversation (min 52) between Naval Ravikant and Tim Ferriss in which Naval describes the 5 Chimps theory of Zoology. I’ve had trouble finding the source of the theory (share if you’ve got it), but Naval describes it as follows,
“we can predict the mood, behavior, patterns of any chimp by which 5 chimps they hang out the most…so chose your five chimps carefully”
Given we are spending an increasing number of hours social networking online, I believe (though I currently have no evidence) that this theory needs to be extended to include our social media communities.
In 2019, the average individual spent 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking sites. That’s around 36 whole days, 1+ month, or 1/10th of the year! Now, compare that to the amount of time you spend with your five best friends. If we’re being generous, you may spend 1 day per week with all of them combined. Assuming 8 hours spent per day together, that’s less than half the time you likely spend social networking each week.
I rarely interact with my “5 chimps” online, so that means I spend a lot more time with complete strangers, “thought leaders,” pseudonymous avatars, and trolls, than I do with the people who matter most to me. Truthfully, I’d like to do a better job reflecting on and vigilantly curating the folks that I follow on social media, as well as the conversations I’m having.
As time goes on the digital and real will converge into one metaverse. So it is important for all of us to regularly evaluate the quality of the company we keep not only in the physical, but also in the digital world. This is why I believe that curation will become a driving force behind the future internet - we may want our “5 chimps” online to be filtering content for us. Eventually those chimps might include “pocket AIs” who are optimized for our personal, social, and intellectual growth.
What moods, behaviors, and thought patterns do you currently absorb from your 5 online chimps?
Let me know what you think of this post
This Week’s Podcast:
Can Tech Take on Alcoholism? with Mike Russell, Co-Founder & CEO of Monument
In this episode, I sat down with Mike Russell, founder of Monument to discuss his journey towards building a technology company that helps those who have challenges with alcohol.
We discussed Mike’s own experience with alcohol abuse, the impact it had on his life, and why it ultimately led him to start Monument, which provides online support to change your drinking habits.
Mike is a 2x entrepreneur and builder who sold his last company, PaintZen, to PPG Industries in 2018. It’s great to see more entrepreneurs building technology specifically focused on improving our mental health and wellbeing.
If you’re building in the Humane Technology/Digital Wellness space, I’d like to hear from you.
What I’m Reading
IDEAS
Naval Ravikant on Happiness Hacks, Tim Ferriss Show
Why You Feel at Home in A Crisis, Shane Parrish
STARTUPS
What Growth Stage Funds Ask in DD, Yasmin Razavi
MARKETS
Will the Banks Collapse?, The Atlantic
CRYPTO
Debunking Bitcoin Myths for Institutional Investment Community, ARK Invest
Past, Present, Future: From Co-ops to Cryptonetworks, Jesse Walden
MEDIA
Jon Stewart is Back to Weigh In, NYTimes
The State of Community Tools 2020, Li Jin
Thank you for reading this edition of the Look Up! Weekly.
As always, feel free to reach out with feedback, guest recommendations, and ideas for future posts and episodes.
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