Category: Essay
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Blixt
(Crossposted to the USV blog) Existing electrical infrastructure is ill-suited to our current needs. It was developed for a world where we simply sent firm AC power from centralized power plants to end-customers. Today, however, electricity flows multi-directionally, as both AC and DC, and more intermittently. As we continue to…
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Vertically Integrated and AI-First
Crossposted from the USV blog A new pattern is emerging that we are excited about at USV: entrepreneurs are upgrading physical industries with an AI-first and vertically integrated approach. Instead of selling software to industry incumbents, startups are increasingly deciding to use their technical know-how to compete head-on. We think…
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AI Aesthetics
(Crossposted from the USV blog) The word “technology” comes from the Greek word techne, which refers to an art or skill or practice. Plato writes a lot about the concept, often making reference to artists such as flute players as canonical examples of those engaged in a techne. Though today…
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Making Energy Programmable
(crossposted from the USV blog) We’ve previously written about the storage gap. The proliferation of solar has led to an abundance of energy when the sun is out and a dearth of energy when it’s not. Batteries help address this gap by storing excess energy in times of plenty and…
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On Shamelessness
In the aftermath of Hamas’ brutal atrocities this weekend, I found myself greeted by throngs of people celebrating outside of my apartment. They were chanting “Intifada! Intifada! Intifada!”, expressing pride in what Hamas had done, and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, expressing their hope that…
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Is Deep Tech More Capital Intensive?
Something exciting about investing in deep tech startups is that the playbooks are still unwritten. It’s still a fairly small world with people trying a diversity of strategies that will be tested by the market and refined in the coming years. One thing I’ve found basically every investor agrees on,…
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Mind the Storage Gap
(crossposted from the USV blog) Deployment of renewables has been accelerating globally. In 2022, around 12% of electricity came from wind and solar, compared to less than 3% a decade ago. These resources offer access to low-cost clean energy – but only intermittently. Energy storage systems can capture excess renewable energy in…
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AI Reliability and Building Trusted Brands
Recent progress in AI is extremely exciting and has the potential to change the world for the better. However, in order for AI products to gain deep traction, they will have to earn our trust in the domains that matter the most to us. Andy summarized many of our questions…
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On the Philosophical Foundations of EA
Intro EAs Should Care More About Philosophical Ethics I think EAs should care more about debates around which ethical theory is true and why. The EA community is really invested in problems of applied consequentialist ethics such as “how should we think about low probability / high, or infinite, magnitude…
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Four Theses on Deep Tech
The last few years have given rise to a renewed interest in deep tech. Peter Thiel’s punchy “we wanted flying cars, and all we got was 140 characters” has captured technologists’ imaginations. Meanwhile, tech has emerged as an important potential bulwark against climate change, and venture capitalists have responded by raising…