A Passing appreciation

I was sitting in a Waymo, stopped at a red light, and next to me was this classic red and white car. I couldn’t tell you what kind it was because I know nothing about cars, but it was stunning, so well taken care of, and honestly a work of art.

On the other side of the car there was a guy in some sort of delivery truck with his windows down. He kept looking over at the car, smiling and smiling. Eventually the woman in the passenger seat noticed him and rolled down her window. They started chatting and it was so cute. He told her how beautiful the car was, how well they’d kept it up, how gorgeous it looked. He asked if they had owned it since it was brand new. She laughed and said no, that it was from the year they graduated high school, and then she started telling him a story about how they got it. I think it was a graduation gift, though I couldn’t catch every word.

The light turned green, they waved, and everyone drove off. When I passed the car I finally got a good look at the inside. The interior was just as pristine. Red leather seats, red details on the steering wheel and dashboard, everything shining. And then I saw the couple. They were probably in their seventies or eighties, and they looked gorgeous. Dressed so classy, not pompous, just colorful and elegant in a way that felt so age-appropriate and stylish. Their faces were wrinkled and natural, no sign of surgery or anything pulled or fake, and they just looked like themselves.

The whole thing struck me. It reminded me that even though humans have created so many problematic and harmful things in this world, we have also made some incredible things too. That car was proof of it. A piece of art made and maintained with love, creativity, and care, just for the sake of something beautiful. The owners of the car were art themselves as well. Stunning and beautiful, in the most human way possible.

And then there was that human connection. A tiny moment at a red light, one stranger admiring something another stranger loved, and it turned into a little burst of joy between them. It made me think about how much capacity we have to connect with each other, if we just try.

Burning Man Thoughts, 1 week Later

I’m standing in line at a coffee shop and the man in front of me has two tags sticking out of his shirt and sweatshirt. 

At burning man, I wouldn’t hesitate to tap him gently on the shoulder and say “hey friend, your tags are sticking out, can I put them away for you?”

But in the default world, I fear he would look at me like I was crazy for asking to touch him, a stranger who I’ve never met. 

A seemingly small, but really important concept that I’ve only seen in practice at scale at burning man. The full and immediate acceptance that we are all out here living in the same world and have the ability and understanding that we’re here to help each other out. That strangers are inherently friendly and well intentioned. 

It can be like this. It is like this at the burn. And I think it’s the small unspoken things like this that keep people coming back year after year. What makes people call going to the burn “coming home”. Because you don’t feel like you’re surrounded by strangers. You are surrounded by people who will look out for you, offer a helping hand, overhear that you’re looking for your face mask and offer you one of theirs right from their pack, and will offer to tuck your tag in when standing behind you in line. 

Wedding Learnings from 2025

Nicolai and I went to 4 weddings together this year, before our own wedding in September (and we have another one over NYE!)

Here’s what I learned. 

All weddings are vastly different. Yes, they all have the same elements - a ceremony with vows, followed by a group dinner and dessert, some speeches, and dancing. The pieces are the same, but the details are what make or break a wedding and what showcase who the couple is together and what matters to them the most. 

The weddings we went to this year were in 

1. At an elegant mansion in a cosmopolitan district in Tokyo

2. In summer camp cabins in a tiny coastal town 4 hours south of SF 

3. At a lush outdoor garden in the north LA suburbs 

4. On top of a mountain ski resort in western Idaho 

They all had vows, dinner, speeches, and dancing. But as you can glean just from their locations, each wedding was entirely unique and a testament to the identities of the couples that hosted them. The friends that got married this year are from different chapters of our lives and deeply close to us in different ways. It was so beautiful and interesting to see their take on what a wedding is and to note what was most important to them. 

What doesn’t matter (to me). 

• Decor and table scape (can’t remember what the tables looked like at any of the venues) 

• The order of dances or even if you have them (first dance, father daughter, etc) 

What does matter to me

• Being fed at appropriate times 

• Being considerate of how long it takes to get from point to point

• Considering the weather 

The Fifth Revolution

I had this wild dream that the fourth revolution, the AI Revolution, shepherded humanity into this beautiful fifth revolution, where industry as we know it is obsolete. Where computers and AI have completely taken over every single job that humans have and ever will conceive of (production, service, knowledge) and then more. Leaving humans to simply, live. There can be no more wealth hoarding or inequality, because no human has the capability to do anything that amasses wealth, instead AI will do it for you. We will be forced to adapt to a money free life, because there is no logical way for a human to make money, but resources will be abundant as AI will be able to create at an unimaginably faster rate than humans ever could. 

If the revolutions were as such, here’s where that leads us. 

• First revolution: Agricultural

• Second revolution: Industrial

• Third revolution: Digital

• Fourth revolution: AI / Industrial Collapse

• Fifth revolution: Humanity

It’s worth noting that it will be extremely painful and oppressive for an extremely long time before we’re able to reach this utopia. We’re only taking the first baby steps into the AI revolution and just barely starting to feel the effects of AI overpowering industry. You can already find lists of “jobs that will be made obsolete by AI” and those lists will only grow and grow and grow and grow. I don’t think in our lifetime or even our children’s life times will they experience the fifth revolution. But it is coming. 

Some people I think fear that this revolution will lead us to a WALL-E type situation where we rapidly decline into fat, lazy blobs with no interests, hobbies, talents, etc (no real will to live, just going through the motions). But in my dream, when humans are finally free from the shackles of financial survival, we will thrive. 

And to be fair, I have already been witnessing this movement back towards humanity- a desire to develop emotional intelligence, to strengthen communication skills, and a search for deep and wholesome community. Not globally yet, but in my communities I am seeing it and I know it’s happening in some (honestly more wealthy and liberal) parts of the world. People want to connect to what makes us human: our emotions, our thoughts, and our friends and families.