My guest this week is Chris Dixon, who has written some of my favorite essays on technology and venture investing. Chris is a prolific investor and thinker, having been an entrepreneur, angel investor, and now partner at the well-known venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Our conversation focuses on major trends in technology, including cryptocurrencies and the future of autonomous vehicles and drones. Chris has a rule of thumb for technology trends: find out what smart people are working on during the weekend, and you’ll know what other will be doing years in the future. After surveying his old essays, it’s clear you use Chris’s writings as a similar litmus test.
Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments Please enjoy this great conversation with Chris Dixon on the future of tech.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
 
Books Referenced
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages
Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World
 
Links Referenced
Douglas Hofstadter
Daniel Dennett
How Aristotle Created the Computer
New Yorker Cover on automation
The World of Numbers website
Jerry Neumann podcast episode
David Tisch podcast
ERC-20 Token Standard
Eleven Reasons To Be Excited About The Future of Technology
 
Show Notes
2:04 (First Question) – Why did Chris choose to study philosophy
            2:23 – Douglas Hofstadter
            2:24 – Daniel Dennett
            3:20 – How Aristotle Created the Computer 
3:35 – Where has his thinking and viewpoints changed the most having been in the real world 
4:42 – What is the real driving force behind all of the technology that we are creating and will automation kill all of the jobs
            6:16 – New Yorker Cover on automation
            6:57 – The World of Numbers website
8:36 – A look at his history in networks and network design
            11:03 – Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages
            11:07 – Jerry Neumann podcast episode
            12:32 – Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World
13:06 – What are the market and technological forces that make it difficult to regulate software hardware companies
14:39 – The best features of proprietary centralized networks and open networks
16:40 – What things are better centralized vs decentralized
            22:30 – David Tisch podcast
23:03 – When it comes to cryptocurrencies, what are the concerns that the protocols themselves hold value and could this lead to centralization of the system problems
            24:02 – Block size debate (topic)
            26:40 – ERC-20 Token Standard
27:23 – Is the blockchain the answer to the stagnation of the big tech players 
32:47 – Does Chris find investment in individual crypto tokens analogous to seed funding in companies 
34:39 -  How does Chris think about the dichotomy of investing in people vs technologies
            34:59 – Eleven Reasons To Be Excited About The Future of Technology 
37:45 – What organizational structures of companies are most compelling 
41:50 – Any major trends in technology a cause for concern for Chris 
42:34 – Any interesting trends by people looking to disrupt the centralization of internet power to a small few 
44:09 – What major trends is Chris passionately pursuing 
51:15 – If everyone agrees on a future trend of technology, can you still make money investing in them 
52:20 – How do you encourage younger people to approach the world and a career differently in this ever-changing world 
57:39 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Chris
 
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag