Pinned Tweet
Crosby (@crosbylegal) is a “neo-firm," equal parts lawyers and engineers that owns liability, and takes on legal work end to end, handling contracts for @RamP, @clay, @Cursor, @cognition, @ListenLabs and more.
I spent two weeks embedded in Crosby in New York - seeing their time ts where lawyers race to redline a contract), All Hands, eng meetings, hung out in their Slack. I even shadowed lawyers.
Over 25 conversations later, I'm excited to share this field study going deep on solving unverifiable problems in law, profile on @ryanjdaniels (Stanford-trained attorney) & @jsarihan (early employee at Ramp), and how "misfit lawyers" feel about the role of the lawyer changing.
Read it here - new-ontologies.com/posts/Crosby
I spent two weeks embedded in Crosby in New York - seeing their time ts where lawyers race to redline a contract), All Hands, eng meetings, hung out in their Slack. I even shadowed lawyers.
Over 25 conversations later, I'm excited to share this field study going deep on solving unverifiable problems in law, profile on @ryanjdaniels (Stanford-trained attorney) & @jsarihan (early employee at Ramp), and how "misfit lawyers" feel about the role of the lawyer changing.
Read it here - new-ontologies.com/posts/Crosby
37
22
273
137,578
Started a new account on X to freely post more of the @newontologies work I'm doing cataloging field studies at the frontier: embedding into institutions that will define the future. I've written about AI-native services, and agent-human coworking - coming up: power, compute, and new vehicles of capital.
New Ontologies' first field study was on @andocorporation and @saradu: building a new age Slack to better cowork with agents.
We discuss: "techne" as an 2nd time exp founder; the 'bpm of human conversation' of agents and the invetability of multi-player experiences at work
9
2
20
1,830
I'm a fully independent, one-woman band, and am focused on telling the most interesting stories with both technical accuracy and poetic sensibility. Part of this is also a courage-inducing exercise of putting oneself out there, improving incrementally on craft, collaborative processes.
As many of you might know, I've written startingfromnix.com for some time now (on art, literature, and personal essays), so this is an entirely new form factor of writing for me. It is hard! it is incredibly fun.
As many of you might know, I've written startingfromnix.com for some time now (on art, literature, and personal essays), so this is an entirely new form factor of writing for me. It is hard! it is incredibly fun.
1
0
1
116
you are welcome to follow along if you're interested in
1) what it means to be an embedded writer / the process of sitting inside companies behind the scenes
2) how I write these pieces while having a full time job (it's a crazy lifestyle lol that I'm still juggling)
3) unfiltered learnings and musings on careers in the age of AI
4) thematic deep dives into big, rapidly changing categories (future of work, data, power)
1) what it means to be an embedded writer / the process of sitting inside companies behind the scenes
2) how I write these pieces while having a full time job (it's a crazy lifestyle lol that I'm still juggling)
3) unfiltered learnings and musings on careers in the age of AI
4) thematic deep dives into big, rapidly changing categories (future of work, data, power)
2
0
3
208
bring forth the forward deployed writers!
there are so many cool stories to tell abt AI companies and the wider landscape. I feel very energized to be able to play a small part in telling the humanist stories of frontier technology.
there are so many cool stories to tell abt AI companies and the wider landscape. I feel very energized to be able to play a small part in telling the humanist stories of frontier technology.
0
0
0
77
Perfect stack to reinvigorate reading. American Hagwon is gripping thus far. World for Sale is a slow burn but fascinating; Will and Attention is gorgeous / lyrical. O'Gieblyn is so good, and 'backsliding' in Harper's is my favorite essay of the year. What should I read next?
2
1
18
952
Maggie Rogers on writing her latest album. Very similar sentiments across art forms - if it’s real, it’s hard to let go of. But perhaps art requires release, an unclenching, a final argument, a burden lifted. Once I’ve written something into material reality, I rarely look back
2
2
20
1,090
“He listened with his whole body. As though my words were rain, and he was the earth. He absorbed everything, gathered every drop, missed absolutely nothing. His listening eyes were lakes in the high mountains. It was love, there's no other word for it. I don't think that stillness, that quality of attention, is even possible in digital-age humans, who suckle on mobile phones from the moment they're born. It's a generational thing. Lost forever, I believe.”
And then there is Arundhati Roy, who writes about Berger like a secular angel
0
1
15
1,166
one thing 'you can see everything' has revealed is that people yearn for the shared experience that is the post-cinema discussion and interest in the perceptual frame other people have. kind of beautiful to deeper understand another person through reactions to the same thing
4
4
54
2,088
"Well, maybe you were right about the theory of the world. then, the world changed."
I wrote about viewing your life's work as a multi-turned endeavor and the hard task of getting oneself intellectually unstuck.
We put so much pressure on ourselves to get things right on first s some wild step change that plunges us into clarity. Instead, we should embrace the little pivots that get us closer.
I wrote about viewing your life's work as a multi-turned endeavor and the hard task of getting oneself intellectually unstuck.
We put so much pressure on ourselves to get things right on first s some wild step change that plunges us into clarity. Instead, we should embrace the little pivots that get us closer.
4
0
20
1,418
come hang early morning next wednesday :)
Hosting a breakfast with @startingfromnix and @mercury for early stage founders buiding in vertical AI next week - have a few more slots, who should we invite?
DM me if you want to join!
0
0
3
1,039
Fantastic piece by @afrazhaowang on China's on-the-ground response to AI - the reflex to enroll and find teachers, lessons, and meritocratic 'striving.' Underneath the restlessness is a deeper point about personal dignity and agency: new machine gods means novel prophets, individuals the semblance of control over one's fate.
"It would be your own fault if you got left out. Here is a state with vanishingly little upward mobility, promising “common prosperity” anyway by doubling down on high technology. When the Party holds fast to a Hegelian History — History with a capital H — in which technological ascent is not a choice but a necessity, what options remain?"
"It would be your own fault if you got left out. Here is a state with vanishingly little upward mobility, promising “common prosperity” anyway by doubling down on high technology. When the Party holds fast to a Hegelian History — History with a capital H — in which technological ascent is not a choice but a necessity, what options remain?"
A new piece from me on @NYMag is out today. It is the second installment in a reporting trilogy I’m calling “AI and the Chinese society.”
Earlier this year, I visited China’s largest get-rich-with-AI company, which sells AI courses for profits. It has more than 80,000 paying oms have names like “Apostle of the Method” and “Evangelist.” Their membership system resembles a pyramid scheme.
I was greeted by Mr. Tree, an in-house influencer and AI educator whose social media bio promises to “search for 100 business answers in the age of AI”—an echo of Beijing’s “AI Plus” plan. The company felt like a prosperity-gospel church, and salvation meant adopting AI as fast as you can.
In Liangzhu, China’s vibe-coding capital, which I wrote about, young people give one another AI lessons for free in their living rooms. I also met Xiaokai, a 25-year-old filmmaker who became a pro on AI video generation through free classes, built a business earning several million yuan in profit, and now walks red carpets in Shanghai and Beijing.
To understand this AI education craze, I found peoples’ fear of being left behind, their religious faith in education, and millions of ordinary people trying to find a place for themselves in a AI future Beijing is summoning on behalf of everyone.
-----
Earlier this week, @KaiserKuo and I chatted about this trilogy on the great @SinicaPodcast in detail and some behind-the-scenes stories. You can listen to it now (links in the comments)!
Also. Many thanks to my wonderful editor, Joy Shan; my fact-checker, Jessica Suriano; and some friends who read the draft and offered feedback.
1
2
15
1,113
When you want to be ambitious both at work and in creative worlds, you could find a way to integrate them or create feedback loops between them.
If we view our jobs and the hours we spend most of our waking lives as complete diversions from a rich intellectual or creative life, illing or meaningful to make creative work.
A writing practice "co-evolves with how you enter the world" where you write to discover, or write to share what you've learned.
When you free yourself from what @michael_nielsen (in his piece 'developing creative identity') calls the “tyranny of ‘writing as a primary identity,” you can be free to choose for yourself what kind of writing you want to do in service of your other, multiple identities: be it a scientist, or researcher, investor, designer, founder.
Paradoxically, the non-writing activities stemming from these identities can actually be wildly generative source material for the writing as well.
If we view our jobs and the hours we spend most of our waking lives as complete diversions from a rich intellectual or creative life, illing or meaningful to make creative work.
A writing practice "co-evolves with how you enter the world" where you write to discover, or write to share what you've learned.
When you free yourself from what @michael_nielsen (in his piece 'developing creative identity') calls the “tyranny of ‘writing as a primary identity,” you can be free to choose for yourself what kind of writing you want to do in service of your other, multiple identities: be it a scientist, or researcher, investor, designer, founder.
Paradoxically, the non-writing activities stemming from these identities can actually be wildly generative source material for the writing as well.
notes on being ambitious in both work and creative endeavors:
- create accountability writing/creative partners with regular cadence (weekly)
- introduce variety through scoped projects e.g., pitching, personal blog, side quests
- rigor and discipline applies to creative work t > time management
2
3
18
1,229
notes on being ambitious in both work and creative endeavors:
- create accountability writing/creative partners with regular cadence (weekly)
- introduce variety through scoped projects e.g., pitching, personal blog, side quests
- rigor and discipline applies to creative work t > time management
- create accountability writing/creative partners with regular cadence (weekly)
- introduce variety through scoped projects e.g., pitching, personal blog, side quests
- rigor and discipline applies to creative work t > time management
4
1
63
4,234
I want to write about this “new era of tech/dealmaking” + more broadly the “permanent capital” space 👀
@GuptaRK22 Lfg - new era of tech/deal making begins
2
0
8
1,324