Some Controversial Things I Believe

Here is a few things I believe that a lot of people seemingly find controversial.

1. Targeted advertising is good because it enables free and abundant services available for everyone with internet access. Written about this at length before.
2. To follow this, subscriptions aren’t the ultimate answer for everything and don’t solve problems automatically. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in subscriptions – I’m paying for so many apps, services, media publications, and newsletters.
3. Algorithmic feeds can be good. Following over 150-200 people makes catching up on everything they posted impossible. You just miss things differently. I want my social apps to show me the most important things. Yet I agree that algorithms are often demonized for mixing content from people you don’t follow.
4. Digests are a superior way to consume content compared to infinitely scrolling feeds, and they would solve many problems people associate with social platforms. Yet nobody uses them in the fight for engagement (although BeReal tried something close to this).
5. Certain people from tech and media circles like to speak for all of their peers and fuel a sort of war. Radicals are never right. I’ve seen enough bad actors at both ends. Better to evaluate individuals and companies alone.
6. Smart home as a concept is mostly a gimmick. A very expensive one. There are useful things, like being able to easily play your favorite music across the house or opening the shades in the morning. And there are stupid things, like smart light bulbs that make sure you can’t just use the knob to turn them off.
7. Remote work is as productive or even better in that regard compared to onsite work. But you must build the right kind of company to leverage it and ensure everything goes smoothly. I’ve written about working remotely and running a remote team.
8. Properly cooked medium-well steaks are the best. Works for most (but not all) cuts of meat. Sorry.

Sometimes I get back to this post to update it.