Yo! ✌️ I’m Brett! Social Studies is about trying to understand what it means to be human in the context of modern technology. It includes recaps of what happened on Tech Twitter plus deep analysis using frameworks from Psychology, Economics, and the Social Sciences.
Hey everyone! Here’s what happened the last month of 2020.
🤑 Everyone got rich AF, especially Keith and Chamath - Bitcoin almost hit $30K, there were tons of IPOs and Keith and Chamath seemed to own equity in all of them.
🏖 Miami became the new Silicon Valley - Dozens of prominent tech leaders announced moving to Miami as the city mayor tweeted his heart out to appease.
🍔 MrBeast launched a burger chain - A YouTuber launched a burger delivery app that went to #1 in the app store over night. Distribution is king.
Read through to the bottom for some dopamine hits, long reads, and as always, a funny video.
- Brett
Bitcoin went on another dizzying bull run, hitting an all time high and barely missing the $30K mark.
Yano@JasonYanowitz
Every bull run looks like a bubble, until it becomes a tiny blip on the chart. 2013 vs. 2020 h/t @bitstein
8:09 PM · Dec 30, 2020
22 Reposts · 112 Likes
priyanka desai🍦@pridesai
if you're long internet, you should be long internet money
2:12 AM · Dec 17, 2020
77 Reposts · 934 Likes
Keith Rabois had a quarter for the books with a number of his early-stage investments (Palantir, Airbnb, etc.) going public along with OpenDoor, a company he cofounded.
Keith Rabois@rabois
Best holiday gift from @jgebbia.
8:17 PM · Dec 24, 2020
15 Reposts · 922 Likes
Chamath, King of the SPACs, killed it as well.
Chamath Palihapitiya@chamath
In 2020, I invested $370M of my money in a handful of new positions. As of 12/31 these new investments were worth $2.03B for an IRR of 393% and a MOIC of 5.2X Follow along, in 2021, if you want to play...
3:29 AM · Jan 1, 2021
1.6K Reposts · 25.8K Likes
Chamath Palihapitiya@chamath
When $BTC gets to $150k, I will buy The Hamptons and convert it to sleepaway camps for kids, working farms and low-cost housing.
3:38 PM · Dec 30, 2020
2.11K Reposts · 29.1K Likes
People have wanted to GTFO of San Francisco for a while. The combination of SF just being a terrible city during COVID and the looming tax hit many IPO-minted new rich are facing seems to be pushing people to make real changes this time around.
After Delian suggested everyone move to Miami, the mayor himself responded.
Mayor Francis Suarez@FrancisSuarez
How can I help?
delian @zebulgar
ok guys hear me out, what if we move silicon valley to miami
1:43 AM · Dec 5, 2020
316 Reposts · 5.74K Likes
Since this tweet, the mayor had countless conversations with tech leaders in person and on Twitter about making Miami the next Silicon Valley.
Sar Haribhakti@sarthakgh
Tired : SF sees booms & bursts and this time is no different Wired : Miami migration is an overblown story distorted by tech twitter Inspired : Miami is a story of bootstrapping a social network. Do things that don’t scale. Recruit influential node connectors
10:20 PM · Dec 29, 2020
14 Reposts · 156 Likes
What’s crazy, is that it actually seems to be working. Keith Rabois, who has been the most vocal Miami bull on Twitter announced he bought a $29M home, is building a bigger Founders Fund office, and is launching a new company all in Miami.
Keith Rabois@rabois
Kicking off 2021 properly: Starting a new company to be headquarter in Miami. Ready to launch by Q2.
12:13 AM · Jan 1, 2021
57 Reposts · 2.02K Likes
Ric Burton 🇬🇧 ‣ 🇺🇸@ricburton
@stevegraham Don’t make me edit this meme lad
7:45 PM · Dec 22, 2020
35 Likes
People sick and tired of the SF city government practically fell all over themselves commending the Miami mayor for his efforts. There were also plenty of interesting takes on what this means for the future of politics and cities.
Katherine Boyle@KTmBoyle
We are watching the last of the technologically illiterate rule as political class. All politicians will build their brands and constituencies online. Social media managers will cease to exist. “The Great Communicators” of tomorrow will meme their way into office.
balajis.com @balajis
Mayor Suarez has single handedly reformed politics Twitter. First, politicians around the world now understand they can recruit constituents with their tweets. Second, they now understand they can *lose* constituents with their tweets. https://t.co/S2M7dxI7Bh https://t.co/pwqUjZCbZ9
4:31 PM · Dec 26, 2020
15 Reposts · 122 Likes
balajis.com@balajis
The point isn’t about moving from SF to Austin or Miami per se. The point is the ability to move, as individuals or as a group, when the state fails.
8:18 PM · Dec 14, 2020
103 Reposts · 1.79K Likes
In a surprising turn of events for any year that isn’t 2020, YouTuber MrBeast launched a … hamburger restaurant.
Tobi Lutke 🌳🌲🛒🕹@tobi
This is mind blowing. This brand didn’t exist yesterday and today it’s Nr.1 in the App Store.
MrBeast @MrBeastYT
I just launched 300 restaurants nationwide! Just go on your favorite delivery app and order a MrBeast Burger! WE’VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR FOREVER AND IM SO EXCITED! https://t.co/hn7tXeWrOu
9:06 PM · Dec 20, 2020
230 Reposts · 3.81K Likes
There’s obviously a lot more beneath the surface, as various people on Tech Twitter pointed out. Thanks to cloud kitchens and most importantly, MrBeast’s massive following, MrBeast Burger was able to truly be an overnight success.
Burgers weren’t MrBeast’s only tech trick this month. On December 29th he launched “Finger On The App 2,” a nod to a product originally launched by Founders Fund backed MSCHF.
MrBeast is definitely the entrepreneur to watch in 2021.
Brett Goldstein 🚀🏠@thatguyBG
Name that startup █ █ █ █ ＿ the growth the twitter hype
5:33 PM · Dec 28, 2020
73 Reposts · 1.22K Likes
codyb@codybrown
Clubhouse just hit #10 in the app store for social networking. Has 26,000+ reviews and a 4.9 rating.
3:01 AM · Dec 16, 2020
4 Reposts · 173 Likes
Ethan Klein@h3h3productions
Bruh I just got a covid vaccine on stockx!!!!! stoked!!
7:50 PM · Dec 17, 2020
1.41K Reposts · 26.1K Likes
Li Jin@ljin18
The new American dream is to make a living from one's creativity. 1/3 of kids want to be YouTube stars. But the inconvenient truth is few creators are actually attaining financial security today. My new blog is about building the creator middle class 👇 li.substack.com/p/building-the…
li.substack.com
Building the Middle Class of the Creator Economy
4:11 PM · Dec 17, 2020
467 Reposts · 2.66K Likes
Nathan Baschez@nbashaw
Content is misunderstood and massively underrated by tech folks. I think this is one of the better things I’ve ever written 🙏🏻😆 divinations.substack.com/p/why-content-…
divinations.substack.com
Why Content is King
5:06 PM · Dec 18, 2020
67 Reposts · 554 Likes
delian@zebulgar
extremely fascinating to read this reverse-engineering of the pfizer vaccine this author translates everything into computer science-like terms crazy to see how humanity has so many tools to basically "program" our bodies and how we used them here
berthub.eu
Reverse Engineering the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine - Articles
12:22 AM · Dec 26, 2020
180 Reposts · 623 Likes
Thanks for an incredible year. I’ve got one last 2020 surprise for you this week, but could not be more excited for what’s in store for 2021.
Pomp 🌪@APompliano
Please welcome our new dancing machine overlords
8:36 PM · Dec 29, 2020
936 Reposts · 3.98K Likes
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