Sonal Chokshi
@smc90
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traveler between worlds, worldbuilder, reader, I heart art + tech. Editor in Chief a16z crypto; EiC a16z + podcast showrunner 2014-2022; fmr WIRED, Xerox PARC
sone.eth | 917-area/9-zip code
Joined March 2008
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Last Seen Profiles
I was super annoyed by this cover and photo choice tbh -- is it just me, or is there a kinda gross othering of tech founders/visionaries in Time covers over, well, time?!
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1/ OK. So I have an exciting career update – after nearly 8 (!) years building a16z’s editorial operation (newsletters, websites, countless pieces & packages + ofc, my beloved podcast 💕) – I am joining the a16z crypto team (!!) to lead content.
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here are the most and least metal words (according to this NLP analysis on lyrics corpus )
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DAOs, A Canon
First, we had the Crypto Canon. Then, we had the NFT Canon. We now also have a canon all about DAOs -- a list of curated resources for those seeking to understand, build, or otherwise get involved with decentralized autonomous organizations:
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super cool website full of interactive examples for visualizing complex systems -- in biology, physics, math, social sciences, ecology, epidemiology, and much more -- from
@DirkBrockmann
[via
@stevenstrogatz
]
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...these are just a FEW snippets at quick glance.
Imagery matters, and the continued portrayal of powerful, inspiring technology leaders as cliche "nerds" is not just boring but frankly telling -- like how has our iconography for such a changing culture NOT changed over time?!
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"No Handshakes Please", pseudonymous artist. January 2020. paper, text, tape, glass.
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Introducing our new show, 16 Minutes, a short news podcast where we cover top headlines of the week, the a16z pod way -- why are these topics in the news; what’s real, what’s hype from our vantage point; what are our experts’ quick takes on these trends?
a new show from us -- 16 Minutes on the news! this week, we (
@smc90
) cover:
*Neuralink & brain-computer interfaces w
@vijaypande
*TikTok & AI w
@conniechan
*FaceApp & privacy beyond natl security w Joel de la Garza
*iHeartRadio & direct listings w
@jpm25
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Super proud of the latest and greatest in a long series of
@a16z
@a16zcrypto
canons -- from the Crypto Canon to the NFTs Canon to DAOs, a Canon -- and now, one on *all things zero knowledge*, from theory to practice: the ZK Canon
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..my immediate, visceral reax on seeing this was that Time coulda done much better art direction/ composition for this cover, visually conveying creative superpower of subject than what this cover conveys -- I'll share more of the specific elements I noticed, via an editor's eye:
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fantastic piece on "slow" Twitch -- the creative channels and smaller communities of knitters, sewers, scientists, makeup artists etc. -- who connect with each other online through sometimes long, slow streams
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super proud of this milestone for us... episode 500 of the a16z Podcast!
have a listen to this so-meta episode to hear/learn more about the who, what. when, why, and most importantly, the how:
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my
#1
piece of easy-to-adopt advice for Clubhouse moderators, conference panel mods, podcast hosts, others: regardless of mediums, do NOT let guests introduce themselves!!
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more than ever I am convinced that it is those who embrace the combo of science+humanities, IQ+EQ, heart+mind etc etc who'll win the future
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With so many bigger and far more important things going on in the world almost forgot to share that my first day at a16z was March 24, 2014 -- 6 years, today.
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as good a time as any to tell folks outside team that I am finally working on a book!
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I vetted and selected a bunch of specific resources for our COVID-19 disease/ novel coronavirus list to help anyone -- whether citizen, employee, business leader, scientist, others -- wade through the infodemic/misinfodemic for the signal (vs noise):
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Things I can't stand: homogenization of very large groups, i.e., "rich people", "poor people", "women", "Silicon Valley", etc.
taking last ex, which Silicon Valley exactly? That of immigrant entrepreneurs from 70s or from 90s? (even those are two v different groups)? VCs? etc.
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this is so much better than "we are stardust"
The nitrogen in your DNA was once inside a small star. 🧬 That star shed its outer layers at the end of its life, forming a planetary nebula and freeing its nitrogen to become part of our solar system.
#MondayMotivation
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what was your best (or fave) purchase under $100 in the past year?
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well this is a great start to a long weekend and pretty much already makes my day 💌
(I describe myself everywhere in my bios etc. as a "traveler between worlds" and it is a very, very lonely place...)
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this was so good:) except...
fun fact: for the first 5 of 7 years of a16z’s formal editorial operation there were only 1-2 people in it. yup. not kidding, I have the receipts;)
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1) note how the headline is not as big and ambitious and bold as typical heds -- let alone bleeding across the image or even outside of it! --
it's "contained" within small space, as if needs to be constrained (also as if a t-shirt slogan, school project, etc etc):
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zero-knowledge (zk) proofs, explained at 5 "levels" -- child, teen, college student, grad school student, expert -- by computer science professor Amit Sahai at UCLA school of engineering, for WIRED, here:
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Excited to finally share just a small (!) slice of our plans; that our executive editor position is now filled (yay!) -- best decision I made was hiring
@asalyers3
as managing editor 2 yrs ago... it was v lonely first 5 yrs of building editorial operation!
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The NFT Canon -- just updated it with the latest and greatest!
The NFT Canon -- a curated list of resources for artists & creators, developers, corporations & institutions, communities, and other orgs -- seeking to understand or do more with non-fungible tokens (by
@smc90
@cdixon
@jessewldn
@Iiterature
@ljxie
) 👇
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... honestly, been courted a lot lately by all kinds of folks and literally thought to myself -- why couldn't I just launch our own news show on a platform I've worked so damn hard to build?
Am excited about both news podcasts and shorter form: first item is 8+ mins, rest < 5;)
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latest
@a16z
crypto newsletter & podcast episode are out! this week covers web3 policy topics, moves, news:
🪙💻 defining stablecoins
@milesjennings
🖼️🔐 NFTs, usable security
@x0rart
@nassyweazy
🚫🕹️ ban chatter
📖🎧
@JakeAuch
@cdixon
policy principles
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2) notice positioning & placement of hands, gaze direction relative to subject & reader, much more -- not to mention composition smack in center (which I consider weakest placement) -- compared to more zoomed in, power stance, or other choices made on other cultural icon covers:
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3) and don't even get me started on the lighting choices (fluorescent? or what the what?!) + dim grey background -- vs brighter halo lighting of past cover subjects, or even the brighter grey backgrounds used for past power player subjects:
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Nothing makes me feel more fragile and sad than the repeated realization that so much of life is about the luck of birthplace/country and luck of family (I've been blessed in both)... no matter how much you "make" your luck
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I asked the brilliant
@devonzuegel
to guest host some a16z crypto videos with
@cdixon
,
@ali01
,
@jessewldn
@Iiterature
, now live at and a16z crypto playlist on YouTube here:
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updated list of resources to
#helpindianow
-- including some organizations & fundraisers personally vouched for or recommended by various voices in our CH chat today -- as well as selected/ curated readings in here: [+ how/who to suggest updates at bottom]
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I've been waiting all day today til IST am to share this, but yay!!
Desi Twitter, Substack now supports paid subscriptions in India!! (All the voices out there that can get paid to write, and all the readers that want to pay them, unite!)
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btw I share a lot of mag covers here, including ones I've been proud of!! [cf threaded here ] --
and I'm not EVEN mentioning all the bullshit fucked up choices magazine editors & art directors have made (for decades!) on lighting women of color!!!!!
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of all the notes, THIS one has somehow touched me most of all... 💌 🎙️❣️🙏
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finally read the scarlet letter (i.e., publicly branding the bad moves and bad communications in NY re Amazon HQ), and it's as good as everyone said it was
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I asked this question of Brian because he acknowledges a privilege in learning when young how to speak to power [it is not something immigrant kids/ first-gen children of immigrants learn growing up!]
Learning to speak to "Powerful people" is a vital skill and one that most lack. Tips on how to from
@briankoppelman
on
@a16z
with
@pmarca
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Agree. Alexa/Echo fulfills promise of what Nest etc supposed to do (trojan horse to central command center for home)
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Been thinking how this is one of the oldest, truest, most robust quotes ever (that captures zeitgeist today and where we’re going, yet I’ve cited it for years in lotsa different tech contexts) — by Bill Joy c. 1994:
*No matter who you are, the smartest people don’t work for you*
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latest a16z crypto newsletter has your weekend watching/listening/reading!
▶️🖼️ on advancing science & tech of web3
🎧🔓on bridge hack, wallet hack
📈🧩 on why creators are going cc0
📰🧮 on stablecoins, the tech (vs the collateral)
📜🏦on regulatory news:
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audio is my medium, my metier, my mojo. i'm super bullish on audio as a creator and as a consumer.
it's also a hugely diverse category;
homogenizing "audio" as a category is like homogenizing "text"!
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people sometimes wonder how someone like me (on many fronts - brown, feminist, creative and supporter of creatives, and someone who I think most people would affirm is genuinely kind;) is SO pro-capitalism
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I heart this screen energy! (this is 1 of my 3 favorite photos from Xerox PARC archives)
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Here are 3 pieces to understand Loot, from what's going on and significance of to much broader trends at play:
@kylebrussell
@caseynewton
@cuysheffield
[bonus: for all things NFTs ]
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All about NFTs / or, everything you want to know about NFTs, explained
with
@jessewldn
@ljxie
and me
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honestly my favorite thing about all the DALL-E tweets isn't the computer-generated results,
but rather the human-created prompts -- and how delightfully revealing in some sense they are of the askers:))
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I am so deeply upset, I can't even process that something that's been in place my whole life, and established before I was born, could be overturned.
My heart breaks so hard for women who do not live in supportive states & don't have money or other means for mobility or access;
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...so, the best (furthest traveling, evergreen, infinitely mashup-able) memes seem to be the ones that come in three-parts-in-one -- a la the "Distracted Boyfriend" & "Is This a Pigeon" memes:
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@VitalikButerin
@DeepCipher
@shl
@elonmusk
it's so deeply regressive to still be bearing the children exact same way we have for kajillion years;
literally every other technology in the world has advanced even despite limitations, so should this!
it should be as "I-can't-believe-we-once-did-it-that way" as anything else
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What the Hell. What the Hell is Happening in India right now? Tomorrow, Saturday 24 April, on
@joinClubhouse
, 9am PT/ 12pm ET/ 930pm IST:
-- what do we know, not know, how know
-- tech, vaccines, supply chains
-- policies, systems
-- ways to support
WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN INDIA right now, why now, how/ what can help?
We will be discussing the current deadly COVID crisis there on our show Namaste World — on Clubhouse, this Saturday 9am PT
ALL welcome, please join us!🙏🏽
(guests being updated)
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3/ When
@kimbatronic
@cdixon
reached out, I couldn’t ignore the sparks & ideas! Despite covering crypto for so long, never considered focusing on just it. But web3 intersects ALL my passions: tech, art, democratizing tools for makers/creators; has tech depth, yet touches humanity
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Episode 2 of 'web3 with a16z' goes into more mental models (& analogies) incl how blockchains/ crypto/ web3 relate; I esp loved how each guest
@cdixon
@alive_eth
@Tim_Roughgarden
brought their unique vantage point/ expertise/ experience:
some fave bits:
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interesting, Dangal made more money in China ($198M) than in India ($80M) at box office, according to this piece
@beTheJuggernaut
, which asks: What can India give China that Hollywood can’t?
-- not: better action
-- but: more similar "values and emotions"
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is it just me or is this worse than ever? truly can't take it anymore
The rhetorical style of any Twitter account that continues to gain followers converges on that of a fortune cookie.
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lol this is so, so good -- watch the whole thing!
Happy Diwali from Biden, Trump, Obama, Trudeau, and Bernie!
#Diwali
#Diwali2020
#Diwaliwishes
#HappyDiwali
#HappyDiwali2020
#Diya
#FestivalofLights
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4/ Am someone who loves variety/ Range, so the universe of crypto appeals bc it's truly multidisciplinary: cuts across infrastructure, interfaces, culture; business, economics, sociology, science. It's about people in the micro, & systems in the macro. It is (will be) everything!
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@seyitaylor
@i_zzzzzz
haha true and yet... does it really tho??
as in: most consumers of said art vs content prob don't care -- they only care about whether they liked it or not!
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2/ It was only when I joined a16z that I realized my career -spanning education, tech, and media- has been all about advocating for innovation, broadening audiences, discovering talent & getting ideas out into the world. It all came together here. But what does one then do next?!
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latest a16z crypto newsletter has yr weekend reading/catchup/learning!:
📜🖼 licenses for NFTs
📝📢field notes on science of blockchains SBC '22 & DeFI security
w
@milesjennings
@daejunpark
@lera_banda
@guywuolletjr
@virtualelena
@carrawu
@annebrandes1
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WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN INDIA right now, why now, how/ what can help?
We will be discussing the current deadly COVID crisis there on our show Namaste World — on Clubhouse, this Saturday 9am PT
ALL welcome, please join us!🙏🏽
(guests being updated)
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this entire thread on Ghanaian movie posters/ art is amazing but my fave by far is this one -- for The Godfather!! 😹
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wow... realized today it's now 3 years at a16z! building, building, building... ?!
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Episode 1 of 'web3 with a16z' goes into mental models for thinking about not just the current markets, but the longer arc of innovation (cycles, macro/micro, flying by instruments, much more) with
@eddylazzarin
@cdixon
:
my favorite bits were:
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you would be amazed at how many big companies and others have asked me about how to do *internal podcasts* (for their internal comms)
[an underrated and underdiscussed trend!] -->
Take every reason people love making and consuming them over the public Internet, now multiply by the firm's coordination advantage.
There, that's why you should do it.
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I don't get this at all. I love when people who aren't South Asian or Hindu or whatever celebrate Diwali! It's a festival of lights, and everyone can take something beautiful from that, whether born or made
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@anuhariharan
@zachperret
yes yes and all commute time becomes work time and often no external cues for 'lunch' etc.
I'm beyond exhausted and worried about burnout. Will need to self regulate better.
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This week’s
@a16zcrypto
newsletter is a *themed edition* on all things zero knowledge:
📚 ZK Canon *new adds*
🔥 post-quantum SNARKs: performance vs security
▶️ models for zkps
🗒️ notes & links on applied zk
📱hardware, zk, decentralization
📨subscribe⤵️
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Given the spate of "performative wokeness" going around, I have some things to say:
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so TRUE
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...if you think about the fact that my dad grew up with kerosene lights in his house as a kid and then their village later got electricity and now these electric diyas are made for the masses in India to buy and use, then you will realize why I am so blazingly a capitalist
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two words: FUCK YEAH!
Groupon founder
@AndrewMason
, just announced his new startup with $5M in funding from
@a16z
🔊
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5/ I also love that crypto is full of a mix of different ideologies, a variety of governance models, and there is NO one-size-fits-all – it's whatever one’s identity / community/ incentives/ desired choice that suits them… this lets countless models bloom.
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this is huge! one might even call this a "reverse shithole" trend:
Indian households with toilets in 2014 compared with 2017. That’s what success looks like. Source:
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I am so, so sad to hear the news about Clay Christensen. He is someone I crossed paths with across all of my last three jobs, and whom I learned so much from:
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I have gone so far down the k dramas hole not only am I practically learning Korean but I am afraid my friends will soon stage an intervention
am addicted and have seen so many now. so so so good!
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Latest edition of
@a16zcrypto
's web3 weekly newsletter:
🔧🗜️ smart contract tools & zk demos
📜🗳️ what web3 & other orgs can learn from history of democratic governance
📺🕹️ decentralized media
📚😎 summer reads list
...plus bonus 🧩🤯
read/subscribe:
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holy shit Gully Boy is the best 'Bollywood' movie I've ever seen
it is so, so, so good... Go. Watch. It! (and I didn't know this til end, but it's produced by
@Nas
!!)
I grew up listening to rap; had boyfriends who were obsessed with rap; but today... today...today, I *got* rap
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How South Asians are Building Community on Clubhouse, incl'g largest South Asian club there (which I manage) as well as my beloved Namaste World show w co-host
@snigdhasur
& crew
@seema_amble
@pitdesi
@APatelThompson
@Ay3shaS
+ our countless regulars🙏❣️
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6/ I'm also stimulated by all the seeming paradoxes to resolve in practice, eg “zero knowledge”, “public/ private”, “permissionless consensus”, “scalability” x Y, “progressive decentralization”, etc. …I love these kinds of opportunities, both technically and narratively:)
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this is the form all smartwatch designs -- nay, any 'wearables' that notify! -- will take:
http://t.co/Lgov4yWtP3
[h/t
@britt
]
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For the Billions of Creatives Out There... this episode (this set of conversations) is for YOU
#dotheworkabtoz
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