Heard you on with Jonah Goldberg and am now reading The Future and Its Enemies. Loving the book and I love this talk. I thought the slide on razors was really interesting but there also might be another chapter of that story going on right now. There's been a resurgence of safety razors with companies like this https://supply.co/. People are finding new benefits from traditional safety razors - 1) environmental - they want to produce less waste, 2) cheaper unit cost because single blades are cheaper than multi-blade cartridges, 3) some people find that a single blade actually causes less irritation than multi blades. I find it really fascinating that the open ended exploration you describe can come back around as preferences change. A cynic might call it a regression or nostalgia, and maybe there's some of that, but it seems to me that its more a question of learning about what's important. We wouldn't even know about the tradeoffs of waste, convenience, shave quality if someone hadn't tried to improve upon the safety razor in the first place. Also happening in the world of cameras - https://www.campsnapphoto.com/. The market is responding to a demand for less screen time and being able to document your experiences but wanting to be more present while doing it.
Along similar lines, I've recently heard from an entrepreneur who owns a company making bespoke 1990s-style computer keyboards: https://www.norbauer.co/
He's a fan of both TFAIE and The Power of Glamour and his company embodies both.
I like seeing material science and history of materials on Substack. More please.
Check out https://edconway.substack.com/
We watched Falling Down as our family movie last night. Was entertaining. I narrate a bit for my 7, 10, and 13 year old.
Thanks.
Phenomenal. Thanks for sharing! I’m constantly reminded of how deeply that book has burrowed itself into my brain.
Heard you on with Jonah Goldberg and am now reading The Future and Its Enemies. Loving the book and I love this talk. I thought the slide on razors was really interesting but there also might be another chapter of that story going on right now. There's been a resurgence of safety razors with companies like this https://supply.co/. People are finding new benefits from traditional safety razors - 1) environmental - they want to produce less waste, 2) cheaper unit cost because single blades are cheaper than multi-blade cartridges, 3) some people find that a single blade actually causes less irritation than multi blades. I find it really fascinating that the open ended exploration you describe can come back around as preferences change. A cynic might call it a regression or nostalgia, and maybe there's some of that, but it seems to me that its more a question of learning about what's important. We wouldn't even know about the tradeoffs of waste, convenience, shave quality if someone hadn't tried to improve upon the safety razor in the first place. Also happening in the world of cameras - https://www.campsnapphoto.com/. The market is responding to a demand for less screen time and being able to document your experiences but wanting to be more present while doing it.
Along similar lines, I've recently heard from an entrepreneur who owns a company making bespoke 1990s-style computer keyboards: https://www.norbauer.co/
He's a fan of both TFAIE and The Power of Glamour and his company embodies both.
Fascinating