Back in 2006, when Twitter was brand new and Facebook was still cool, I vividly remember trying to explain social media and how it would change the future of business and society to some 40-year old boomer in a conference room.
“Why would I want to look at pictures of other people’s lunch?”
That statement - a combination of dismissal, proud ignorance, and a complete lack of curiosity - stuck with me. I don’t know how to predict the future, but I know how to be completely caught off-guard by it, and being judgemental about something you don’t even know enough about to understand that you don’t understand it is a good start.
Now that it is I who am the boomer, I found myself dismissive of a bunch of things I didn’t understand, like web3, and “the metaverse.” Remembering the reaction I got in that conference room and how wrong they turned out to be, I made the conscious decision to be curious, to explore the space, and try to learn without judgment.
Despite my fondness for Ted Lasso, Walt Whitman almost certainly never said the words I’ve started this inaugural issue of this newsletter with. But provenance aside, it’s a good reminder, especially when things seem so outwardly stupid (looking at you, NFTs), that there might be a good reason that isn’t immediately obvious to you, or that hasn’t yet revealed itself to the world.