A Meta-Christmas List
Return of HIS monthly with a few best ofs and predictions for the year ahead
Greetings people from space!
After a yearlong hiatus I have returned from space in time for the earth’s rotation around the sun to bring you this year’s greatest hits and predictions for the orbit ahead.
The internet has made it increasingly possible for people to say whatever the hell they choose to more people than ever before… So, why should I not participate?
Lee Harvey Oswald was KGB.
Aliens are real.
And Bitcoin will replace the dollar.
But more seriously, it’s been too long and I missed sharing my unapologetic strong views of the world with you. So, headed into 2022 I resolve to deliver this monthly magazine to your devices wherever you login from.
I took some time to reflect on what matters most and how to focus my energy toward writing content that can compete in your crowded mind space. I am bringing back a few of the HIS classics, including the Fireside Chat featuring monthly discussions on trending topics in business, technology, and society written in the simplest of terms with concrete examples and analogies. I will continue to bring you curated roundups of global stories believed to be newsworthy in The Newstand. And last but certainly not least, The Mixtape features a mix of podcasts and music meant to inspire and help you navigate your way through space and time. And this edition will feature a meta-edition of HIS top 10 wishes for 2022.
So, without further ado let’s jump on in. But first a few reminders before we do…
The opinions below are my lived space experience and therefore should not be taken seriously, as truth, or shared with meaningful conviction.
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🗞 THE NEWSSTAND
To everybody’s (read nobody’s) surprise Covid has come back with a vengeance right in time for the holidays in the form of another Greek letter. Enter Omicron. Already New York has recorded its single day record for cases with over 21,000 people testing positive per day for three days straight. And folks in coastal cities are worried about whether they might consider using this opportunity to reschedule their trips to see family for the holidays.
In similarly shocking news, longtime news anchor Chris Wallace announced he will be departing Faux News and joining CNN Plus. According to sources, similar to other recent staff, Wallace has grown discontent with the extreme shift the network has taken in recent years in pursuit of favoring its anti-woke, perpetually confused looking opinion host Tucker Carlson. Word has it that even David Duke has tuned in to witness how this unhooded far-right conspiracy theorist has made whiteness profitable again.
On the other side of the world the #MeShh movement has gone into full effect in China as women are being silenced and facing abuse for speaking out against their harassers. Payback hit high profile Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai last month when she disappeared from public view after accusing former high-level official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. More recent, payback was aimed at a workplace survivor who spoke out against sexual assault at tech behemoth Alibaba when she was fired for her vocalness.
In the business world, longtime Wall Street heavy hitter Apple has seen its stock soar and after ten years under Tim Cook leadership is poised to be the first company to be valued at a $3 trillion market cap.
And despite fears of Omicron, nagging inflation, and the failure for the President to push through his Build Back Better bill, the stock market snapped back after a quick slip last week and continued to soar. Though the Fed has announced interest rate hikes to take place in the coming year and consumers and investors can expect some changes to the current bull market.
Until then happy trading folks!
🎧 THE MIXTAPE
Admittedly, this past year my music streams have reverted back to more familiar sounds in hopes of getting ‘back to normal.’ Though this is more likely a product of me being a “thirty-something” basking in the glory of the ‘good ‘ol days when music was good.’ Still, I’d liken my dad-like music taste to more of an Uncle Jesse than a Danny Tanner type, aged yet still cool. But don’t take my word for it. Here are my top albums, artists, and podcasts of 2021.
Top Artist: Drake
Say what you will say about Drake, but he continues to put out hit after hit and based on recent album Certified Lover Boy he’s not slowing down anytime soon. Plus, bonus points for snubbing the Grammys.
Top ALL CAPS Album: CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST (Tyler, the Creator)
Once angsty skater-rapper from LA has grown up to be an influential artist, designer, and producer, continually impressing the world with his boundary-pushing creativity.
Top Grown-up Gen Z: Billie Eilish
From the moment I first saw this Gen Z singer-songwriter streaming live from Coachella in 2019 it was apparent she was the real deal. And now that she is officially using capital letters I think it is safe to say she is all grown up and here to stay.
Top Texas-Soul Legend: Leon Bridges
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes Leon Bridges so fantastic. But when you throw on his most recent vinyl Gold-Diggers Sound it’s that sort of ‘maybe I want to take a drive with my top down, shades on’ vibe that strikes a chord and it all makes sense.
Top French Electronic Duo: Polo & Pan
This quirky French electronic, synth-pop duo has created a genre-bending sound that has weirdos dancing from LA to Paris. And if you can get past the initial eyebrow raising I am sure you will be satisfied if not ready to bounce your knees up and down.
Top Podcast Series: The Ezra Klein Show
NY Times Opinion writer dives into conversations about society, technology, politics and the economy. His in-depth and thought-provoking look at diverse topics will leave you both informed and electrified at the same time.
🎙FIRESIDE CHAT
If you’ve been living on this planet for the past 12 months then chances are that you’ve heard terms like “crypto,” “web3,” “NFT” or “metaverse.” And unless you spend your waking hours listening to tech-nerds talking about how to diversify your crypto portfolio or purchase real estate in the metaverse, then you’re likely still wondering what all of these sci-fi terms mean. Or, maybe you simply don’t care? Either way the good news is I am not going to bore you with a deep dive into the definition of blockchain or why crypto will replace fiat currencies.
But I do want to share some of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about given the ups and downs of this past year and headed into the new year. What will 2022 bring us? How will the economy change or not? And will these new technologies significantly impact the world as we know it?
A new virtual collective consciousness
Look, as we all know many people received a surplus of cash these past two years and as sensible human beings they sought out ways to grow this in exciting new sectors of the economy. But like most areas of our lives, from self-treating our ailments to researching how much to tip your building superintendent at the end of the year, we rely quite heavily on the interwebs for the answer. And increasingly we find these answers through online communities. The internet and social networks have decentralized “expert” advice on virtually everything.
Just look at the power of Reddit. Combined with tools like Robinhood it gave retail investors access and agency to collectively pump up stocks like AMC and GameStop on the stock market. These meme stocks given their name for gaining popularity through social media have proven the collective average Jane and Joe can have a major impact on real markets and even the earnings of companies traded on those markets. Now, going into the new year Wall Street can no longer ignore the next wave of meme stocks that might arise, for risk of hurting their own position.
This similar collective effort was again witnessed in the sudden rise of NFTs which has taken digital art assets like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks and turned it into a $22B market.
With both of these movements generated primarily by the inner-workings of the virtual collective consciousness it can be a bit disconcerting to the less-digital native folks perfectly content living life in what these new age folks refer to as “web2.”
This is partially the reason why there is equally as much skepticism as hype around these new concepts and technologies. But I am here to tell you that there is mostly optimism ahead.
Let’s start with meme stocks. The good news is that they are unlikely to crash the entire economy. They may cause some hysteria and panic-selling but for the most part have been proof that online communities like Reddit can be made profitable and decentralized market decisions are possible. (We see you DAOs ;-)
How about pesky non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that your friend from college keeps bragging about each time he buys one worth more than your non-existent mortgage? Well, for the most part digital art will become a niche asset traded by a segment of the market—primarily the gaming community, digital art collectors, and new money folks who get off on the idea of being able to flex in the digital world. Now that is not to take away from the capabilities or market size of this asset class as a whole. Yes, expect many more fashion, consumer staple, and entertainment brands to step into the world of NFTs eager to get in on the craze.
As far as cryptocurrencies go, expect to see a lot more of them. This market is likely only in the third inning and not until the seventh inning stretch will we see things start to settle down. With historically high inflation and a growing virtual collective consciousness, more and more retail investors are going to make their way to the crypto world. But as more greenbacks get tied up in this market expect increasing regulation, institutional money pouring in, and more centralized distribution. We could see blue chip coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL) regulated similarly to a security as early as Q3. Don’t believe me? Look no further than the graph below showing the $2.25T (yes, T for trillion) dollar market capitalization of global cryptocurrencies. Uncle Sam will not be sitting on the sidelines for this game much longer.
While the crypto homies will likely disagree with the predictions above, that is fine. I am bullish on crypto but at the end of day decentralized technology is a means to an end, but not necessarily the end itself. Blockchain technology and crypto will enable future markets that are both more efficient, secure, and provide greater access to, yep, you guessed it, average Jane and Joe. And while markets will surely provide more decentralized access, key central players will arise. Major players in current markets will operate on both existing as well as new marketplaces.
From donkey to bull market
Now for the granddaddy jargon of them all… the metaverse! Yes, that term we all started hearing a few months back when Mark Zuckerberg not so slyly rebranded Facebook as Meta after his dorm room creation was dragged through the mud for five years by political parties near and far.
For the unacquainted, the term metaverse is simply a reference to users interacting on the internet in a virtual-space. ‘Wait a moment, that sounds similar to [insert any game here] I used to play with friends back in high school.’ Well friends, I am here to tell you that the metaverse is not new. In fact, the first experience we had with users interacting in a virtual space dates all the way back to 1986 when SGI Dogfight became the first game to use the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
Sidebar: It is by no coincidence that techies race to bring gaming to new innovations. In fact, the science and tech community have long had a love affair with gaming. At The World's Fair of 1940 nuclear physicist Edward Condon introduced us to Nimtron, a computer that allowed you to play the mathematical game of NIM. In the 1980s Bill Gates invented Donkey, a driving game in which players had to avoid hitting donkeys.
So, what is all the metaverse hype you might ask? Well, technological advancement combined with two years of connecting virtually has enabled a path for the metaverse to become mainstream versus a place for video game enthusiasts.
These past two years transformed the thought of the metaverse into a place for learning, working, attending concerts, and even shopping at our favorite retail stores. Not to mention that blockchain technology has enabled the digital exchange of value through cryptocurrencies and NFTs, only scratching the surface of what is possible.
Picture throwing on a pair of virtual glasses and going shopping with your virtual avatar, trying on a pair of jeans, purchasing them, and having them shipped to your home in the realverse, without ever leaving the comfort of your home. Or, imagine wearing a set of Ray Ban’s with augmented reality built-in allowing you to attend a basketball game and view stats or post a photo of players on the court without ever pulling out your phone.
Yes folks, that is the power of the metaverse, and hate him or love him, Zuck has evangelized this new world. Soon with access to the right hardware, billions of global Facebook users will be participating in the metaverse.
Over the next 12 months we will see a moderate set of changes in tech, society, and global markets, but over the next 36 months we will see a great deal of change. At first the web3 and the metaverse will be somewhat of a shock to the general population with such a leap for the human experience. But like other existential changes of the past few years, society will adjust. And while decentralized markets will force governments and organizations to evolve and interact more digitally, those institutions will continue to exist.
I, for one, am invigorated by the promise of a better digital and human experience. There are a myriad of societal issues that our current approach seemingly falls short of solving.
So, going into 2022 raise your glass, buckle your seatbelt, and HODL folks because we’re embarking on a journey into another orbit!
Here are HIS top 10 wishes for 2022
Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon are convicted for their parts in Jan 6
Covid vaccines are widely adopted and no new variants arise
Real estate prices level off, and if not metaverse here I come!
Inflation drops to pre-Covid levels while stocks keep booming
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies become more widely adopted
Metaverses evolve to become more interesting than virtual gaming
Build Back Better is passed and we finally see real climate policy
Someone finally cancels Dave Portnoy
Tensions cool on China and Russian borders
My wife and I finally get to take our honeymoon to Japan
Oh, and if you think anything I’ve said about the future of the internet, metaverse, or crypto sound like nonsense just watch this video… happy New Year 😘
We're in this together. #HabituateInSpace