Marc R Sommer

fluid epistemologist | ai spare | vc agi art blab | love

[Andrej Karpathy @karpathy]

Agency > Intelligence

I had this intuitively wrong for decades, I think due to a pervasive cultural veneration of intelligence, various entertainment/media, obsession with IQ etc. Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce. Are you hiring for agency? Are we educating for agency? Are you acting as if you had 10X agency?

Grok explanation is ~close:

“Agency, as a personality trait, refers to an individual's capacity to take initiative, make decisions, and exert control over their actions and environment. It’s about being proactive rather than reactive—someone with high agency doesn’t just let life happen to them; they shape it. Think of it as a blend of self-efficacy, determination, and a sense of ownership over one’s path.

People with strong agency tend to set goals and pursue them with confidence, even in the face of obstacles. They’re the type to say, “I’ll figure it out,” and then actually do it. On the flip side, someone low in agency might feel more like a passenger in their own life, waiting for external forces—like luck, other people, or circumstances—to dictate what happens next.

It’s not quite the same as assertiveness or ambition, though it can overlap. Agency is quieter, more internal—it’s the belief that you *can* act, paired with the will to follow through. Psychologists often tie it to concepts like locus of control: high-agency folks lean toward an internal locus, feeling they steer their fate, while low-agency folks might lean external, seeing life as something that happens *to* them.”

[Brett Adcock @adcock_brett]

This week, Figure has passed 5 months running on the BMW X3 body shop production line

We have been running 10 hours per day, every single day of production!

It is believed that Figure and BMW are the first in the world to do this with humanoid robots

[Marc R Sommer @MarcRSommer]

ChatGPT becomes very mundane, finally

[Sam Altman @sama]

I mostly buy stuff from ChatGPT now, so I am excited for this new feature!

[Ethan Mollick @emollick]

"Provide unbearable levels of sophistication"

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Your moral principles and your economic interests won't always be aligned. What you do when they're not is a test of character.

[David Perell @david_perell]

The 404 page on the Financial Times is a work of genius

[Ethan Mollick @emollick]

Randomness is hard to achieve.

It is why the security of 10% of the internet is secured by a wall of lava lamps watched by a camera to generate true randomness

[Paul Graham @paulg]

What I've learned since is that there are motives even more powerful than money. Fame, political power, ideology, revenge. And these are all the more dangerous because they're so much more easily concealed.

[Ethan Mollick @emollick]

Critics suffer. People become experts in things they love, but they lose their sense of joy as a result

"Across seven studies... we found consistent evidence that expertise leads to emotional numbness." Refocusing on your emotional reactions, like Ego did,👇 brings the joy back!

[roon @tszzl]

why is wanting to live forever a predominantly male preoccupation? why is nostalgia a predominantly male preoccupation? you’re allowed to question my premise

[Johanna Sprondel @jsprondel]

Hab jetzt alles gesehen.

[Evan @StockMKTNewz]

JPMORGAN SAYS STOCKS ARE SO CROWDED THEY MAY CRACK AT ANY TIME

JPMorgan's chief global equity strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas warned clients that they could be “stuck on the wrong side” of the momentum trade when it eventually falters, and he encouraged them to consider diversifying their holdings and thinking about risk management in their portfolios.

He also reiterated his warning that excessive crowding in the market’s best-performing stocks raises the risk of an imminent correction.

(Source Bloomberg)

[Michael Girdley @girdley]

As a Director on dozens of boards, I’ve seen:

Operational excellence adds millions in profits.

My 19 traits of top 1% performing businesses 🧵…

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Today is Y Combinator's 19th birthday! https://t.co/uEctjPUohb

[Max Roser @MaxCRoser]

I've updated my Short History of Global Living Conditions.

here it is: https://t.co/6MEsVpjfTX

[Nils Markwardt @FJ_Murau]

Wäre auch ne hübsche Filmszene. (aus: Kara Swisher - Burn Book)

[Ad Professor @The_AdProfessor]

Confession:

I collect ad copy like rich people collect watches.

9 examples:

[fabian @fabianstelzer]

AI-induced accelerated vibe shifts are coming

this one’s Crappification: if everything looks amazing because AI has democratized stunning visuals, you stand out by looking purposefully crappy

(not that AI can’t do crappy, just use those vintage 2022 models!)

[Bojan Tunguz @tunguz]

🤔

[Jon Erlichman @JonErlichman]

Nvidia is now worth more than all of these companies combined:

AT&T
Boeing
Coca-Cola
Disney
FedEx
General Motors
IBM
McDonald’s
Nike
Starbucks
UPS
Walmart