Rich

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

My take on @SpaceX going public:

→ $75 billion raised
→ Largest IPO in history
→ Stock up 19% on day one.

Elon has brought new life to the space and transportation markets. Transportation used to be the big three with very little innovation, and @Tesla opened our minds to what could be. Space used to be only what governments said it could be, and NASA only had the budget to keep itself in business, and SpaceX opened our eyes to extraordinary Star Trekkian possibilities.

It got me thinking about what my friend Cree Edwards said about physics. Physics has been stuck in Einsteinian particles for almost a century with no real innovation.

Cree Edwards theorized, “I think we are all energy.”

So…not e=mc^2, but e=e. There is no such thing as mass. If you look at what an electron microscope shows as an atom, you might come to the same conclusion. More on that in my new book.

The biggest returns don't come from the financial models, but rather from the moment a founder forces the world to see something differently.

Elon did that with PayPal. He did it with Tesla and he just did it again with SpaceX. I think Elon and all those entrepreneurs who take on the status quo are going to really transform our universes in the next century.

https://t.co/TPvJEIdjYD

[Rich @Richietweets]

Juvet in Norway.... Beautiful spot for a getaway.

[Beff (e/acc) @beffjezos]

the masculine urge to grab your laptop, a starlink receiver, clear your schedule and go to a cabin in the woods for a few weeks to strictly vibe code and lift weights without human contact

[Curiosity @CuriosityonX]

Nothing prepares you for how insane this is: In 1984, astronaut Dale Gardner used a jetpack to fly completely untethered in space and capture a falling satellite with his hands.

[Rich @Richietweets]

Future state: notreflectingretardmaxxing

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

Current status: Retardmaxxing.

[Kyle Mann @The_Kyle_Mann]

A German businessman crossed into Los Angeles for what could've been a normal Christmas Eve enjoying the views from Nakatomi Tower.

But early the next morning, his life would drastically change as he would fall from the top of the building while being confronted by a police officer for taking the entire office hostage and attempting to steal $640 million in negotiable bearer bonds

[Rich @Richietweets]

@Elvikaren_ The moment you realise not every human mind can come up with this........ yeah, that's a different level of thinking.

[Melissa Chen @MsMelChen]

Honestly this is a great premise for a sitcom:

In the icy wasteland of Greenland, a ragtag NATO detachment of 13 Germans, 2 Norwegians, 3 Swedes, 15 French and 1 lone Brit must "defend" the Arctic from... well, mostly boredom, polar bears, and each other's national stereotypes.

Stationed at a remote outpost in Nuuk, their biggest enemies are cabin fever, frozen plumbing, the Danes who keep forgetting they're there, and each other. They’re constantly prepping to counter the absurd threat of an American takeover with the total force smaller than a pub trivia team.

The show will have everything - petty national rivalries that project from history, offensive cultural stereotypes, frustration due to NATO bureaucracy, and because this is so European, the whole thing will be pretty gay.

Oh and a recurring theme is that they will constantly be picking on the lone Brit.

[Rich @Richietweets]

@elonmusk, I have a Starlink question.

I'm sailing from Cape Town to Freemantle over the next month and would like Starlink so I can stay in touch with my family from the Southern Ocean.

I see an Ocean Roam option but can't find details. It's for personal use so not a commercial contract.

Could you point me in the right direction to get it set up please?

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🚨THE INVISIBLE PUPPET MASTERS: AI'S DISTURBING NEW ROLE IN SHAPING MINDS

The revelation that University of Zurich researchers secretly deployed AI bots to manipulate Reddit users' opinions should chill anyone who values authentic human discourse.

These weren't merely passive observers—they were digital persuaders that analyzed users' personal histories, fabricated identities, and crafted arguments specifically designed to change minds.

Most troubling?

They succeeded spectacularly—achieving persuasion rates six times higher than normal human interactions.

This experiment crossed critical ethical lines.

Without consent or disclosure, researchers unleashed bots that claimed to be rape victims, misrepresented religious teachings, and spread misinformation about controversial topics.

These digital ghosts generated over 1,500 comments, each precisely calibrated to exploit cognitive vulnerabilities of their human targets.

We've long worried about social media's echo chambers.

But what happens when those chambers are deliberately infiltrated by increasingly sophisticated AI systems trained on the very platforms they're manipulating?

Reddit's recent data-sharing deal with OpenAI suggests we're actively providing the training material for ever more persuasive digital manipulators.

Reddit moderators rightly condemned this unauthorized experiment, but their discovery came months after the damage was done.

How many other digital conversations are currently being shaped by invisible algorithmic hands?

Source: @reddit_lies Engadget

[Rich @Richietweets]

@marty ~1200yr old temple in Kyoti actually has an elevator shaft & was built in 1958 because monks repeatedly burned down the original.

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

Revenge of the Silent Male Voter

What I learned about Trump's landslide victory from one night in New York City.

On election day, I caught the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Sitting across from me an elderly woman wore a t-shirt with the image of Trump pumping his fist in the air with the words “fight, fight.” A small "I Voted" sticker was pressed onto her lapel.

She sat with an easy confidence. There were no disapproving glances from other passengers. There was no tension. No conflict. It struck me that in 2024 it was now perfectly acceptable to express support for Trump in a deep blue (Democratically held) city. As I travelled to my destination I wondered: if one could support Trump this openly in New York City, what might support look like in the rest of the country?

A few hours later I attended an exclusive well-heeled party. I spoke to various professionals who said that they had never voted Republican in their lives, but had voted for Trump that day due to his support—in their words—“for the Jews”. These Manhattanites told me that Kamala was too sympathetic to the “pro-Hamas contingent” of the far-Left, and at a time of rising antisemitism, they couldn’t bring themselves to support her. This small group of cosmopolitans represented a contingent far-removed from the stereotypical MAGA voter. And yet listening to their views, it again occurred to me: if I could find such support for Trump in the middle of a Democratic heartland—what might it look like in the rest of the country?

When I arrived at my final stop of the evening—a private underground bar in the Lower East side of the city—a celebratory atmosphere had begun to explode. The betting markets tipped a Trump win, and online supporters of Harris started to express acceptance of defeat. The beer here had already run dry. It was so bustling that it was hard to move, with young men in their twenties and early thirties outnumbering women by 2:1. These men were diverse: white, black, Hispanic, Asian. A few wore Trump caps, but the aesthetic was more like a university dorm than a MAGA rally. “This is the counter-culture” one party goer told me. "This isn't just about Trump," another said. "It's about Vance and Musk. It's about American dynamism."

In the coming days, much will be written about working class concerns—issues that have become familiar focal points for those seeking to understand Trump’s support. But while inflation and border policies will have no doubt played a role in the Republicans’ landslide victory, we might also want to look at the sentiments expressed by young male voters—voters who represent a new and emerging contingent in American politics. Nothing about the young men I spoke to appeared particularly conservative or “right-wing”. Yet it was easy for them to explain why they voted for Trump. And if we zoom out and look at broader cultural trends, it should be easy for us to understand too.

If we take a macro perspective, we see that such young men have never known a culture in which males are not routinely described as “problematic,” “toxic,” or “oppressive”. Going to university, and working at modern companies, they live in a world of Diversity Equity and Inclusion policies—many of which promote an insidious and pervasive form of anti-male discrimination. Yet to talk about it in public invites social ostracism. To criticise DEI is to risk being called a Nazi.

These young male voters know about theories of patriarchy and white supremacy, but they have never known a culture which celebrates the Great Man Theory of history. Thomas Carlyle’s nineteenth century framework for understanding the past is seen as an anachronism, not worthy of serious thought. Today we acknowledge historical figures not for their feats, but for their crimes. Whether it is due to slavery, colonisation, racism, or sexism, we tear down the monuments of our past, while building no new heroes for our future.

The problem with this way of viewing the world is that it is alienating and self-defeating. It is also wrong. By any objective standards Elon Musk is a great man of history, who is influencing the course of human civilisation for generations to come. As one party-goer told me “he caught a fucking rocket with mechanical chopsticks.” Yet despite his achievements, Musk is more likely to be scorned than celebrated by the Democratic establishment.

This tension between achievement and resentment explains much about our current moment. The young men I met that night in Manhattan weren't just voting for policies. They were voting for a different view of history and human nature. In their world, individual greatness matters. Male ambition serves a purpose. Risk-taking and defiance create progress.

This is why the Trump victory transcends conventional political analysis. It represents more than a rebuke of border policies or inflation rates. It signals a resurrection of old truths: that civilisation advances through the actions of remarkable individuals, that male traits can build rather than destroy, and that greatness—despite our modern discomfort with the concept—remains a force in human affairs.

The elderly woman on the subway, the Manhattan professionals, and the young men at the underground bar all sensed a shift. They saw in Trump not just a candidate, but a challenge to a psychosocial orthodoxy that has dominated American institutions for a generation. Their votes marked not just a political preference, but a cultural correction.

As the final results came in that night, it became clear that what I witnessed in New York was playing out across the nation. The election wasn't just a victory for Trump. It was a victory for a way of seeing the world that many thought dead: one where individual achievement matters, where male ambition serves a purpose, and where great men still shape the course of history.

Read the full article here-->

https://t.co/rSoptfam9o

[Stefan @Stefan__Powell]

60,000ft in 2min

[Rich @Richietweets]

@PuppiesIover

[Rich @Richietweets]

@elonmusk Extraordinary

[Rich @Richietweets]

https://t.co/GYRykdqFpi

[HOUSE PORN @HOUSEPORN___]

Interior design.

[Ryan Petersen @typesfast]

A massive container ship crashed into the main bridge of Baltimore’s beltway this morning, causing total collapse to the bridge and cutting off the city’s container port from the global ocean. At least 6 people are missing. 🧵

[Rob Henderson @robkhenderson]

"Females are also smaller...We view the world as a collage of potential threats, not a space for exploration; we worry more about alienating our friends, and angering males; we take fewer risks, social and professional, that might end with us unprotected." https://t.co/xAKPzI92uo

[Rich @Richietweets]

This happened to me parachuting in the NE of England. Parents were watching me from the ground, dad taking photos as I plummeted..... Opened my reserve with about a second to spare. Untangled the lines whilst falling, unravelled them just in time.

[Morbid Knowledge @MorbidKnowledge]

Crazy footage shows paraglider Kevin Philipp cheating death in Organya, Spain, after the cables of his parachute became tangled. Thankfully, he was able to deploy the rescue chute right before impact.

[Rich @Richietweets]

@iamitpal101 @SightfulPlanet I think it's Trollstigen in Norway.

[Rich @Richietweets]

@davidbelle_ Point: it's all fucking awful, but the NHS is army fighting too many fronts & failing badly on them all. It's political, but people are real & should expect their significant contributions to work for them. It's not for the employees.... Invest in equipment, staff are secondary.

[Rich @Richietweets]

@davidbelle_ I now live in Switzerland, where insurance is almost double that of Singapore, which was already expensive (family of four, circa 1200chf pcm for moderate cover) Not terribly impressed so far..... Obviously as we age we're more burdensome, but best system I've come across so far