Will Robinson | Alliance

Partner & Head of Capital Formation @Alliance. Pre-seed: finance & frontier tech. PhD, Game Studies. Fund IV / LPs: [email protected]

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

Pasteur was only able to convince us of the importance of bacteria through an unlikely ally. His struggles mirror what I see every day with founders looking for distribution. Here are the lessons I learned from Science and Technology Studies and pass on to founders.

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

https://t.co/dRa3b9Bncp

[Alliance @alliance]

Cursor went through 4 or 5 ideas before finding PMF, all within a year.

Launch fast. Kill what doesn’t work. Keep narrowing until something does.

What’s stopping you from launching?

[Daniel Rosiak @DanRosiak]

No, but listen, you know this "put the fries in the bag, Terence Tao"'--*sniff, sniff*--already the usual replies concede too much. "If Tao is serving fries, YOU will be in the lithium mines." My God! This is our defense of human dignity? Don’t worry, the correct people will get the terrible jobs!

*Pulls at shirt* You see, everything is up for radical transformation, human intelligence, consciousness, and so on and so on--except that somebody must still have a shitty afternoon so I can enjoy my lunch.

But to say "these people are envious", this is too easy. It allows us, "the educated ones," our own little fantasy: we are disliked only because we are so wonderful.

You know, the more interesting thing is this *sniff* peculiar identification with the machine. When the mathematician discovers something, apparently this was HIS achievement, his privilege, his little secret. When the machine discovers something, suddenly it's "Look what WE can do!" The achievement has become collective precisely at the moment when no human being can claim credit.

See how this "we" functions. For the achievement, I identify with the machine. For the consequences, I identify YOU with the human. "We have surpassed you." Who are we? Well, myself and the thing that has also surpassed me.

There is something almost touching here, really. To escape the humiliation of somebody absorbed in something opaque to you, you appeal to something which knows incomparably more than either of you. And this is supposed to settle the matter in YOUR favor.

You know the old example of canned laughter. Here we have a similar arrangement. The machine achieves something on my behalf. The mathematician suffers the loss of human significance on my behalf. Somebody to be brilliant for me and somebody to be obsolete for me, without me having to be either, so I can remain as I was.

But *pulls on shirt* there is this little difficulty that hides the essential thing: you still need a response from Tao! A correct proof, this Lean slop and so on, is not enough. You need him to certify his own defeat. You need him to say "By god, this is extraordinary! Yes, this is correct, but also this is interesting." Which means--and here comes Hegel--the person you are reducing to an obedient instrument must remain more than an obedient instrument. You need recognition from someone whose authority you are abolishing.

"Your so-called expertise is worthless. Now tell me, in your expert opinion, that I, qua machine representative, was right."

*Touches nose* But I would go a step further. What does this math person actually do to provoke you? In the fantasy, I mean. He need not insult you. He can be generous, mild-mannered, whatever. Something remains irritating: there is something over there which occupies him, which matters to him, and your opinion does not settle what it is worth. Perhaps he is not even looking down on you. This is the really intolerable possibility.

This, you see, is closer to the Lacanian problem of the Other's desire. Not simply "What does he have that I don't?" but "What the hell is going on with him?" Perhaps the answer is: he is thinking about something else.

The fries solve this beautifully. Now you know what you are for him. He needs the money. Your presence creates an obligation.

And this, at last, also explains why the machine can be less threatening than the mathematician. The machine's intelligence may exceed yours unimaginably, but you imagine it arrives in response to your prompt. You can complain about the tone. You have the privileges of an angry customer and so on and so on. The human has this irritating possibility of being interested in something you did not request and cannot order. And please, this includes the person already serving the fries!

*Pulls at shirt* I am almost tempted to say: the dream of unlimited intelligence conceals just this: a the wish that nobody should be doing anything you cannot immediately understand as a service.

[Alliance @alliance]

ALL18 Founders Dinner Sept 2026

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

We have limited places available so please rsvp early and let me know if you can’t get in.

[Imran @lmrankhan]

If you’re a founder struggling to find product market fit, getting close to escape velocity, or just want to learn from others building onchain consider coming to this event.

We’re bringing together a small, curated group of founders in Singapore, including a select few unicorn founders, to share what’s working, what isn’t, and the lessons they learned getting there.

https://t.co/02X0jyjXOM

[Imran @lmrankhan]

If you’re a founder struggling to find product market fit, getting close to escape velocity, or just want to learn from others building onchain consider coming to this event.

We’re bringing together a small, curated group of founders in Singapore, including a select few unicorn founders, to share what’s working, what isn’t, and the lessons they learned getting there.

https://t.co/02X0jyjXOM

[Alliance @alliance]

The ALL19 early application deadline is tonight at midnight PST.

Apply at https://t.co/y1WL2bIZxV to:

- Receive $400,000 in funding

- Pitch Top VCs at Demo Day

- Join the Alliance Founder Network

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

@uPeterKris There is an amazing book about this: Diaspora, by Greg Egan. I can’t recommend it enough.

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

There is a near future in which the math done by AIs is both impressive and incomprehensible.

There is a near future where the code, machines and medicine similarly improve beyond our understanding.

But what happens when we no longer understand how our machines work? What happens when we no longer speak the language of the things being made for us?

In the 30th millennium, the Treaty of Mars banned the use of AI. By the 41st millennium, the tech priests no longer understand how their machines work. They recite prayers, rub unguents and continue the ritual ceremonies that have kept their robots running since time immemorial.

Here's John Blanche's rendering of that world.

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

@chiefbuidl Sigh. I do. It’s amazing how far off the 1980s time scale was.

[Alliance @alliance]

Early deadline closes tomorrow

[Alliance @alliance]

This $200B market shouldn't run on outdated technology.

These founders are building a new distribution layer for energy in Brazil, aggregating solar supply and giving resellers a single platform to sell businesses lower cost power.

Starting in Brazil. Thinking globally.

This is the ambition we back at Alliance.

Apply by tomorrow to be considered for early application acceptance.

[Alliance @alliance]

Surround yourself with people who take building as seriously as you do.

2 more days till the ALL19 early application deadline.

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

Integrating new tech into your daily life is the only way to really understand it. And trying to get the most out of it is the best way to learn.

But while AI and Crypto are readily available, modern robotics are trickier to use.

You probably get these:

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

Had a discussion with ChatGPT about a touchy political subject. I was asking it to rank politicians by their views on the topic.

The fascinating thing was how blind it was to dog-whistling.

When I dug in on the words, it admitted to those terms being dog whistles, but refused to attribute hidden meaning to the speaker.

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

@TraversaJulian Ah no, I completely exclude electability from this question. Good precision.

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

When thinking about who to vote for in any arbitrary election, how to you weight these properties:

1. Alignment to your own values
2. Efficacy

My wife weights them 9 / 1. I weigh them 7 / 3.

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

@snack_man Yes, they would enact policies you didn’t want. And do it with gusto.

[Dan Robinson @danrobinson]

"Alarmists keep saying it's dangerous to have an evil genie, when the actual problem is just bad practices in wish formulation and lamp security."

[Will Robinson | Alliance @wbarobinson]

I’m convinced the airlines are lying about overhead baggage capacity in order to have me race ahead of other passengers for fear of the gate check.