Patrick McKenzie

Yes.

I love many things Byrne writes.

I think I luckily have a differentiated point of view on this one, so I will hope to get it out to the internet someday.

But on the one hand, I loved it.

I think Factorio Space Exploration mod specifically was the best video game I ever played.

And yet I spent 750 hours on that over the course of a year.

And I was, you know, on sabbatical and recharging from six very hard charging years at Stripe and also running the United States vaccination location information effort.

But, you know,

There's a question of like, at relevant margins, are you maximizing for your true values?

And I was like, oh, a little worried about that.

And so now my EA checks on me.

Do I worry about it for other people?

I will say that when I was young and a World Warcraft Raid Guild leader who spent a thousand hours on that, that it was a substitute advancement ladder for me.

The actual job was working sailor man in central Japan.

It gave me no scope of control over things.

And I thought if I was a startup CEO, I could make decisions right now.

I could build something awesome, but I don't have that ability.

And I don't see myself as being the kind of person who could become a startup CEO.

So if I can't be satisfied in my nine to five in terms of making things happen in the world,

At the very least, I can make sure we kill the dragon in two hours.