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Waymo Is The Transportation Of The Degenerate Economy

More Free Time and More Unintended Trends and Phenomenons

Good morning from Phoenix.

Temperatures are back below 100 degrees thank goodness so I am back in Phoenix pretty much full time for the winter.

It will take some getting used to because I will be in my car a lot more. I hate driving.

I have been away from Phoenix for the last five months and the first thing I noticed upon landing and grabbing an Uber was that at least 30 percent of the pickups were Waymo’s.

It was really mesmerizing and impressive to see Waymo’s pull up, pop the trunk, load the passenger and weave their way back into heavy airport traffic.

Waymo started working here last year but it seemed really confined to a few parts of Scottsdale. Not anymore.

I have no idea if Uber or Tesla or Waymo or some new startup ends up being the leader in this space but the growth of Waymo is impressive.

Google is a core position of mine for years. YouTube, Gmail, Chrome and of course Gemini which continues to get better and better. It is also a large holding in my ‘Degenerate Economy Index’. Now possibly Waymo.

I have been too nervous to get in one, but judging from all the positive comments from people I ask, it is just a matter of time.

Alex at a16Z just took his infant in his first Waymo and he makes a good point that he may never need a drivers license. This youngster will have more time to speculate on memecoins, gamble and vape.

The biggest driver of the degenerate economy outside of the evolution of ‘sin’ products in the booze and tobacco space is ‘free time’. Free time that has been created by technology, especially the internet, is creating all sorts of unintended trends and phenomenon from growth in YouTube, Spotify and Netflix to a much needed explosion in niche media, to the gambling explosion as well as fitness and longevity.

Long live free time and the degenerate economy. There is no turning back.

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