Hello Investors,
In the traditional finance world there has been a slow (probably too slow) reckoning about the negative impacts of rapacious capitalism manifested by the trend of “ESG investing.”
“ESG funds are portfolios of equities and/or bonds for which environmental, social and governance factors have been integrated into the investment process.” (Robeco.com)
In the world of personal finance I’ve adopted similar tendencies like trying to “break up with Jeff1,” shop local™, and not eat octopus2. As a publicly traded person, which exists in between personal and traditional finance, I find myself in an ethical dilemma:
Algorithmic run social media is very harmful.
Social media platforms are harmful.
I like social media.
With eccentric/problematic billionaires3 buying into Twitter, and more stories about how awful just existing on social media is for women, it is time to make a decision, and I’m wondering if with this strange game the only winning move is not to play?
I’ve created five options slanted heavily towards opting out:
Option 1: Nuclear 🤯 Delete all accounts and stop using social media. No apps on my phone, no accounts on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
Option 2: Broadcast 📡 Unfollow on all accounts. Do not use apps for consumption or interaction, but only for broadcasting of KmikeyM announcements.
Option 3: Dark Mode 🌑 Make all accounts private. Use apps for small group interactions with a primary focus on shareholders.
Option 4: A Break 📅 Less a solution and more a break to see how it feels. Take a six month break from interacting with social media. Use this to determine what is useful and provides value and where to go next.
Option 5: Status Quo 🤷♂️ It's fine. It's all... fine. Just keep going.
There is already some good discussion happening and I’d appreciate your thoughts and vote:
Other Updates
What else is going in these days?
🐢 Turtle Profits
For those that listen to the Experimental Garden Group podcast you know that our DAO invested in what we called a “laser turtle” NFT. The inside info we got was too good so I also bought one of my own and I recently flipped it.
I bought it for $199.11 + $24.76 in transactions fees so $223.87. I sold it for $239.96 so I made an astounding $16.09 in profit. And his is why NFTs are so amazing.
Incentives Matter
🎹 Piano Recital
In a previous email I offered five shares to anyone who attended George Ko’s piano concert in Portland, OR and some shareholders attended! Thanks for showing up, your shares are now in your account.
🍸 Guerrilla Happy Hour
Shareholder Alex Mahan, most famous around here for having his name tattooed on my arm, was visiting Los Angeles recently and we held a Guerrilla Happy Hour.
I wrote up a little history of that project that is all about incentives and something we’ve been doing since 2011. Thanks to everyone who came out!
Maybe if we decid I shouldn’t be on social media I’ll do more in person and virtual events. That seems like a pretty nice trade off!
Profitably Yours,
-K. Mike Merrill
use less Amazon
i hated that one octopus documentary, but while I do eat meat, i don’t want to eat intelligent creatures
i believe el0n musk is bad, and by proxy i hate teslas and am less interested in commercial space as a category. i do however hold some tesla stock. i contain multitudes.