The AIs come for the homeschool teacher jobs

The Alpha school claims that in just two hours per day, it’s students learn 2.6 times more than they would in conventional schools. They manage this using AI tutors, who give students individualized lessons.

I believe it. I was homeschooling until I was 14, and most days finished school before noon. I definitely learned just as well or better than I would have if I went to any of the private or public schools in my town. And I never got my love of learning ground out of me, as some kids do (1).

But it took up a lot of my dad's time! He spent hours each day teaching me and my sisters. Luckily, he seemed to enjoy it.

It's exciting to think that by the time I'm a parent, a lot of the benefits of homeschooling - personalized learning, and a minimum of wasted student time - will be freely available to all kids using AI tutors. At a minimum time cost to the parents!

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1. Or so I've heard. From my understanding, elementary school is a lot of standing in lines

We have now perfected the Frig-O-Matic Sabbath Zeiger

I love the way that people solve problems. Like the way that Hasidic Jews in the 50s solved the challenge of whether or not to open the fridge on the Sabbath.

Observant Jews cannot work on the sabbath. And for Hasidic Jews, a lot of things can count as "work".

Consider the following chain of events: You open a walk-in refrigerator, causing warm air to come in This causes the thermometer to rise, which in turns starts the motor to cool the refrigerator Therefore you have - extremely indirectly - turned on the motor, which is not allowed on the Sabbath.

To get around this, a Hasidic Jew can install a timer on his fridge that turns the motor on and off at fixed intervals, irrespective of the door opening and closing. (Presumably the installation cannot happen on the Sabbath). Now the shop-owner can be assured that his fridge will be cold, and he does not have to worry that he is indirectly turning the motor on by opening the fridge.

This timer is marketed within the community as a "Sabbath Clock" - or a Fridge-O-Matic Zeiger:

With the aid of God Great Announcement

...We announce that we have now perfected the Frig-O-Matic Sabbath Zeiger through which you may open the door of the refrigerator on the Sabbath every time and it doesn't make any difference whether the motor is running or in a standstill position.

The Frig-O-Matic Zeiger is refined in every respect, it is much nicer, smaller, and more practical, it is easier to regulate, and also it is cheaper, to make it possible for everyone to have one. It is completely automatic; once it is connected it is good for the Sabbath and for every day.

Come in for a demonstration daily after 6 in the evening and on Sundays all day.

We sell wholesale and retail. Frig-O-Matic, care of L. Kaufman, 201 Division Avenue, Brooklyn 11, New York.

From The Hasidic Community of Williamsburg by Solomon Poll, 1962.

"Africa risk"

I’ve heard from some founders fundraising in Africa that the one hurdle to get over with VCs is a general sentiment that “Africa is a risky place to invest”, that isn’t grounded in any actual fundamentals about the company or the market.

At first it might not seem rational for an investor to feel this way if it’s not based on company or market fundamentals. But general sentiment about a market can be self-fulfilling.

An early-stage investor in a company will only make money if the that company survives long enough to have a good exit. The company will only survive this long if other investors can be persuaded to invest at later rounds (1).

So an early-stage investor must believe that later-stage investors will believe invest in this company. If the early-stage investor knows that most investors won’t believe in the company because they are worried about “Africa risk”, then she won’t want to invest.

She has to behave as if she believes in “Africa risk” - even if she herself believes that there is no fundamental Africa risk (2).

The value of impact investors is to break this negative cycle. To put money into an ecosystem (be it a geographical ecosystem like African startups, or a cause-oriented ecosystem like climate-tech or immigration) until it becomes an attractive investment destination for purely profit-seeking investors.

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1. Or if the company can become profitable without having to raise another round of funding. A good option for many African startups

2. This is the same fundamental dynamic that leads to speculative bubbles