Can we afford to build beautifully? I believe that decades of inflation and failed fiscal policy have forced the real estate industry into short-termism. Viability is so tight that developers find themselves with two options: hike prices, or squeeze every possible cost out of a building’s design, materials and, ultimately, its soul. While I think we all innately feel like the modern built environment is lacking something, this idea was explained in a book I’m reading called The Great Wave. In it, the author David Hackett Fischer investigates the major price fluctuations in history. These are waves of high inflation - socially and politically corrosive - followed by price equilibrium. Fischer shows how these waves leave their mark on our buildings. He describes the windows of price stability as fertile ground for building – and, I'd argue, for a kind of speculation that wouldn't be possible during inflation. The churches, homes and civic buildings of those periods capture the optimism and prosperity of their time, evoking emotion through beautiful architecture that we prize and go to great lengths to preserve. I’m writing a separate essay on this idea that will be published shortly. As part of the research for the piece, I wanted to speak to people in real estate who may not share this monetary thesis, but who are vocal about current development. @Cobylefko is an urbanist, real estate developer, lecturer and author of Building Optimism: Why Our World Looks the Way It Does, and How to Make It Better. Here's a short trailer from our discussion on creating beautiful buildings: structures that aren’t just aesthetically pleasing, but that meet our needs in different and harder-to-name ways. Coby is an old romantic in a world of yields, and IRR, and price per sq ft. That’s not to say he’s naïve; listen and you’ll hear a commercially savvy operator, but he’s also alive to what we lose when we settle for - in his words - “sad and dreary places”.

Imaginary money, grown on electronic trees.

Build beautiful, again.

I like this quote from D. Elton Trueblood: “A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.” It makes plain what we’ve lost along the way: our patience. Not only the willingness, but also the means to take the long view.

The sun will shine as the bond market breaks.

Idyllic morning.

"You can take the money... and you can just get the fuck out." "And then what?" "Then, you're free."

Recording the podcast tomorrow. Spent the evening in someone else's worldview. It's often one of the most enjoyable parts.

The awakening.

What discovering Bitcoin feels like.

🙄

No one can compete with you on being you

I like reading YouTube comments. The little mini stories and snapshots into people's lives that you'll never know, but fleetingly feel connected to.

This was my first Bitcoin bear market. I've learnt a lot and would have done some things differently. Beginning with buying more Bitcoin.

Fiat society has splintered humanity. You're either right or left. But it's an illusion, cast under the guise of political differences - two sides of the same coin. There is a third way: one that empowers the individual and provides the fairness and freedom that we all want.