Compounding Thoughts

The Economics of Intelligence

On work, energy, and how AI changes the value of intelligence

Oct 8 • 

Sam Blumenthal

5

1

1

August 2025

Synthetic Imagination

Engineering autobiographies for AI to create non-consensus breakthroughs.

Aug 13 • 

Sam Blumenthal

5

1

1

July 2025

The Friction That Forms Us

Thoughts on identity, labor, and meaning in the age of AI

Jul 30 • 

Sam Blumenthal

3

Apprenticeship as a Dataset

Final Reflections from Japan

Jul 8 • 

Sam Blumenthal

3

1

June 2025

Lost in Translation

Musings from Wandering in Japan

Jun 26 • 

Sam Blumenthal

4

The North Star Metric: A Simple Guide

A guide to finding clarity, focus, and strategic direction through your product’s most important metric.

Jun 18 • 

Sam Blumenthal

5

Studying the S&P 500: Infrastructure, Mobility, and the Bottlenecks of Progress

How Vulcan Materials Reveals the Next Wave of Billion-Dollar Startups

Jun 11 • 

Sam Blumenthal

6

February 2025

A Conversation with Kendall Lowrey on Our Robotics Future

Modular Robotics, Event-Based Camera Perception and more

Feb 28 • 

Sam Blumenthal

1

1

As Switching Costs Decline, Usage Will Be the New Moat

The Next Big Thing in AI Will Be a Lawsuit, Software Strategy and the Future of Defensibility, A New Constitution for Business Strategy

Feb 21 • 

Sam Blumenthal

3

2

Zero Marginal Cost Intelligence is Inevitable

The AI Bubble, DeepSeek's Purpose, LegalZoom Case Study, Cloud Computing Lessons, Interface all the way down

Feb 5 • 

Sam Blumenthal

4

1

January 2025

Reddit Machina: Monetizing the edges of the Internet

From Subcultures to Revenue Streams: Reddit’s Balancing Act in the Digital Age

Jan 6 • 

Sam Blumenthal

2

1

December 2024

A Unified Theory of Imagination

Google introduces Willow, conceivability vs. Possibility, and AI Imagination

Dec 13, 2024 • 

Sam Blumenthal

2