Infinite Curiosity
OSV in September
Hello, friends.
I’m writing this in the wake of the annual Team OSV offsite. Last year, the week was summed up by a bemused stand-up comedian, whose attempt to decipher what exactly OSV does led to what has become our unofficial motto:
“WTF does this company do? Books in space?!”
Ad Astra, Ex Libris 📚🚀
This year, even “books in space” seemed too narrow a description. The speed of ideas per minute was supersonic. We had hands-on demonstrations of self-built prosthetic arms and lucid-dream-inducing technology. There were sneak peeks of documentaries, from the mouth-watering (literally) to the history-making (again, literally). Extended late-night conversations covered everything from the action filmmaking of Michael Bay to the intricate architecture of great essays.
The strangest thing was how, despite the whiplash-inducing diversity of projects and people, it all felt so… cohesive. Somehow, it seemed like everyone — whether an Indian musician, a Californian language preservationist, an Irish Dostoevsky appreciator, or a Polish interactive designer — was ultimately working towards the same outcome.
Our very own Liberty RPF hit the nail on the head last year when he wrote:
The ur-vertical at OSV is clearly ‘Infinite Curiosity’. 🕵️♂️
Although, if the past two offsites are any indication, you could just as easily define our shared interests with another two-word phrase:
Espresso Martinis.
We’ve shared some pictures below for those interested. Meanwhile, let’s get started with September’s rewind.
Inside OSV
Having rounded out our cohort of 10 Fellows earlier this year, we have also now announced our squadron of 25 Grantees, each of whom will receive $10k to pursue projects ranging from giving mice infrared vision to disability rights advocacy in Africa.
You could be next. You’ve got three months before our next application window opens. Start tinkering today, and come January, you might find yourself just a 20-minute application away from a $100k grant and a year to dedicate to your passion.
In other OSVerse news:
OSV’s Advisory Council member, Ben Reinhardt, runs the Brains Research Accelerator. Applications close on October 21st. If you know any talented scientists with ambitious ideas that don’t make sense as either a startup or in an academic lab, please share this with them. To make it super easy, here is a direct link to the application.
Our Fellow, Jack Connor, has been shooting a documentary on endangered languages in Northern Norway. Our film vertical, Infinite Films, is producing the doc. He’s also probably the only person ever to have skateboarded in the Svalbard mines.
Another of our Fellows, filmmaker Jason Carman, keeps on shipping. Episode 56 of his weekly documentary series profiled Boom Supersonic, the company bringing back supersonic flight. His latest episode, released a few days ago, documented Make Sunsets, a company launching sulfur dioxide-containing balloons into the stratosphere.
If you’re interested in quantum tech, you can get involved with the open-source quantum community by completing Unitary Fund’s survey. Unitary Fund is run by last year’s Fellow, William Zeng.
Infinite Loops guest, the razor-sharp Brendan McCord, has launched The Cosmos Institute, a "non-profit dedicated to promoting human flourishing in the age of AI."
Alex & Books, who received a $10k OSV grant this year, is currently offering a 50% discount on his Art of Reading course. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could read for longer” or “I wish I remembered what I read,” this is the course for you.
Another OSV grantee, Miyoba Hamuhuma, was recently invited to Abu Dhabi for the World Congress on Rehabilitation. Miyoba is the founder and CEO of Enlight Abilities, a disability organization in Zambia that empowers children with disabilities by linking them with government social security programs. You can learn more here and support them here.
As if merely building brain simulations wasn’t enough, our grantee Isaak Freeman has recently published his side project: the world’s largest and most comprehensive Anki deck for learning Chinese.
Another OSV grantee, Eugene Duvenage, aims to detect cancer through computer vision. His first trials, using paper-based slime mold chips to diagnose small-cell lung cancer, are underway:
Finally, our grantee Ramji Lal, AKA ‘The Flower Man of India,’ continues to spread beauty. He has set up four Winter Flower Nurseries in Bathinda, sowing seeds for 1.5 million winter flowering plants of 60 different varieties. In November, all these plants will be distributed free to residents.
Infinite Loops
In September, Jim welcomed a characteristically eclectic range of guests:
Math popularizer Ben Orlin dug into his funky theory that math is a language, complete with verbs, nouns, and grammar.
Legendary seed investor Mike Maples, Jr. is behind some of the 21st century’s great success stories (Twitter, Twitch, etc). Check out this link for 23 specific, actionable, often counter-intuitive insights into becoming a pattern-breaking founder.
Alex Danco, returning for his EIGHTH conversation, discussed everything from the sad death of Twitter likes to why a frictionless version of Super Mario Bros would be the most boring game ever made. Follow this link for our foolhardy attempt to distill one overriding theme from over eight hours of defiantly unplanned conversation.
Author, consultant, and indistractable force Nir Eyal provided a masterclass on how to reclaim agency in a world that is constantly conspiring to keep us distracted.
As ever, for root access to your humanOS, you can dig into our back catalog of 237 episodes (and counting).
In the meantime, Jim’s Two Thoughts series continues to deliver doses of wisdom straight into your inbox every Sunday. *Be warned: these quotes have been known to trigger insatiable curiosity.*
That’s everything for September. Plenty of goodies in store for you this month.
Ad Astra, Ex Libris 📚🚀
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The Fellowship program is so inspiring. What a great way to bring together big ideas, thinkers, and tinkerers.