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Lessin: The internet economically rewards adopting ever more extreme viewpoints

Sam Lessin · #107 Crypto Isn’t for Everyone (And That’s a Good Thing) with Anatoly Yakovenko · More or Less Podcast · Jul 11, 2025 · at 49:16

Slow Ventures partner Sam Lessin explains the structural and economic incentives that drive online polarization compared to physical local communities.

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“The problem with the internet and the economics of internet is that the best strategy is to always be more extreme, right? And the way, like, because what happens is any extreme you pick, Eventually that with so many people online, there are too many people in it and you lose a sense of purpose in place. So that forces you to go even crazier to like reestablish a right sized community in a frictionless global environment.”

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