Episode 8: Chase Van Etten

In a bit of a departure from our normal format, Daniel Keller⁠⁠ interviews Chase Van Etten⁠⁠, founder and CEO of Vaporware about his background and vision for the company. 

We discuss: 

• Absorbing the California Ideology by osmosis growing up in Petaluma

• How custom car culture informs Chase’s approach to technology

• Gaming as CEO Mode trainer Vs. depressive real world agency drainer 

• Marketplaces as cooperation tech and the need to maximize informational flow rates

• How Vaporware aims to address the complexities of social computing

• Right and wrong approaches to standardization in software 

• The multidimensional problem space of growing a radical software project as a startup

• Taking on megacorp incumbents by doing things outside the scope of their business model

• The great app-less future, (that Apple doesn’t want you to have)

• The Operating Function as a new paradigm in computing and foundation for a sovereign Exocortex

• Functional programming providing the basis for reliable and trustworthy distributed systems and software

• Vaporware’s competition and target audience 

• The political implications of our technology and legal and ethical challenges

• Community sovereignty and individual sovereignty

• Some differing views on the pace of AI development 

• How insanely high Chase thinks your monthly software bill is going to be in 10 years

• Different ways you can participate in our project if you’re interested!

Artwork: Peter Cain, “Z”, 1989