Every Friday

the browser wars, cloud seeding conspiracies, and yet another de-extinction effort

Happy Friday crew.

Hope you’re staying cool - we’ve entered the purgatory portion of Nashville summer and its bleak over here.

3/4 of us are still digging out of an email hole after the independence day boys trip to Charleston - our PTO extension requests didn’t land quite like Ben Shelton’s did (shoutout Morgan Stanley - y’all are real for that).

Grab a Miller, hit play on Barry Can’t Swim, and let’s get into it.

Luck favors the prepared mind.
- Louis Pasteur

But man is a frivolous and incongruous creature, and perhaps, like a chess player, loves the process of the game, not the end of it. And who knows (there is no saying with certainty), perhaps the only goal on earth to which mankind is striving lies in this incessant process of attaining, in other words, in life itself, and not in the thing to be attained, which must always be expressed as a formula, as positive as twice two makes four, and such positiveness is not life, gentlemen, but is the beginning of death.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Top of Mind

The Big Browser Battle Incoming?

• OpenAI’s next big launch could be an AI web browser

• PERPLEXITY LAUNCHES COMET, AN AI-POWERED BROWSER BUILT TO CHALLENGE GOOGLE

• The Dia browser is a big bet on the web — and an even bigger bet on AI

Let’s hope they can do a better job than Arc, though it was a valiant attempt. With Google’s what seems like refreshed alignment on AI product strategy and top of the leaderboard (not anymore thanks Grok) frontier models, on top of their browser and ecosystem supremacy, I think I’m long Google. But if anyone can do it, it might be old Sama.

Rainmaker faces targeted disinfo campaign (Bloomberg)

“But on social media, prominent accounts with large followings amplified claims suggesting that the Texas floods may have been caused by cloud seeding, a form of weather modification.”

Rainmaker CEO, Augustus Doricko, has spent the last year lobbying against anti-weather modification legislation in 31 states. He was successful in all but one, when Florida banned cloud seeding. His success was a win for American agriculture and our national security which we’ve highlighted before. I (Ian) am interested to see what kind of litigation comes from this. Who is funding the disinfo campaign and which of our state representatives is leveraging a national tragedy to push their policy agenda? August is killing it under pressure by the way.

How the attention economy is devouring Gen Z (Kyla Scanlon - Ezra Klein Show)

Both of those are responses [tool-belt pragmatism vs. memecoin gambling] to that path of getting a college education, getting a white-collar job and going off into the sunset not really working anymore.

We’re longtime Kyla Scanlon fans over here - no one communicates Gen Z’s perspective on the economy better than her (take notes Scott Galloway smh). She makes the case that attention has replaced labor and capital as the foundational input of the digital economy. In their place, narrative, virality, and speculation now drive value (particularly in politics, social media, and startup culture.) It becomes self re-enforcing. Essentially, the more we believe that online attention shapes the physical world, the more it actually does.

More than that, the attention market is shaping the non-online world in ways that are radically altering how Gen Z interacts with the economy As the traditional career ladder’s are atrophying, she’s observing “the bar bell theory” of Gen Z: they respond to instability by falling at two extremes: some pursue “toolbelt pragmatism” (e.g., trades), while others lean into high-risk bets like crypto, gambling, or meme stocks. There’s plenty more in their hour long conversation - it’s worth a listen.

Don’t miss our latest format, the Relay Shared Album.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

• We hadn’t considered what it means for underage riders now that driverless vehicles are becoming more widespread. Could see this being incredibly popular for youngsters. Waymo is beginning to offer teen accounts.

• LindyMan on X

• Colossal bio sciences has a new animal in the queue after their success resurrecting the dire wolf. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is funding their next de-exstinction effort - the Moa (giant bird that puts the ostrich to shame)

Best of Substack this Week

• 8 Iconic Books Every Guy Should Read This Summer - John Thompson

• How Zohran Mamdani drove over 20K clicks from Instagram DMs - Rachel Karten

• Trekking as the bombs fall - Sam Robinson

This week in Relay’s shopping cart

Fresh Foam X More v5, Jack

I’m training for my first ultra-marathon and recently picked up these Fresh Foams from New Balance that have a serious, serious stack on them.

These are tempting me heavily but can I pull off a garden clog… I do not know.

The Clove & Creek Cape Candle, Zach

I’m a sucker for a nice scented candle, especially one that is so aesthetic. I bought this on a whim based because of an influencer, for my girlfriend — stay tuned.

Taylormade Qi35 Driver, Zach

I’m currently in Monterrey, California playing golf — turns out my new driver is just as inconsistent as my old one.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading — or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Why our favorite places are rarely fancy

• Who you choose to move forward with

• Souls aren’t boring, Greg

• Existential dread in elementary school

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