Ep 85: David Heinemeier Hansson, Co-Founder & CTO at Basecamp
Today’s guest is David Heinemeier Hansson (aka @DHH), Co-Founder & CTO of Basecamp, an online collaboration tool. David is a prominent figure in the tech industry and a polymath whose writings and opinions have touched upon a range of subjects, including technology, the future of work, entrepreneurship and most recently climate change. Outside of Basecamp, David is also known around the world as the creator of the popular programming framework, Ruby on Rails. In addition, he’s cowritten several books with his Basecamp cofounder, Jason Fried, on the subject of work, with titles that include “It Doesn’t Have To Be Crazy At Work” and “Rework.” David is also an avid race car driver, having won his class in the 82nd running of the Le Mans endurance race. Having connected on the topic of climate change via the magic of Twitter, David and I had an interesting discussion in which he shared his personal views on the crisis, steps he’s taken in his personal life, and where he thinks we’re headed. While his opinions aren't directly aligned with mine, it was good to get his take and hear from someone going through his own climate journey. And we will turn him into an optimist, yet! Also, please note that this episode was recorded live and broadcast on twitter, so it is not edited like a normal one. Audio quality a little worse, but even more authentic! Enjoy the show. You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
Inevitable · Jason Jacobs, David Heinemeier Hansson
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (cdn.simplecast.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
In today’s episode, we cover:
- David’s influential career in tech
- His advocacy of various causes
- DHH’s view that, regardless of one’s background, one should become versed in climate change
- How his attention first peaked with the California drought
- How the fires near Malibu made the crisis feel personal and urgent
- “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace Wells helped inform him of the catastrophe brought about by a temperature rise above 2 degrees centigrade
- How it’s remarkable to think that, since Seinfeld has aired, we’ve doubled GHG
- His family’s carbon budget and how it showed him how much more complicated the problem is
- His belief that changes in consumer and voting behavior will only happen when people see the existential threat themselves (e.g. fires, floods, etc.)
- His pessimism that things won’t change until the situation becomes more dire
- Do carbon offsets inhibit decisive action?
- The longer democracies fail to address climate change, the more society becomes ripe for the rise of dictators
- DHH’s recommended reading: “The Divide” by Jason Hickel
- His acceptance of the likelihood that he will live on an uninhabitable earth; that we’re not going to stay below 2 degrees Centigrade
Links to topics discussed in this episode:
- “The Uninhabitable Earth”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586541/the-uninhabitable-earth-by-david-wallace-wells/
- “The Divide”: https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide
- Green New Deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal
- Yellow vests movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement
Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].
Connect with MCJ:
*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant