More issues
Past is Prologue, and Forewarned is Forearmed
I remember clearly when I first experienced the World Wide Web (WWW). I was visiting the Toronto office of the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) during the spring of 1991, and a group of developers asked whether I’d be interested in taking a trip through cyberspace. At first, I thought
Behind Modi’s Warning of Rare Earths “New Colonialism”
Speaking last weekend at a business summit in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited the threat of a "new model of colonialism.” According to a Reuters report, Modi said the risk was represented by nations that do not regard their custodianship of critical minerals as a "
You Value Your Excitement More than Anybody Else Does
Almost every technology blog post or press release now features a statement by a company CEO or other senior executive that expresses how excited the person is about the product or partnership being announced.
Tough Questions About Tech’s Shadow Rule
Earlier this week, The New Yorker published a lengthy feature article by Ronan Farrow titled “Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule.” Ronan Farrow, as you might recall, was the author of an earlier article in The New Yorker, and a subsequent book, that investigated allegations of sexual abuse against Hollywood producer
No Easy Path to Effective AI Regulations
In his blog post, “Why AI Will Save the World,” Mark Andreessen flayed critics of AI development as Luddite simpletons and quaking “doomers,” naive victims of cunning schemes by industry giants pursuing “regulatory capture” and hammerlock domination of lucrative new markets.
But is that perspective accurate and justified? Are there
AI: Big Money Attracts Washers and Bubbles
The first dedicated AI washers emerged with their virtual buckets and mops about two years ago, and their numbers will only grow
Why AI Will Not Save the World
A couple months ago, Marc Andreessen, he of the (partially) eponymous Andreessen Horowitz venture-capital behemoth, published a lengthy blog post on his company’s website extolling the attributes, capabilities, and “world-saving” virtues of artificial intelligence (AI). He actually titled the post, “Why AI Will Save the World.” (The title raises
An Explanation: How I Got Here
I’m gearing up for a three-post week beginning on Tuesday. Several narrative possibilities were percolating in the roiling cauldron of my mind, and three have risen to the surface for further development.
Before then, however, I thought an exposition of a personal nature might be helpful for readers. As
From Rockefeller and Carnegie to Musk and Zuckerberg: The Evolution of the Public Billionaire
The world’s first confirmed billionaire was fossil-fuel magnate John D. Rockefeller, who reached that rarefied height of stupefying wealth in 1918. Back then, Rockefeller’s billionaire status took him a long way. In 1913, his personal wealth reportedly accounted for about three percent of the USA’s GDP.
As