Short read: A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About
Morgan Housel is back with this gem – a collection of his thoughts on a few unconnected topics. We share one while we list the others, for every Housel post deserves to be read in its entirety. “I broke my back skiing when I was a teenager. It’s still screwed up and I occasionally tweak […]
Short read: Seven rare frogs die in Kerala, put focus on threats from photo tourism
In the vastness of India are hidden wonders that leave even seasoned travellers like us stunned. One of the first things we learnt in the New Year was in the Western Ghats of Kerala, under rotting logs lives a tiny frog which is not found anywhere else in the world. This Scroll article says, “The […]
Short read: Why America’s innovation ecosystem will survive Trump’s cuts to R&D
James Wood teaches at Cambridge University. In this blog he says that the funding cuts that Donald Trump started expediting a year ago (with respect to American universities’ and research institutions’ R&D budgets) will NOT stymie America’s ability to compete with China. Why so? Mr Wood says,“… America’s “polycentric innovation state” – a hybrid system […]
Long read: The Venezuelan Oil Narative is PURE THEATRE
After last weekend’s dramatic capture of the Venezuelan President and his first lady by American troops, popular explanation was that much like in Iraq, America is interested in Venezuela’s vast oil resources (the largest in the world). Indeed, Trump said as much in his presser. Here’s another perspective though, somewhat far more fascinating and entertaining […]
Long read: How Google Got Its Groove Back and Edged Ahead of OpenAI
Ever since the advent of ChatGPT3 in late 2022 until as recently as a year ago, investors have looked at Google with scepticism. Starting with its core cashflow engine – its search advertising business likely being the most prone to disruption by AI to the fact that despite its early lead in AI through its […]
Long read: Are doctors replaceable?
Charlotte Blease begins this provocative long read with an intriguing analogy: “If planes fell from the sky with the regularity of deaths due to medical error, there would be outrage, inquiries and sweeping reform. When doctors make mistakes, however, the narrative is gentler: they are only human.” Ms Blease’s background puts her in good place […]
Four Mega Reforms Which Opened up Global Investing for Indians
Whilst the US stockmarket has been a mega wealth-creator for the past 15 years, until 2 years ago it was out of our reach as a range of legal & tax issues made it impractical for Indians to invest a big chunk of their networth abroad. However, 4 blockbuster reforms changed all of that. Investing […]
Short read: For semiconductors and GPS, thank C V Raman, Satyendra Nath Bose, Einstein — and hay fever in 1925
Scientific discoveries and developments can have far reaching consequences towards human progress and hence it is important to recognise, acknowledge and celebrate them. It is the 100th anniversary of the biggest breakthrough in quantum physics, a field that continues to contribute to our progress through developments in semiconductors and GPS. This piece in the Indian […]
Short read: ‘Digital detox’ is now a booming business but it won’t do much to reduce your screen time
We have all read long articles and books on how we can kick our addiction to all things digital. We learn from Quynh Hoang that this is now a booming industry: “People are increasingly willing to pay to escape the technology they feel trapped by. The global digital detox market is currently valued at around […]
Short read: Leaf to life
Rudra Chatterjee is Chairman of Obeetee and Managing Director of Luxmi Tea (which owns the famous Makaibari tea brand). He begins by informing us of the origins of tea’s popularity around 1000 years ago: “Tea’s popularity was not inevitable. It gained scale around 1000 CE during the Song dynasty when productivity improvements in rice cultivation […]
Long read: China is building the world’s most powerful hydropower system deep in the Himalayas. It remains shrouded in secrecy
Jensen Huang famously proclaimed that China is going to win the AI race and his basis was simple – if electricity is the physical upper bound for AI’s progress, China seems to have highest upper bound by a country mile. And it continues to up the ante with a $168bn hydropower system, the world’s largest […]
Long read: One of America’s Most Successful Experiments Is Coming to a Shuddering Halt
It’s that time of the year when friends and family descend from their adopted western countries back to their roots. Inevitably with those from the US, conversations involve life under Trump 2.0 and it is clear that this time it is not just the fringe spewing vitriol on social media, but almost everyone seems to […]
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