The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Colombia Tolima Los Brasiles Peaberry Organic coffee, grab a seat by the fire, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• Trust in a Black Hat World: Investors and Advisors, on the state of markets, and the state of ETFs: You are on your own. There are few left to trust. (Echo Beach)
• Why Japan Succeeds Despite Stagnation: For more than three decades, Japan has endured near-complete economic stagnation. Despite this, Japan is still a desirable place to live and work. The major costs of living, like housing, energy, and transportation are not particularly expensive compared to other highly-developed countries. Infrastructure in Japan is clean, functional, and regularly expanded. There is very little crime or disorder, and almost zero open drug use or homelessness. Japan enjoys a higher quality of life. (Uncharted Territories)
• The Shrouded, Sinister History Of The Bulldozer: Both creator and destroyer, the bulldozer offers a cautionary tale for how technology can sometimes be misused to the detriment of individual and collective life. (Noema)
• Growing Up Murdoch: James Murdoch on mind games, sibling rivalry, and the war for the family media empire. (The Atlantic)
• What does Jack Ma’s return to the spotlight mean? A meeting between Chinese president Xi Jinping and some of the country’s foremost business leaders this week has fuelled excitement and speculation, after Alibaba founder Jack Ma was pictured at the event. The charismatic and colourful Mr Ma, who was one of China’s most prominent businessmen, had withdrawn from public life after criticising China’s financial sector in 2020. His reappearance at Monday’s event has sparked a wave of discussion, with experts and analysts wondering what it means for him, China’s tech sector and the economy in general. (BBC)
• The Wild Economics Behind Ferrari’s Domination of the Luxury Car Market: Limiting production is helping to make its sportscars coveted—and the company the most valuable automaker in Europe (Wall Street Journal)
• The META Trending Trends: An Analysis of 70+ Global Trend Forecasts → 13 Most Reported Social Shifts: Life and business as we know it is only getting “weirder” — our change is seemingly more off-putting, nimble and dire “than ever before.” Maybe that’s always been the case. But if so, it shouldn’t trivialize the hurt and confusion we face. (Matt Klein)
• Is AI really thinking and reasoning — or just pretending to? The best answer — AI has “jagged intelligence” — lies in between hype and skepticism. (Vox) see also Are you conscious? A conversation between Dawkins and ChatGPT: Is AI truly conscious, or just an advanced illusion of thought? Richard Dawkins shares his conversation between ChatGPT displaying the depths of machine intelligence and its success passing the Turing Test for consciousness. (Richard Dawkins)
• Serious physicists are talking about UFOs. What changed? From scientists operating outside academia to the halls of Harvard, discussions around unexplained aerial phenomena — the term that’s supplanting “unidentified flying objects” — are on the rise. (First Principles)
• A New Look at the History of ‘S.N.L.’ Photos, scripts, hate mail and other artifacts donated by Lorne Michaels trace the show’s path from idea to institution. (New York Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Charley Ellis, founder of Greenwich Associates (1972) Trustee at Yale, Chairman of Yale Endowment’s Investment Committee and member of the Vanguard Group’s Board of Directors. He is the author of 21 books, including “Winning the Loser’s Game” (now 8th ed). His most recent book is is “Rethinking Investing: A Very Short Guide to Very Long-Term Investing.”
Has America finally hit “peak truck”?
Source: Sherwood
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To learn how these reads are assembled each day, please see this.
