~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (570)

Mexico [is]…the current hub of AI server manufacturing. Of the servers imported by the U.S.—including AI and non-AI servers—about 70% come from Mexico, according to a report by Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. More of this, please.  Here is the full WSJ piece, via the excellent Kevin Lewis. The post Mexico fact of the day appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to...

Not exactly my views, but well worth reading as a whole.  Here is one excerpt: …much of this extinction will seem voluntary. In a normal evolutionary bottleneck, the goal is surviving some immediate physical threat — a plague or famine, an earthquake, flood or meteor strike. The bottleneck of the digital age is different: The […] The post The Ross Douthat manifesto? appeared first...

A recent survey, commissioned by the Bible Society and conducted by YouGov, showed 16 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 in England and Wales said they attended church at least monthly, significantly up from 4 per cent in 2018. Here is more from the FT.  Addendum: The above quotation from the FT is slightly misleading.  Both […] The post England and Wales fact of the...

1. How tariffs affect trade deficits. 2. How many “ghost branches” of humanity are there? 3. There is actual humor in this NYT piece on the pro-natalism movement.  “With” or “at,” you can debate, but not all readers will align with the NYT perspective.  Bryan has the best line.  The correction is funny too.  I […] The post Saturday assorted links appeared first on...

Individual construction tasks have, on average, not gotten cheaper since at least the 1950s. Bricks haven’t gotten cheaper since the mid-19th century, despite massive improvements in brickmaking technology. Construction has a reputation for being slow to innovate, but innovations seem to spread in construction at roughly similar rates to other industries, like car manufacturing or agriculture. Single family […] The post Brian Potter on what he has...

From a Czech newspaper: Recruitment of new recruits in Russia is skyrocketing. With the prospect of a ceasefire, they want to ‘jump on the last train’ The number of Russians who have decided to join the army has multiplied in recent weeks. Regardless of their health, recruitment centres are taking anyone who expresses an interest. […] The post Intertemporal substitution (from my email) appeared...

1. Pluto vs. Australia. 2. Moose migration: the television culture that isSweden. 3. October Progress conference in Berkeley. 4. James Meek on Greenland. 5. Can you give “LSD” to your LLM? 6. “People In Iceland Are Collecting Baby Puffins In The Streets And Throwing Them Back Into The Ocean.” The post Friday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to Kieran....

The Kanye West and Jay-Z song “No Church in the Wild,” for instance, sampled a single instrumental line from a failed solo album recorded in the late 1970s by the Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera; the licensing proceeds provided Mr. Manzanera with “the biggest payday he had in the course of his entire career.” Or […] The post Music compensation fact of the day...

“S.F. auto glass shops suffering as car break-ins drop” Here is the San Francisco Chronicle link, via Air Genius Gary Leff. The post Bastiat’s revenge appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to Biggles f’Tang. Google is now paying $300 to ... by Kaitlin RushIn reply to Flex. JOIN US Everybody can earn 250/h Dollar + ... by Ana SellersIn reply to Flex....

1. Florian Illies, The Magic of Silence: Caspar David Friedrich’s Journey Through Time.  An excellent book, usually I am allergic to art history books that attempt to charm, but this one works.  Excerpt: “A question posed to the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk: ‘What makes the Monk by the Seashore so unprecedented?’ His answer: “It is the […] The post What I’ve been reading appeared first...

By Roger Chickering, this is so far the best book I have read this year, and I knew that within the first fifty pages (or less).  It is everything one could want from a book on this very important country and time period.  Likely I will report more on it as I read more, for […] The post *The German Empire, 1871-1918* appeared first...

1. Jerome Powell on stablecoins. 2. Hollis Robbins on o3 and higher education. 3. Google has started hiring for “post-AGI research.”  If you want one, here is a straightforward definition of AGI.  I believe o3 passes that test, including for the one hour of human labor mark.  I hear lots of complaining, but I don’t […] The post Thursday assorted links appeared first on...

Basically it wipes the floor with the humans, pretty much across the board. Try, following Nabeel, why Bolaño’s prose is so electrifying. Or my query why early David Burliuk works cost more in the marketplace than do late Burliuk works. Or how Trump’s trade policy will affect Knoxville, Tennessee.  (Or try this link if the […] The post A note on o3 and AGI...

I loved his new book on John and Paul, of the Beatles, and I am delighted to see it doing so well on the UK bestseller lists, and now also on the US lists.  Here is my audio, video, and transcript with him.  Here is the episode summary: In this deep dive into one of […] The post My Conversation with the excellent Ian...

I think it is AGI, seriously.  Try asking it lots of questions, and then ask yourself: just how much smarter was I expecting AGI to be? As I’ve argued in the past, AGI, however you define it, is not much of a social event per se.  It still will take us a long time to […] The post o3 and AGI, is April 16th...

1. Uh oh. 2. Very good list of bottlenecks to progress. 3. NYT on seasteading (an oddly undercontextualized article). 4. Shruti makes the Forward Thinkers list. 5. More on risk and business cycles. 6. How is a Costco in France different? The post Wednesday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to Bob. The US freight rail system is very good....

“Based on everything I’ve ever asked you, what do you think my biggest blind spots are?” ChatGPT replies: Here’s a speculative, analytical take based on your past questions and style of interaction: 1. Underestimating Non-Market Frictions in Implementation You’re extremely sharp on incentives, regulation, and institutional design, especially in economic theory and historical analysis. But […] The post My Blind Spots appeared first on...

But the fact that it’s commonplace is precisely why Earth’s subsurface biosphere is so compelling.  Mud is everywhere, which means it is important.  If you add up the total amount of mud underneath all the worlds’s oceans, you come up with a volume equivalent to about the entire Atlantic Ocean.  And, per cubic meter, there […] The post Subterranean sentences to ponder appeared first...

With a Trump-induced decline of American alliances n the works, is Chinese global ascendancy going to result? It would seem so. Matt Yglesias tweeted that “America may be cooked and it’s gonna be the Chinese century.” Thomas Friedman recently wrote a column suggesting that the future is to be found in China, not America. In […] The post Is China the ultimate free-rider? appeared...

Times of London that is: The post My interview with Times Radio appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to LivelyClock. Yes, Prof here, I still like him, ... by AnoniIn reply to Matt2. “I'm Sure you can't be serious.” ... by mkt42In reply to LivelyClock. The finest part-time income ... by Cherie SingletonIn reply to Bob. What would you call the profiteering...

1. Scott Sumner on who is rising and falling in status.  Mostly I agree. 2. New personalized dating form for STEM men and women, here is the link for women.  The previous link I put up for men already is generating matches and perhaps a marriage as well. 3. Michael Nielsen wants to reconsider AI […] The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on...

Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that the circulations of banned books increased by 12%, on average, compared with comparable nonbanned titles after the ban. We also find that banning a book in a state leads to increased circulation in states without bans. We show that the increase in consumption is driven by books […] The post Book ban sentences to ponder appeared...

Look at the incredible decline of manufacturing across a wide variety of industries in the figure below. Nearly 7.5 million jobs lost, just since 2011. Devastated communities. Factories shuttered. Millions of older, lower-skilled workers out of work. A rise in inequality. Jobs going overseas. “The future is bleak and hopeless if we continue like this,” […] The post The Decline of Manufacturing appeared first...

That is the theme of my latest Free Press column, here is one bit from it: …for all the differences across the models, they are remarkably similar. That’s because they all have souls rooted in the ideals of Western civilization. They reflect Western notions of rationality, discourse, and objectivity—even if they sometimes fall short in […] The post Will American soft power triumph through...