The Weekend (Is Here) Reader

It has been one of those weeks where so much is going on that the noise is drowning out the signals. When the head of a trillion-dollar software giant starts throwing out lines like a late-night talk show host, you know we’ve finally put the “silly” in Silicon Valley.

Not surprisingly, the week has been a stress test for mental fortitude and one’s ability to write clearly and coherently. I have been following my own new rule: Sometimes it is best not to say anything until you are very clear in your mind about why and what you are going to say.

For distraction, at a dear friend’s recommendation, I have started listening to “The Exquisite Machine” by Sian E. Harding. An hour into it, I think this is a much better “reading” book. In addition, here are some articles I read and enjoyed this week. They are worth reading.

My 7 Reading Recommendations:

• A Spy Satellite That Helped Win the Cold War: Engineers at the Naval Research Laboratory launched a spy satellite program called Parcae that revolutionized signals intelligence at the height of the Cold War. The program relied on computers to sift through intelligence data, providing a technological edge at a pivotal moment in U.S.-Soviet tensions.
• The Great Social Media Decentralization: What happens when sprawling online communities fracture into politically homogeneous, self-governing communities? If you’ve been reading me long enough, you’re quite familiar with my arguments that we’re in the “cable news” phase of social media. (How to deal with unsocial media?)
• Location Location Location: Some of the world’s most popular apps are likely being exploited by rogue members of the advertising industry to harvest sensitive location data on a massive scale. The end outcome is concerning.
• How to Set Up a Fake Cricket League and Scam People. So, how do you do it? Use local farmworkers as players on a village field in rural India. Then livestream it on YouTube.
• A Q&A with Demis Hassabis, head of Google AI and Nobel laureate, on the state of artificial intelligence today and where it’s heading. Unlike other AI CEOs, Hassabis brings gravitas and semblance of realism to the field.
• Nobody’s insurance rates are safe from climate change. Even if you haven’t suffered direct damage, you’re paying for increasingly extreme weather. The article explains why. It’s one of the best pieces I’ve read in a long time.
• Eastern Promises: In Japan, the economic miracle has fizzled. Citizens, expats, and guest workers alike cling to the country’s past rather than face an uncertain future.

Bonus Link: Here’s my latest article over on CrazyStupidTech about how AI is and will change coding.

January 25, 2025. San Francisco