FT: “Britain is a nation of thinkers, with not enough doers…[It] should take inspiration from the inventors and implementers of its industrial revolution…Britain has an illustrious list of inventors. Isaac Newton devised the first reflecting telescope, Michael Faraday the electric motor, and Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing developed the first computers. All these pioneers hailed from academia, as researchers, scientists and professors. But crucially, they also put theory into action, and taught others to do so too. It is this ability to both think and do — individually and collectively — that still powers growth and innovation across the world. Research by economic historians Ralf Meisenzahl and Joel Mokyr argued that Britain’s Industrial Revolution was underpinned by three groups of people. The inventors, the tweakers — who could adapt, improve and debug existing technology — and the implementers, capable of “building, installing, operating, and maintaining new and complex equipment”.”
NYTimes: “Why is it so annoying when people interrupt? For many of us, it can feel diminishing and condescending, said Maria Venetis, an associate professor of communication at Rutgers University. Sometimes it’s even “enraging,” she added, “because it suggests that my ideas or my participation aren’t valid.” This feeling is especially familiar to those who experience it more regularly, such as women, who are more frequently interrupted by men. Interrupters often have more “achieved or ascribed power” and are used to having people quiet down when they want to speak, said Alexandra Solomon, a psychologist at the Family Institute at Northwestern University and the author of “Love Every Day.” How, then, do you manage interruptions at work and home?”
HBR: “The enthusiasm around generative AI is palpable, and for a good reason. But many decisions about its adoption seem to be made under the presumption of unstoppable, exponential growth. What is missing from the conversation is a crucial reality check: Is there a potential plateau or even downturn for generative AI on the near horizon? Managers should resist the temptation to jump on the bandwagon; they need to thoroughly assess of where this technology could lead — both for better and worse. As we navigate this intriguing and uncertain territory, it is more important than ever to sustain an open but critical mindset, engage in continuous experimentation, and stand ready to recalibrate our views in light of evolving insights. All in all, the real bottleneck in generative AI might not be computation capacity or model parameters, but our unique human touch. Yet, we are on the brink of a digital world that is increasingly filled with AI-generated clutter. Could it be that we have already seen the pinnacle of generative AI? How the next chapter unfolds hinges on our ability to recognize, protect, nurture, and fairly treat human creativity.”
WSJ reviews “Insulin”: “An estimated 37.3 million Americans live with diabetes, while one in three American adults have prediabetes. The epidemic is equally daunting worldwide, but the disease itself often confuses the public. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the pancreas produces little to no insulin and patients must take insulin through injections or a pump. The more common Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body resists the insulin that it does produce and different therapies, including insulin, are used for treatment. Both types, if not treated properly, are characterized by dangerously high blood sugar.”
Manish Sabharwal in the context of WeWork: “Strategy: The art of creating unfair advantages is the long-term essence of strategy but it is also the short-term science of reducing the negative unit economics (you must lose less when you sell more). The notion of blitzscaling — winner-take-all markets that require prioritising growth over avoiding losses — formulated by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, is real but rarer than most think. It applies to social media, stock exchanges, search, operating systems and other network businesses, but its applicability to property leasing was a birth defect that became impossible to overcome.”
