Rahul Jacob: “China’s success has wowed the world even as its factory trends catch on globally. It’s ironic that so much policy attention is being paid to manufacturing while this sector’s job generation drops thanks to robot adoption…The most recent figures from the International Federation of Robotics released in November 2024 show that South Korea leads the way with 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees. China is third with 470 robots for every 10,000 workers. An obsession with manufacturing jobs is thus myopic because automation is a principal leitmotif of new factories. “We are now in a tech race over the software and machines that will power manufacturing, more than the manufacturing itself,” Joe Leahy, China bureau chief for the Financial Times and co-author of a recent article on ‘Made in China,’ told me. Electric vehicle plants, he observes, look like “power stations” because there are so few humans on site.”
IEEE Spectrum: “In a development straight out of science fiction, Australian startup Cortical Labs has released what it calls the world’s first code-deployable biological computer. The CL1, which debuted in March, fuses human brain cells on a silicon chip to process information via sub-millisecond electrical feedback loops. Designed as a tool for neuroscience and biotech research, the CL1 offers a new way to study how brain cells process and react to stimuli. Unlike conventional silicon-based systems, the hybrid platform uses live human neurons capable of adapting, learning, and responding to external inputs in real time. “On one view, [the CL1] could be regarded as the first commercially available biomimetic computer, the ultimate in neuromorphic computing that uses real neurons,” says theoretical neuroscientist Karl Friston of University College London. “However, the real gift of this technology is not to computer science. Rather, it’s an enabling technology that allows scientists to perform experiments on a little synthetic brain.””
Demis Hassabis looks ahead: “If everything goes well, then we should be in an era of radical abundance, a kind of golden era. AGI can solve what I call root-node problems in the world—curing terrible diseases, much healthier and longer lifespans, finding new energy sources. If that all happens, then it should be an era of maximum human flourishing, where we travel to the stars and colonize the galaxy. I think that will begin to happen in 2030.”
1000 EconTalk episodes by Russ Roberts.
McKinsey: “Commerce media networks (CMNs) are the latest shift poised for tremendous growth. CMNs are advertising ecosystems that have expanded beyond retail. For industries as varied as financial services, travel, and even healthcare, CMNs integrate ads directly into the customer experience across multiple online and offline channels. Many CMNs use first-party data from transactions, customer behaviors, and loyalty programs to deliver targeted ads, boosting relevance and sales. CMNs are also experiencing extraordinary growth, with a CAGR from 2023 to 2027 expected to be more than 21 percent, outpacing display, connected television, and even search.”
