FT: “In an era where core assumptions about the global economy are being questioned, gold has once more become an anchor — especially for central banks…For some investors, gold never lost its role as one of the global financial system’s ultimate safe havens. Even so, the recent rally stands out for its sheer ferocity, particularly at a time when high-tech competitors such as bitcoin — labelled “digital gold” by cryptocurrency enthusiasts — are also on the march. “People often say bitcoin is the new gold. I say, ‘No, gold is the new gold,’” quips Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former chief economist of the IMF.”
WSJ: “Few recent innovations have been as simultaneously celebrated and maligned as the like button. In “Like: The Button That Changed the World,” Martin Reeves and Bob Goodson trace this social-media feature from a forgotten sketch drawn at Yelp through its spread on platforms including Facebook and YouTube—a story of collective drift and what the authors call “Exhibit A of how software innovation worked in Silicon Valley” at the turn of the 21st century. What begins as a common startup tale—complete with office desks salvaged from the street—quickly becomes a broader account of a product that has transformed the online landscape in ways both helpful and horrifying.”
Economist: “The future is drifting even further from factories. Skilled trades and repair workers should see growth of 5% over the next decade, according to official projections; the number of manufacturing jobs is expected to fall. The fastest-growing categories for workers without degrees are in health-care support and personal care, which are expected to grow by 15% and 6%, respectively. These include roles such as nursing assistants and child-care workers, and do not look anything like old manufacturing jobs owing to their low pay. The task, as Dani Rodrik of Harvard puts it, is to boost the productivity of the jobs that are actually growing. Perhaps that might include ensuring the adoption of AI, whether for managing medication or diagnosis.”
FT: “Leading scientists have launched an international campaign to stop the creation of synthetic bacteria that could threaten life on earth. Eminent researchers at a landmark gathering in Paris urged international action to prevent the emergence of so-called mirror life — manufactured microbes that they fear could overwhelm the immune defences of humans, other animals and plants. The scale of the danger was still hard to predict but could affect “the preponderance of life as we know it today on this planet”, David Relman, a microbiologist and immunologist at Stanford University, told the Financial Times. “There is a scenario in which a future mirror organism becomes a widely pervasive invasive species and displaces and disrupts many critical ecosystems across the planet — including our own,” he said. “We have to be concerned about the possibility of an extreme, potentially existential, threat.””
