Silicon returns to Silicon Valley
AI has returned chipmaking to the heart of computer technology, says Shailesh Chitnis
Technology Quarterly: ‘Chipmaking & AI’ (Fall 2024)
Category Archives: Analysis
Generative AI: Speeding Up Amazon Package Delivery
Chapters: 2:14 Two-day to same-day 5:51 Robot revolution 9:18 Predicting orders 12:11 Routes and personalization
CNBC got an exclusive look at Amazon’s use of generative AI to optimize delivery routes, make more intelligent warehouse robots, and better predict where to stock new items.
How “Kamikaze Drones” From Iran Are Wreaking Havoc In Ukraine & Israel
Chapters: 0:00 Shahed drones 0:31 What they are and how they work 2:45 How they stack up to other drones 4:01 Who’s using these drones? 6:02 Defenses against these drones
WSJ looks at how Iran’s kamikaze drones work, how they are being used across the globe by militant groups and Russia and the defense mechanisms used against them.
Strategy Behind Ukraine’s Invasion Of Russia (WSJ)
Chapters: 0:00 Where the war stands 0:34 Ukraine tactics in Kursk 1:53 Russia’s response 2:53 What’s next?
If Pokrovsk falls, it will be the largest population center taken by the Russian military since Bakhmut in May 2023. WSJ explains the latest developments on how the Kursk invasions steps up the stakes for both Ukraine and Russia.
Politics: Foreign Affairs Magazine – Sep/Oct 2024
The Perils of Isolationism
The World Still Needs America—and America Still Needs the World by Condoleezza Rice
America Isn’t Ready for the Wars of the Future
And They’re Already Here by Mark A. Milley and Eric Schmidt
What Was the Biden Doctrine?
Education: “Schooling’s Stagnation” – July 13, 2024
Must try harder
Schools in rich countries are making poor progress. They need to get back to basics, argues Mark Johnson
Schools in rich countries are making poor progress
Hanging on to the best of them is getting harder
The rich world’s teachers are increasingly morose
Will artificial intelligence transform school?
Efforts to teach character bring promise and perils
England’s school reforms are earning fans abroad
Technology Report: “Spycraft” – July 6, 2024
The tools of global spycraft have changed
And so has the world in which they are used, says Shashank Joshi
Afew years ago intelligence analysts observed that internet-connected cctv cameras in Taiwan and South Korea were inexplicably talking to vital parts of the Indian power grid. The strange connection turned out to be a deliberately circuitous route by which Chinese spies were communicating with malware they had previously buried deep inside crucial parts of the Indian grid (presumably to enable future sabotage). The analysts spotted it because they were scanning the internet to look for “command and control” (c2) nodes—such as cameras—that hackers use as stepping stones to their victims.
Ubiquitous technical surveillance has made spying more difficult
Signals intelligence has become a cyber-activity
Sometimes the old ways of espionage are the best
Artificial intelligence can speed-sort satellite photos
Private firms and open sources are giving spies a run for their money
Politics: Foreign Affairs Magazine – July/Aug 2024
A Foreign Policy for the World as It Is
Biden and the Search for a New American Strategy
“America is back.” In the early days of his presidency, Joe Biden repeated those words as a starting point for his foreign policy. The phrase offered a bumper-sticker slogan to pivot away from Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership. It also suggested that the United States could reclaim its self-conception as a virtuous hegemon, that it could make the rules-based international order great again. Yet even though a return to competent normalcy was in order, the Biden administration’s mindset of restoration has occasionally struggled against the currents of our disordered times. An updated conception of U.S. leadership—one tailored
The Return of Peace Through Strength
Making the Case for Trump’s Foreign Policy
Si vis pacem, para bellum is a Latin phrase that emerged in the fourth century that means “If you want peace, prepare for war.” The concept’s origin dates back even further, to the second-century Roman emperor Hadrian, to whom is attributed the axiom, “Peace through strength—or, failing that, peace through threat.”
America Is Losing the Arab World
And China Is Reaping the Benefits
Report: “Deglobalization Of Finance” – May 11, 2024
Worlds apart
The American-led financial order is giving way to a more divided one
Ten years ago your correspondent was fidgeting nervously in a meeting room at vtb Capital, the investment-banking arm of Russia’s second-biggest bank, just across the road from the Bank of England. During the recruitment process for a graduate job, things had taken a worrying turn. A Russian missile had shot down mh17, a passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, while it was passing over Ukraine. Plenty of Russian firms were already under Western sanctions owing to the annexation of Crimea earlier that year. Now sanctions were being ramped up, and vtb Capital’s parent bank was a prime target. Hence the fidgeting: how to ask the slightly alarming man across the table whether there would even be a vtb in a few months’ time?
The global financial system is in danger of fragmenting
How crises reshaped the world financial system
The movement of capital globally is in decline
National payment systems are proliferating
The fight to dethrone the dollar
How the financial system would respond to a superpower war
Sources and acknowledgments
Politics: Foreign Affairs Magazine – May/June 2024
China’s Alternative Order
And What America Should Learn From It
By now, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambition to remake the world is undeniable. He wants to dissolve Washington’s network of alliances and purge what he dismisses as “Western” values from international bodies. He wants to knock the U.S. dollar off its pedestal and eliminate Washington’s chokehold over critical technology. In his new multipolar order, global institutions and norms will be underpinned by Chinese notions of common security and economic development, Chinese values of state-determined political rights, and Chinese technology. China will no longer have to fight for leadership. Its centrality will be guaranteed.
No Substitute for Victory
America’s Competition With China Must Be Won, Not Managed
Intellicurious 