Author: Colin Henderson

Progress in era of productivity
Geopolitics

Straits Times: ‘I’ve been misunderstood many times,’ says former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani as he releases memoir

Colin Henderson

I was delighted to be featured on Lunch with Sumiko, which is one of the best-read columns in Singapore. When Sumiko invited me to lunch, I chose a coffee shop next to my childhood home, where my father would get caught in drunken fights. Sumiko’s story brings out some of my colourful childhood stories and provides a good preview of my memoirs, Living the Asian Century, which has just been released. I hope her column will also encourage you to read my memoirs. Lunch with Sumiko ‘I’ve been misunderstood many times,’ says former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani as he releases memoir … Continue reading Straits Times: ‘I’ve been misunderstood many times,’ says former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani as he releases memoir

AI

Eric Schmidt Walks Back Claim Google Is Behind on AI Because of Remote Work

Colin Henderson

Ex-Google CEO had said the tech company’s work-life balance was ‘more important than winning’ Joseph De AvilaAug. 14, 2024 at 9:47 pm Eric Schmidt, ex-CEO and executive chairman at Google, walked back remarks in which he said his former company was losing the artificial intelligence race because of its remote-work policies.  Schmidt, who left Google parent Alphabet’s GOOGL -0.12% board more than five years ago, spoke earlier at a wide-ranging discussion at Stanford University. He criticized Google’s remote-work policies in response to a question about Google competing with OpenAI. “Google decided that work-life balance and going home early and working from home was more … Continue reading Eric Schmidt Walks Back Claim Google Is Behind on AI Because of Remote Work

Geopolitics, Risk

A Catastrophic Civil War in Sudan

Colin Henderson

How an unexpected conflict is crushing Africa’s third-largest country. Aug. 15, 2024, 6:23 a.m. ET You’re reading The Morning newsletter.  Make sense of the day’s news and ideas. David Leonhardt and Times journalists guide you through what’s happening — and why it matters. By Declan Walsh I’m The Times’s chief Africa correspondent, based in Nairobi, Kenya. After more than a year of civil war, the toll in Sudan is heartbreaking: thousands killed, millions scattered and cities besieged or destroyed across a vast nation three times as large as France. Much of the capital lies in rubble. This month, international officials declared that part … Continue reading A Catastrophic Civil War in Sudan

Climate

Parts of Canada’s Boreal Forest Are Burning Faster Than They Can Regrow

Colin Henderson

The delicate balance of one of the planet’s largest natural systems for storing carbon depends on the humble black spruce tree. Manuela Andreoni, a climate reporter, and Bryan Denton, a photographer, traveled with researchers to Canada’s boreal forests in the Northwest Territories.Aug. 12, 2024 The dead black spruce looked like a collection of giant burned matchsticks standing tall above the gray landscape as far as Jennifer Baltzer could see. But here, at the edge of one of the largest areas of scorched forest that scientists have ever documented in Canada, what caught Dr. Baltzer’s attention was closer to the ground. The … Continue reading Parts of Canada’s Boreal Forest Are Burning Faster Than They Can Regrow

Geopolitics, sociology

The Dwindling Strategic Flame: Reviving Creative Defense Planning

Colin Henderson

Phillip Dolitsky August 14, 2024 “Strategy is the future of present decisions”- Garry Kasparov “Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.”- Savielly Tartakower Strategy and defense planning belong to the realm of the unknown. There is nothing as certain as the uncertainty of the future and yet all polities depend on their safety and survival by striving to meet the challenge of uncertainty. All nations must attempt, in the words of the late British strategist Colin Gray, “to get the biggest issues right enough” … Continue reading The Dwindling Strategic Flame: Reviving Creative Defense Planning

AI

Apple Pushes Ahead with Tabletop Home Device in Shift to Robotics

Colin Henderson

Executive who oversaw car project is leading the effort Device would offer twist on home products from Amazon and Meta Mark GurmanAugust 14, 2024 at 2:09 PM EDT Apple Inc., seeking new sources of revenue, is moving forward with development of a pricey tabletop home device that combines an iPad-like display with a robotic limb.  The company now has a team of several hundred people working on the device, which uses a thin robotic arm to move around a large screen, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The product, which relies on actuators to tilt the display up and … Continue reading Apple Pushes Ahead with Tabletop Home Device in Shift to Robotics

AI

The Global Race to Control A.I.

Colin Henderson

We explore who is winning — and what could come next. Aug. 14, 2024, 6:19 a.m. ET You’re reading The Morning newsletter.  Make sense of the day’s news and ideas. David Leonhardt and Times journalists guide you through what’s happening — and why it matters. As artificial intelligence advances, many nations are worried about being left behind. The urgency is understandable. A.I. is improving quickly. It could soon reshape the global economy, automate jobs, turbocharge scientific research and even change how wars are waged. World leaders want companies in their country to control A.I. — and they want to benefit from its … Continue reading The Global Race to Control A.I.

Economy

Bidenomics- hardly game changing

Colin Henderson

“Yes, at the margin, there’ll be some more chips made here. Is it going to be, are we going to get 30%, 40%, 50% of global production? No, nowhere near that. Is the ED revolution going to continue? I don’t think the $7,500 rebate is going to drive that. What’s going to drive that is ultimately market economics and innovation. You might coax another mile or two per gallon out of internal combustion engines, but if there’s going to be a tech breakthrough, it’s going to be across the battery platforms and the mileage and the range and the pricing … Continue reading Bidenomics- hardly game changing

Climate

Hot Summer Threatens Efficacy of Mail-Order Medications

Colin Henderson

The temperatures inside delivery trucks can reach twice the recommended threshold, but federal rules on drug storage conditions do not apply to the booming world of mail-order delivery. Emily Baumgaertner spoke with state pharmacy boards, mail-order companies and more than a dozen customers who received overheated drugs. Aug. 13, 2024Updated 3:06 p.m. ET Sign up for Your Places: Extreme Weather.  Get notified about extreme weather before it happens with custom alerts for places in the U.S. you choose. Get it sent to your inbox. Melted capsules. Cloudy insulin. Pills that may no longer work. Doctors and pharmacists say the scorching temperatures enveloping the … Continue reading Hot Summer Threatens Efficacy of Mail-Order Medications