What we’re reading (11/8)
“Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Sinks 19% As Ad Revenue Falls, Zaslav Warns Of ‘Generational Disruption’” (CNBC). “Warner Bros. Discovery’s results reflected dire trends in the legacy media industry. Ad revenue in Warner Bros. Discovery’s TV networks segment fell 12% compared with a year earlier, reflecting a decline in audiences for general entertainment and news programming, as well as soft ad trends in the U.S., the company said.”
“In Regulating A.I., We May Be Doing Too Much. And Too Little.” (Tim Wu, New York Times). “To regulate speculative risks, rather than actual harms, would be unwise, for two reasons. First, overeager regulators can fixate shortsightedly on the wrong target of regulation. For example, to address the dangers of digital piracy, Congress in 1992 extensively regulated digital audio tape, a recording format now remembered only by audio nerds, thanks to the subsequent rise of the internet and MP3s. Similarly, today’s policymakers are preoccupied with large language models like ChatGPT, which could be the future of everything — or, given their gross unreliability stemming from chronic falsification and fabrication, may end up remembered as the Hula Hoop of the A.I. age…Second, pre-emptive regulation can erect barriers to entry for companies interested in breaking into an industry.”
“Why The Fed Shouldn’t Get Credit For The Fall In Inflation” (Wall Street Journal). “Does the Federal Reserve deserve credit for the decline in inflation? The economic evidence is clear: No, not a lot. On the face of it, inflation plummeted after the Fed, flat-footed at first, finally caught up by imposing a rapid series of rate increases. Dig into what actually happened, and there is no obvious link between the Fed action and the slowdown in inflation.”
“Inside Google Billionaire’s Airship That’s Just Been Cleared For Flight And Can Carry 200 Tons Of Humanitarian Cargo” (The U.S. Sun). “Once it flies, the Pathfinder 1 will be the largest aircraft to take to the skies since the tragic Hindenberg disaster in 1937, when Zeppelins were largely abandoned. On the second of its scheduled 1937 transatlantic crossings, the Hindenburg burst into flames over Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 out of 96 passengers and one member of ground crew. The incident triggered a reflexive fear of hydrogen based, in what has come to be known as ‘Hindenberg syndrome’. To combat this paranoia, the Pathfinder 1 will use only non-flammable helium, as opposed to explosive hydrogen.”
“Will We See Less Comovement In Global Economic Growth?” (Marginal Revolution). “In this new world, with these major common shocks neutered, a country’s prosperity will be more dependent on national policies than on global trends. Culture and social trust will matter more too, as will openness to innovation — and, as fertility rates remain low or decline, so will a country’s ability to handle immigration. A country that cannot repopulate itself with peaceful and productive immigrants is going to see its economy shrink in relative terms, and probably experience a lot of bumps on the way down. At the same time, excuses for a lack of prosperity will be harder to come by. The world will not be deglobalized, but it will be somewhat de-risked. Dare we hope that these new arrangements will produce better results than the old?”
