What we’re reading (6/2)
“When Markets Melt Down, These Traders Cash In” (Wall Street Journal). “Statistically, the move was virtually unquantifiable, one that shouldn’t have occurred in the history of the universe, or 10 universes—in a normal world. As Taleb was learning, in finance things were often far from normal, and those who assumed they were normal would get them wrong again and again.”
“Former Google Exec Warns Of Global AI Catastrophe Within Two Years” (The Byte). “Former top Google exec Mo Gawdet, who once led the Silicon Valley behemoth's Google X ‘moonshot’ division, is very stressed about AI. ‘It is beyond an emergency,’ Gawdat said in a new interview on a podcast called ‘The Diary of a CEO,’ hosted by Stephen Bartlett. ‘It's the biggest thing we need to do today. It's bigger than climate change, believe it or not.’”
“We Just Got 2 Alarming Signals That An Economic Slowdown Is Upon Us” (Insider). “There are new signs the American consumer is pulling back on spending right now, reaffirming fears of an economic downturn widely expected to end in recession. The first of two jarring pieces of evidence comes in the form of first-quarter earnings from Dollar General. The discount retailer turned in a dismal report that included a cut to full-year sales and profit forecasts…a bit further up the affluence scale, Macy's turned in an earnings stinker of its own.”
“Airbnb Sues New York City Over Its Short-Term Rental Restrictions” (CNN Business). “In a lawsuit filed in state court Thursday, Airbnb said the ‘extreme and oppressive regulatory scheme’ operates as a ‘de facto ban against short-term rentals in New York City.’ The company also argued that the city’s restrictions around Airbnb hosting are overly complex.”
“How Winning (Or Losing) A Grammy Changes The Music Artists Make” (Behavioral Scientist). “[A]fter winning a Grammy, artists tend to release music that deviates stylistically from their own previous work, as well as from other artists in their genre. Nominees who lose do the opposite—their subsequent albums trend toward the mainstream. We think this happens because winning a Grammy grants an artist more leverage to pursue their personal artistic inclinations. Nonwinners, however, might interpret their loss as a negative signal about how their artistic choices deviated from the norm, and thus feel more bound to conventions of their genre.”
