Technology & Innovation — December 30, 2009

What Went Wrong? Ask AIG’s Former Lawyer

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

This week’s installment of What Went Wrong includes an interview with the former head council for AIG, Ernest Patrikis. He weighs in on what could have happened if the Fed didn’t bail out AIG. Mark Zandi, the chief economist and co-founder of Moody’s Economy.com, chats about a fantasy world without ratings agencies: would Google do as good a job?

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A close-up view of a computer graphics card featuring an array of components, including capacitors, resistors, and a central processing chip, all mounted on a black circuit board.

The Future

The AI chip startup that could take down Nvidia

Just eight of Etched’s Sohu chips could replace 160 Nvidia GPUs.

Illustration depicting "Humanity vs. Nature" with diagrams of evolution, ecocentrism, biocentrism, and anthropocentrism, featuring images of a tree, human evolution, and a whale.

The Past

Why harmony with nature is a myth

Slowing growth and limiting development isn’t living in harmony with nature—it is surrendering in a battle.

The Future

Perplexity, Google, and the battle for AI search supremacy

Can AI-powered “answer engines” replace the 10 blue links model?

Health

The price of Silicon Valley’s obsession with immortality

After mammoth investments and two decades of anti-aging research, what do immortality proponents have to show for it?

The Present

The previous experience of every US president since Theodore Roosevelt

What qualifies someone for the top position in American government?

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