Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. Wherever possible, free links for premium sites are used. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at how U.S. tech giants transformed Ireland.
Quote of the Day
"Humans are weird, and studying their nuances often can’t be contained in one neat story about one study."
(Tim Sullivan)
Technology
- Why do roboticists love kicking robots so much? (harpers.org)
- How ASML ($ASML) came to dominate semiconductor lithography. (construction-physics.com)
- A look at the Xbox 20 years in. (hookshotchargebeamrevive.com)
Business
- A look at the race between Google's ($GOOGL) Waymo and Tesla ($TSLA) on self-driving cars. (sherwood.news)
- How SharkNinja built a business selling people devices they really don't need. (bloomberg.com)
Housing
- How rising insurance rates are showing up in home prices. (nytimes.com)
- Why some disaster-prone areas will never get rebuilt. (theatlantic.com)
- Why building new housing in California is still so difficult. (nytimes.com)
Health
- How ADHD medication use can cascade for children. (wsj.com)
- The med spa business is growing like wildfire with little real regulation. (allure.com)
Longreads
- Anthony Deden, "The vocabulary of capital now governs nearly every sphere of life: art becomes an asset class, education a credential market, food a vehicle for branding, and even leisure a form of competitive display." (forumgeopolitica.com)
- We're underestimate just how much technology will change the practice of war. (noahpinion.blog)
- How China has used American technology to build out its surveillance state. (apnews.com)
- The Trump administration is deporting people to countries they have no ties to. (newyorker.com)
- How billionaires came to rule American politics. (washingtonpost.com)
- How tuna reaches your supermarket shelf. (ig.ft.com)
