noahpinion.blog

Banning data centers would blow up the U.S. economy

The fundamental danger isn't human obsolescence, it's that humans will be outcompeted for scarce natural resources. It's possible that AI will grow so valuable that its owners bid up the price of energy astronomically — so high that humans can't afford fuel, electricity, manufactured goods, or even food. At that point, humans would indeed be immiserated en masse.

noahpinion.blog

We asked too much of the American university

There was just one basic problem with college as America's primary unifying institution, which is that not everyone can go to college. First of all, college is difficult. To complete college courses, you need some degree of raw intelligence, but you also need work ethic and a certain degree of independence.

noahpinion.blog

I have never been working class

Class in some countries is about the past; you can be a shabby aristocrat if your grandfather was the Earl of Whatevershire. In American policy discussions, class is often implicitly about the present — where you lie in the income and wealth distributions this year. But on some level, everyone knows that class in America is really about the future.

honest-broker.com

What Is My American Identity, Really?

'My thesis is on the survival of the class system in the United States.' 'Oh really, that's interesting: one didn't think there was a class system in the United States.' 'Nobody does. That's how it survives.'

noahpinion.blog

Europe's resistance to AC is driving it insane

Perhaps the single most ludicrous story was that the people who run the European Commission decided to cut off AC for their lower-level employees, while keeping the AC on for themselves... 'It's like feudalism,' a Commission official working on a lower level of the Berlaymont, granted anonymity to speak freely, told POLITICO on Friday, referring to the fact that upper floors housing commissioners got to keep their AC on.

noahpinion.blog

I'm kind of over the whole "Anti-monopoly" movement

When he says that he holds corporate consolidation responsible for just about every problem, he means it. A list of social ills Lynn has attributed to monopolists includes not just the cost of goods and services but also: "The vast and growing inequality of wealth, political power, and control. The rise of the radical right. The surge in racism and homophobia. The attacks on reproductive choice and marr

platformer.news

An economist's case against the AI jobs-pocalypse

I think some of the conversation around AI is deeply, deeply classist …. It feels like some of that comes from being a little high on your own supply of how amazing your technology is when you hawk it. And it comes from this idea that some workers are better or more special than others, which makes your technology better or more special. That's also a way of saying the value of other workers is a lot lower — so it doesn't matter if they're displaced, it only matters if these workers are displaced.

noahpinion.blog

Yes, Europeans are poorer than Americans

The people who have the money and skills to move between the U.S. and Europe are probably disproportionately highly paid professional workers (who can earn more in the U.S.), while working-class people who would like to take advantage of Europe's urban safety and generous welfare states find it harder to move.

lennysnewsletter.com

New: A free year of Cursor, Google AI Pro, Notion, Supabase, Gumloop, and Fin for subscribers

Because things are changing so fast, there's a growing divide—in terms of career opportunities, financial outcomes, and how much you enjoy your work—between the people who benefit from the transformation we're living through and those who get left behind.

platformer.news

Inside the backlash to the AI war machine

Who wants mass surveillance? Only the Epstein class. The robot's point was that billionaires often build powerful surveillance technologies while simultaneously going to great lengths to maintain their own privacy.