Smartphones are developmentally inappropriate for most middle schoolers. Compared to teens who get phones later, those who get them earlier show:

• Poorer grades and test scores
• Less reading and more mediocre content consumption
• More social comparison, body image issues, and FOMO
• Earlier/riskier sexual activity and porn exposure
• Higher rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm

Push smartphones and social media until at least the start of high school. There's no evidence earlier access improves wellbeing. Give younger kids a basic phone for emergencies only.

Section: 4, Chapter: 12

Author: Jonathan Haidt

The authors argue that AI is a general purpose technology (GPT) like electricity and the steam engine that has the potential to transform the economy over time. However, as with past GPTs, there is a significant delay between the initial invention and demonstration of the technology and its widespread adoption and impact on productivity. The authors refer to this delay as "The Between Times." During this period, point solutions and application solutions emerge, but the big productivity gains come only later with the development of system solutions that more fully exploit the technology's potential.

Section: 1, Chapter: 2

Author: Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb

By the late 2010s, ASML had spent nearly two decades perfecting extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). EUV was crucial for the continuation of Moore's Law, which predicted the exponential growth in the number of transistors on a chip. Existing lithography methods using deep ultraviolet light were reaching their limit and couldn't produce the even smaller circuits needed for next-generation semiconductors. EUV, with a much smaller wavelength, was the only viable path forward. The development of EUV was an incredibly complex engineering feat requiring collaboration from companies around the world to source the most advanced components, purest metals, and most powerful lasers.

Implementing EUV lithography presented several challenges that pushed the limits of engineering. Creating an EUV light source required blasting tiny tin droplets with a laser fifty thousand times per second. This process generated immense heat and required a specialized laser system that took a decade to develop. Additionally, EUV light is difficult to reflect, necessitating the creation of the smoothest mirrors ever made, constructed from alternating layers of molybdenum and silicon, each just a couple of nanometers thick.

Section: 6, Chapter: 39

Author: Chris Miller

The authors argue that the essence of recent advances in AI is that they represent a dramatic improvement in prediction - the ability to take information you have and generate information you don't have. Prediction is a key input into decision making. As prediction becomes cheaper, we will use more of it and the value of other inputs to decision making like human prediction will fall while the value of complements like data and judgment will rise. Judgment is determining the relative payoff or reward to different actions - it is a statement of what we want, while prediction tells us the likelihood of different outcomes.

Section: 1, Chapter: 3

Author: Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb

Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, the Chinese Communist Party sought to eliminate the democratic "spiritual pollution" that spurred protesters. As the internet emerged, it constructed a pervasive system of online controls far exceeding a mere "Great Firewall":

• Social media is engineered for built-in surveillance
• Vague laws criminalize posting anything "endangering national security" or "detrimental to the honor and interests of the state"

The goal is to guide mass online discussion, marginalize dissent, and squelch organizing - a model gaining traction among autocracies worldwide.

Section: 1, Chapter: 3

Author: Anne Applebaum

Huawei, a Chinese telecom giant, has emerged as a major player in the global tech industry, offering advanced telecom equipment, smartphones, and other tech infrastructure. The company's success, built on a combination of R&D investment, efficient manufacturing, and government support, has raised concerns in the U.S. and other countries, as it is seen as a strategic challenge to American technological leadership and a potential security risk.

Section: 7, Chapter: 46

Author: Chris Miller

Just as AI is transforming the world of work, it is poised to upend traditional models of education. The author argues that the rise of large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 will accelerate a shift towards personalized, adaptive learning - but not without significant challenges and uncertainties along the way.

AI tutoring systems powered by LLMs have the potential to provide every student with the kind of one-on-one coaching and real-time feedback that is currently a rare luxury. However, the author also highlights the disruptive impact that AI is already having on traditional educational assessments and practices. The ability of LLMs to generate human-like text across a wide range of prompts has effectively rendered many homework and essay assignments obsolete as measures of student learning.

Section: 2, Chapter: 7

Author: Ethan Mollick

The emergence of fabless chip design firms has been a transformative force in the semiconductor industry. These companies focus on chip design and outsource manufacturing to foundries, allowing them to avoid the enormous capital expenditures associated with building and operating fabs. This model has lowered entry barriers and enabled a new wave of innovation, with startups pioneering specialized chip designs for various applications.

One notable example is Nvidia, a leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs) that have become essential for computer graphics, gaming, and artificial intelligence. Nvidia's success demonstrates the viability of the fabless model, enabling the company to focus on its core competency of chip design and leverage the manufacturing expertise of foundries like TSMC.

Section: 6, Chapter: 36

Author: Chris Miller

History has seen two major social "technologies" that helped control negative mimesis:

1. The scapegoat mechanism, which channeled violent rivalries into the sacrifice of a single victim. It temporarily unites communities against a common enemy.
2. The market economy, which transforms many rivalries into economic competition. Adversaries fight for market share, not to the death.

As both these systems weaken, a "third invention" may be needed - some new social mechanism to contain mimetic violence. Possibilities include:

• Gamified marketplaces that reward pro-social behavior
• Massive online communities organized by self-transcending values
• A resurgence of ritual and religion in shared physical spaces

Section: 1, Chapter: 8

Author: Luke Burgis

China's aggressive push for self-sufficiency in semiconductors has sparked concern among US chip industry leaders. The country's massive subsidies and state-backed efforts to acquire technology threaten to erode America's competitive edge. This concern is heightened by the fact that many US chip companies heavily rely on the Chinese market, creating a complex dynamic where their biggest customer is also their biggest competitor.

Section: 7, Chapter: 49

Author: Chris Miller

The dot-com crash in the early 2000s taught Silicon Valley four main lessons:

• Make incremental advances
• Stay lean and flexible
• Improve on the competition
• Focus on product, not sales

However, the opposite principles are probably more correct:

• It's better to risk boldness than triviality
• A bad plan is better than no plan
• Competitive markets destroy profits
• Sales matters just as much as product

The need for new technology is greater now than ever before. But we won't get it if everyone focuses on incremental improvements.

Section: 1, Chapter: 2

Author: Peter Thiel

The invention of the vacuum tube marked a significant step forward in computing. By using electrical charges that could be switched on and off, vacuum tubes could represent 1s and 0s, the foundation of binary code. Unlike mechanical gears, vacuum tubes could be reprogrammed, allowing for greater flexibility in calculations. However, the limitations of vacuum tubes, including their size, unreliability, and attraction to moths, made it clear that a more efficient switch was needed.

Section: 1, Chapter: 1

Author: Chris Miller

The success of fabless companies like Nvidia and Qualcomm highlights the advantages of specializing in chip design and outsourcing manufacturing. This approach allows companies to:

Reduce Capital Expenditure: Avoid the massive costs associated with building and maintaining fabs.

Focus on Core Competencies: Concentrate resources on design and innovation rather than manufacturing intricacies.

Access Cutting-edge Technology: Leverage the expertise and advanced processes of leading foundries.

Increase Flexibility and Agility: Respond quickly to market demands and technological advancements.

Section: 6, Chapter: 36

Author: Chris Miller

Manson begins the chapter by recounting the incredible progress AI has made in recent years. He speculates about a potential future in which AI becomes so advanced that it starts to reshape every aspect of our lives.

Manson acknowledges the immense potential of AI to solve problems and improve the human condition. But there's a darker side to this sci-fi speculation. Manson imagines a world in which most forms of human labor and cognition have been made obsolete by machines, which could lead to a kind of nihilistic ennui, a loss of purpose and meaning.

Moreover, if we create artificial minds vastly smarter than ourselves, how can we be sure they will share our values and goals?

Ultimately, he argues, the AI revolution will force us to confront the most fundamental questions of the human condition with renewed urgency. What makes life meaningful? What is the nature of consciousness? Should we embrace our own obsolescence for the greater cosmic good?

Section: 2, Chapter: 9

Author: Mark Manson

Many people worry that computers will put people out of work. But in reality, technology is improving productivity and helping people do higher-leverage work. In many fields, the most valuable companies are those that combine the strengths of computers and humans:

• Palantir uses AI to flag suspicious activity but has human analysts make judgment calls
• LinkedIn uses automated data aggregation but human curation and editing
• Hybrid human-computer solutions are underrated relative to complete automation

Instead of trying to replace people entirely, the most valuable companies will ask "How can computers help humans solve hard problems?"

Section: 1, Chapter: 12

Author: Peter Thiel

Andy Grove, Intel's pioneering CEO, was the main architect behind OKRs. Grove wanted to create an environment at Intel that valued and emphasized output rather than activities.

He sought to create a system where managers didn't have to tell people what to do through command-and-control. Rather, he aimed to create a culture of discipline and self-management where there was clarity on objectives and people could determine the best approach themselves.

Grove eschewed traditional, private goal-setting in favor of transparent OKRs where everyone's goals, from the CEO down, were openly shared. Objectives were significant, concrete and action-oriented. Key results were measurable and verifiable milestones for achieving the objective.

Section: 1, Chapter: 2

Author: John Doerr

New technologies can be used to either enable the pursuit of facts - or obscure them in the pursuit of power. Some key positive and negative examples:

Positive:

• The printing press enabling the scientific revolution and a democratization of knowledge
• Telecommunications allowing journalists to rapidly share news
• The internet putting the world's knowledge at our fingertips

Negative:

• Fake images and "deepfakes" portraying events that never happened
• AI algorithms promoting conspiracy theories to maximize "engagement"

To make technology a net positive for factuality, we must consciously shape it through individual choices, professional ethics and democratic oversight. Factuality has to be a human value we encode.

Section: 1, Chapter: 4

Author: Timothy Snyder

The rise of digital communication tools like email and instant messaging in the 1990s and 2000s turned the proxy of visible activity into an arms race of electronic busyness. Knowledge workers could now signal their "productivity" by sending messages at all hours, leading to an onslaught of low-value communication that left everyone feeling overwhelmed but still under pressure to keep up the charade of looking busy.

This state of affairs, which Newport terms "pseudo-productivity," is neither sustainable nor conducive to getting the right things done. But it remains the dominant way work is organized and evaluated in many organizations.

Section: 1, Chapter: 1

Author: Cal Newport

With the invention of the transistor, the challenge shifted to manufacturing them reliably and at scale. William Shockley, driven by ambition and a desire for wealth, established Shockley Semiconductor in California. However, his poor management skills and toxic work environment led to the departure of eight talented engineers - The Traitorous Eight - who would go on to found Fairchild Semiconductor and play a pivotal role in the development of Silicon Valley.

Section: 1, Chapter: 3

Author: Chris Miller

Chapter 1 traces the history of artificial intelligence, from early attempts like the Mechanical Turk chess-playing automaton in the 1770s to the development of machine learning and natural language processing in recent decades.

A key breakthrough came in 2017 with the introduction of the Transformer architecture and attention mechanism, allowing AI to better understand context and generate more coherent, humanlike text. This led to the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-3 and GPT-4, which exhibit surprising emergent abilities that even their creators struggle to explain.

Section: 1, Chapter: 1

Author: Ethan Mollick

Harari introduces the concept of computers as active agents in our information networks. Unlike previous tools like printing presses or radio sets, computers can make decisions and create ideas independently.

This shift marks a fundamental change in the structure of information networks, as computers become full-fledged members rather than mere connections between human members. Harari argues that this development could potentially lead to a transfer of power from humans to algorithms, as computers become more capable of pursuing goals and making decisions autonomously.

Section: 2, Chapter: 6

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

The author argues that the use of social media tools should be avoided for most knowledge workers. While these tools fragment attention and reduce the ability to concentrate, their perceived benefits are typically not much more than minor distractions. The any-benefit approach to network tool selection, where any potential positive is used to justify its use, is flawed. Instead, the craftsman approach should be used, which asks to adopt a tool only if its positive impacts substantially outweigh its negative impacts.

Section: 2, Chapter: 3

Author: Cal Newport

The internet is often heralded as a knowledge-seeker's paradise - an endless trove of facts, tutorials, and opinions to satisfy our every curiosity. But unfettered access to information isn't always helpful for true learning.

The end result is a "junk food" information diet that's momentarily satisfying but leaves us anxious - and still hungry for real insight. We must curate our "information nutrition" to feed our minds well.

Section: 1, Chapter: 9

Author: Michael Easter

The 1990s marked a turning point for Taiwan's role in the semiconductor industry. Recognizing the limitations of being primarily an assembly hub, Taiwan's leaders, particularly K.T. Li, sought to move towards higher-value chip fabrication. This strategic shift was driven by several factors, including the need to stay ahead of China's growing manufacturing capabilities and the desire to capture a larger share of the industry's profits. The establishment of TSMC, spearheaded by Morris Chang, was central to this vision. TSMC's innovative foundry model, which focused solely on manufacturing chips designed by other companies, revolutionized the industry and propelled Taiwan to the forefront of advanced chip production.

Section: 5, Chapter: 29

Author: Chris Miller

Jack Kilby, an engineer at Texas Instruments, focused on simplifying the complexity of wiring multiple transistors together. In 1958, he developed the concept of the "integrated circuit," where multiple transistors could be built on a single piece of semiconductor material, eliminating the need for extensive wiring. This invention, later known as the "chip," marked a significant breakthrough in miniaturization and efficiency.

Section: 1, Chapter: 3

Author: Chris Miller

Technology-powered products that the book focuses on span a wide range, including:

• Consumer-service products (e.g. Netflix, Airbnb, Etsy)
• Social media (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)
• Business services (e.g. Salesforce, Workday)
• Consumer devices (e.g. Apple, Sonos, Tesla)
• Mobile apps (e.g. Uber, Instagram)

The definition of "product" is very holistic, including not just features but the enabling technology, user experience design, monetization, customer acquisition, and offline experiences essential to delivering the product's value.

Section: 1, Chapter: 2

Author: Marty Cagan

Harari explores the inherent fallibility of AI systems, drawing parallels with historical information networks. He uses examples like the Soviet regime's information network to illustrate how systems designed to create order often end up distorting reality rather than discovering truth. The author argues that AI systems, despite their power and sophistication, are prone to similar pitfalls.

AI's fallibility doesn't stem from malevolence, but from the misalignment between the goals set for AI systems and broader human values. Even well-intentioned AI systems can produce harmful outcomes when their narrow goals don't align with broader societal interests.

Section: 2, Chapter: 8

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

The chip industry's landscape has undergone significant changes, moving away from the traditional model of integrated design and manufacturing within a single company. Foundries like TSMC have emerged, offering chip fabrication services to fabless companies that focus solely on design. This shift is driven by the increasing cost and complexity of building and operating fabs, as each generation of technological advancement requires more expensive equipment and expertise.

However, some industry veterans like Jerry Sanders, founder of AMD, remain staunch advocates of the integrated model, believing that owning fabs is essential for maintaining control and ensuring quality. He famously quipped, "Real men have fabs," reflecting a cultural attachment to the traditional way of doing things. However, the economic realities and the success of fabless companies are challenging this mindset.

Section: 6, Chapter: 35

Author: Chris Miller

Many people access a superabundance of information online today. But that is no replacement for local journalists reporting facts about our own communities.

Most US counties now lack any reporters covering local government, business, schools, environment, etc. The internet tends to recommend national controversy and outrage, not sober local facts. Corruption and abuses of power thrive when no one is watching

The author contrasts the local newspapers ubiquitous in his 1980s childhood with today's "news deserts" that allow disinformation to thrive. A democracy depends on a common factual basis that emerges from the work of gathering and publishing local truths. The demise of local newspapers is an emergency for self-government.

Section: 1, Chapter: 4

Author: Timothy Snyder

The scarcity loop is now used in many digital products and services to influence behavior, including:

• Social media: Posting/scrolling for unpredictable likes, comments, shares
• Email: Checking for variable rewards of good/bad/neutral messages
• Online shopping: Searching for deals, gambling on quality of purchase
• Mobile gaming: Playing for unpredictable in-game rewards and progress
• Dating apps: Swiping for the uncertain reward of matches
• Gig economy apps: Incentivizing workers with unpredictable payouts

Section: 1, Chapter: 1

Author: Michael Easter

Chapter 7 goes into the implications of constant digital surveillance enabled by modern technology. Harari contrasts this with historical surveillance methods, noting that even the most totalitarian regimes of the past had practical limitations on their ability to monitor citizens. In contrast, today's digital systems can potentially track individuals 24/7, collecting vast amounts of data on our behaviors, preferences, and even physiological states.

Section: 2, Chapter: 7

Author: Yuval Noah Harari