🔮 Google & the Principles of AI; platforms, markets, firms & workers; Ant, bees & superheavy elements++ #169

Dept of the near future

⚠️ Microsoft has acquired Github, a service which allowed software developers to collaborate on code, for $7.5bn. Github has become an essential part of the global development community and is the space where much of the collaborative work in the discipline takes place. The value for Microsoft is in owning the platform where opensource developers around the world congregate, as Paul Weinstein argues. Microsoft has long understood the value of developers but the GitHub acquisition is a major departure. (This is a major megatrend touching on platformisation, the growth of ecosystems and the blurring of the Coasian boundary of the firm. Frankly, Github will only survive this acquisition if it remains credible to the community, which means Microsoft leaving very well alone and gently working out how to create, rather than extract, value.)

👛 Capital’s share of income in the US is higher than we think. About half of US household income is derived from wealth. And 60% …