🔮 The real AI threat; globalization enters a new phase; universal basic income; the state of the internet; causality, Fortnite, culture wars++ #168

Dept of the near future

📧  Mary Meeker’s compelling annual report on the state of the Internet is out. Two messages stand out: growth rates for mobile and internet are surprisingly tailing off, but still plenty of room for innovation. China is on fire: user growth, payments, m-commerce & the scale of its largest firms.

🌐  Globalization is not in retreat, despite certain shifts in the post-war consensus, argue Laura Tyson and Susan Lund. Rather it is evolving with three distinct characteristics: the rise of China; the relative importance of cities; and the growth of new cross-border digital flows. THOUGHT PROVOKING essay, with a set of themes worth tracking.

🔮  The real threat from AI: A MUST READ essay by EV reader, John Havens. “The greatest threat that humanity faces from artificial intelligence is not killer robots, but rather, our lack of willingness to analyze, name, and live to the values we want society to have today.” (See also, an excellent essay by Josh Dover on the ethics o…