Noah Smith on digital technology adoption, energy, and economic progress
Sep 4, 2023
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Noah Smith, economics and current events commentator, discusses digital technology adoption, economic activity, solar and nuclear energy, and his framework for thinking about technology.
Technology makes our world weirder and different, rather than progressing in a specific direction.
The combination of solar energy and batteries has the potential to transform multiple industries.
Different technologies have varying effects on industries, leading to booms and busts, making it complex to predict their impact.
Deep dives
Technology Weirds the World
The fundamental thing that technology does is not progress in a certain direction, but rather make our world weirder and different.
The Impact of Government Support in World War II
World War II was a turning point where governments made systematic attempts to push forward technological frontiers, fostering key inventions such as radar, computing, and improved communications.
The Exciting Potential of Batteries and Renewable Energy
The combination of solar energy and batteries, driven by scaling and technological progress, holds immense potential for transforming multiple industries, including construction, transportation, and household appliances.
The Impact of Technology on Various Industries
The podcast explores how different technologies have had varying effects on industries, leading to booms and busts. The speaker emphasizes the complexity of predicting how technology will reshape industries, mentioning the example of AI potentially disrupting the GPU market. The future implications of technology, such as the viability of leading-edge chip fabrication and the potential end of Moore's law, are also discussed.
Harnessing Digital Technologies for Economic Development
The podcast examines the best approach for nations to utilize digital technologies. Clustering effects are highlighted, with different countries being suited for different industries based on their existing strengths. The potential for countries like Turkey to focus on building an auto industry and Malaysia to compete in semiconductors is mentioned. The discussion also touches on the promising technological clusters in East Europe and the future role of countries like India in capturing the electronics industry.
Noah Smith is a renaissance man, blogger, and commentator. Noah’s popular blog, Noahpinion, focuses on economics, technology, and current events. He was previously a columnist for Bloomberg and an assistant professor of Behavioral finance at Stony Brook University.
Our wide-ranging conversation covers digital technology, economics, and energy. We discuss Noah’s framework for thinking about technology, digital technology adoption and its implications for economic activity, measures of technological advancement, opportunities and challenges for solar and nuclear energy, and the Noah Smith production function.
(@Noahpinion) / Twitter
