D-Squared Musings – Week 39

Tech
⚡ The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future
- Recently finished this book. I’m amazed by the age and fragility of our electrical grip. Also, the majority of our grid is struggling to interact with an emerging type of consumer, called “prosumers”, which are those that put energy back onto the grid thanks to renewables.
💽 China AI & Semiconductors Rise: US Sanctions Have Failed
- Shout out to Semianalysis, I’ve only come across this blog a few months ago and their content is A+ for generative AI geeks. In this post, they highlight the fact that US sanctions on China are failing. The recent unveiling of Huawei’s flagship chip and the continued growth of domestic semiconductor manufacturing indicate that the US’s export controls are not effectively hindering China’s tech trajectory.

Education
🎤 How This Billionaire Founder Finds +$20B Business Ideas
- Kevin Ryan is an interesting character. He never uses social media, prefers to stay out of the limelight, and has created 100+ companies. Additionally, his approach to coming up with ideas in completely different spaces is inspiring and something I’d like to experiment with.
🙂 How to Be Happy, Reverse Bucket Lists, The Four False Idols, and More — Arthur C. Brooks
- I enjoyed listening to Tim chat with Arthur. One idea I’m going to try out is the “reverse bucket list”. I.e. write down all your bucket list goals for the year, then one at a time methodically cross them out. The goal is to create intention without attachment, a concept repeated both in Stoicism and Buddhism.
💰 Nassim Nicholas Taleb & Scott Patterson — How Traders Make Billions in The New Age of Crisis
- Another interesting one from TimTim this week. Nassim shares many of his previously communicated lessons from previous books in the context of a new book that Scott is writing that includes Nassim as one of the central characters. It’s interesting to hear them talk about how longtail investing, specifically on chaotic events is gaining traction in the realm of Wall Street.

Miscellaneous
🐧 THE BOY AND THE HERON | Official Teaser Trailer
- Super excited to see Studio Ghibli coming out with a new film!