ZD 26.11: Reporting Trends to the End
Disruptively innovating the next generation of trend reports, compute bottlenecks and other exciting stories from the week.
🔮 Amy Webb (FTSG)
Amy Webb accepts the creative destruction of the Trend Report. Her Convergence Outlook sees a world with machines at the wheel and all-seeing eyes.
🏭 Dylan Patel on AI Compute Bottlenecks (Dwarkesh Patel)
There are three physical chokepoints in compute: logic, memory and power. They will determine how fast we can scale.
📱 The iPhone vs the Bank Teller (David Oks)
The ATM did not reduce bank teller jobs. It only replaced a single task. The iPhone replaced many other reasons you would need to visit a bank, and the tellers disappeared as branches closed.
🚲 Drones like Bicycles (Phenomenal World)
Iran’s Shahed-136 drone has changed warfare. The cheap cruise missile has changed the air defense equation, often being far cheaper than the interceptor vehicles sent to take it down. How does it come together? What does it cost?
🙋♂️ How to Start a One Person Business in 2026 (future/proof)
How you can build a $1m, one-person business today.
🔨 Atoms Are Cheap, Process is Pricey (Max Olson)
How SpaceX rethinks from first principles and implements process to make amazing launch vehicles.
🪜 AI Wrecks the Corporate Career Ladder (The Solo Chief)
Tools like Claude Code reduce the need for assistance with execution, breaking the breadth-first model many people have trained in. Taking a depth-first approach where juniors are given whole projects with AI assistants scales better in the new world.
🤖 How Can A Regular Person use an AI Agent (Weighty Thoughts)
AI agents are a lot simpler than you think.
🎹 The Piano Bar is Musical Truth (Can't Get Much Higher)
Today I learned everyone requests “Pink Pony Club” at the piano bar when they are not singing “Teenage Dirtbag.”
📻 The Iconic Boom Box (Dubmatix)
Boom boxes were a cultural icon, delivering hip hop and the mixtape to America.
The Look
Andy Masley points out how much water farmland uses compared to ChatGPT:
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