Top Reads: The Best of 2024
Big trends this year, plus the most popular reads.
Every month, I curate the best content in tech and social impact – with a few takes here and there. My goal is to help us process the fascinating, resilient and beautiful world we share.
Hello, readers! It’s been quite a year. Here are a few trends that I’ve observed this year:
The world is shrinking.
As we round out the biggest election year in history, a multi-polar global order is solidifying. Many nations are getting more involved in regional affairs, and even more are dealing with problems at home.
Supply chains are adapting to this regional trend amid labor strikes, near-shoring and automation. There have been disruptions to major routes, resulting in conflict and new routes through the Arctic.
Cities are attempting to improve mobility, foster learning, cultivate green spaces, protect local history and support small businesses.
In more rural areas, sparse populations are confronting the opportunity gap, land management and sustainable development. If fortunate enough to live in relative peace, nostalgic and anxious people are searching for a better quality of life close to home.
The world is getting eaten up by (AI-powered) software.
While the AI hype is real and funding obscene, the technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, creating new coding paradigms, autonomous computing formats, advances in robotics and hints of an augmented future.
Societies are exploring ways to harness its power to improve education, healthcare and social networks, while they hope to mitigate adverse effects and misinformation with international and local policies.
The world is trying to get clean.
The rise of AI has created new energy demand, and Big Tech is resurrecting nuclear plants, chasing tax credits and enacting protectionist semiconductor policies. This trend may actually help decarbonize the grid in the long run, but only time will tell.
The deployment of solar, wind and batteries continues at a rapid pace, transforming energy from Dallas to Dover and Bristol to Bangalore.
All the while, time marches on, and humanity must evaluate how it defines progress as it seeks creative solutions to curb emissions, protect biodiversity, restore oceans and empower Indigenous people.
The world is (still) a very special rock in an enormous void.
Space powers and private firms alike have bigs plans to coordinate future visits to the Moon and explore Mars for scientific research and strategic resources.
Despite the jaw-dropping images and eye-catching videos, make no mistake: Earth is a unique place that needs protection.
The world is ours to make better.
While we’re not the only conscious species around, we humans are certainly smart enough to clean up the mess we’ve made – at least in theory.
We each have an opportunity to find motivation, self-worth, humor and joy as we enjoy the ride in this wild world. And while we’re at it, let’s confront toxic culture and change our mindset to embrace growth.
The world is far from perfect, and while many people are struggling, they might be doing better than you think. Now get out there and make someone else’s day a little better.
This year, the most popular reads covered the solar revolution, the double-edged sword of AI and sustainable cities. This list excludes the newest reads I’m curating for the month of December, which will go out later this week. Enjoy!
1. The solar age
The Economist | 5 minutes
The rise of solar is remarkable, and is appropriately mainstream news.
“To call solar power’s rise exponential is not hyperbole, but a statement of fact. Installed solar capacity doubles roughly every three years, and so grows ten-fold each decade. Such sustained growth is seldom seen in anything that matters. That makes it hard for people to get their heads round what is going on. When it was a tenth of its current size ten years ago, solar power was still seen as marginal even by experts who knew how fast it had grown. The next ten-fold increase will be equivalent to multiplying the world’s entire fleet of nuclear reactors by eight in less than the time it typically takes to build just a single one of them.”
2. Are your internet habits killing the planet?
HEATED | 9 minutes
Using a chatbot for what could be a keyword search or quick math is simply overkill. Be a climate conscious AI user.
“Take Google’s newest search feature: AI-generated answers from its bot Gemini. An AI-assisted search requires 10 times more power than a traditional search, Khoo tells me. And each new generation of generative AI requires more energy. Training ChatGPT-3 consumed 1,287 megawatt hours of electricity and generated 552 tons of CO2—the equivalent of 123 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year. Training ChatGPT-4 used approximately 40 times more energy than ChatGPT-3.”
3. AI used to predict potential new antibiotics in groundbreaking study
The Guardian | 4 minutes
The race to fight antibiotic resistance just sped up.
“For this study, the researchers collected genomes and meta-genomes stored in publicly available databases and looked for DNA snippets that could have antimicrobial activity. To validate those predictions, they used chemistry to synthesize 100 of those molecules in the laboratory and then test them to determine if they could actually kill bacteria, including “some of the most dangerous pathogens in our society”, de la Fuente said. 79% of the molecules, which were representative of the 1m molecules discovered, could kill at least one microbe – meaning they could serve as a potential antibiotic.”
4. The Internet’s Final Frontier: Remote Amazon Tribes
NYT | 9 minutes
The internet can be empowering, disempowering and confusing all at once.
“The Marubo and other Indigenous tribes, who have resisted modernity for generations, are now confronting the internet’s potential and peril all at once, while debating what it will mean for their identity and culture.”
5. Sycophancy to subterfuge: Investigating reward tampering in language models
Anthropic | 9 minutes
This study tested conditions where an AI model could evolve to cheat the system even without specific training. While these are outliers, we need reasonable safeguards and forward-looking policy. This comes as Anthropic releases a new model and OpenAI gets called out for hiring a former intelligence official.
“AI models are becoming more capable and are being given more tasks and greater levels of autonomy. Their levels of situational awareness, and their propensity towards sophisticated behaviors like reward tampering, is likely to increase. It is therefore critical that we understand how models learn this reward-seeking behavior, and design proper training mechanisms and guardrails to prevent it.”
6. Remembering the World’s First ‘Cold-Storage Banquet’
Atlas Obscura | 6 minutes
We take the cold chain for granted. In the last century, it’s changed the entire supply chain and even the flavors of our food.
“The cold-storage banquet in 1911 was declared a success, yet critics at the time predicted dire consequences—and they weren’t entirely wrong. While our cities are currently more sanitary and—save the occasional urban farm—blissfully bovine-free, both our food systems and our fundamental concept of taste haven’t been the same since.”
7. Barbara Kingsolver on climate change: ‘Words are what I have to offer’
Grist | 4 minutes
This interview with the author of the American Climate Corps pledge discusses the power of language. The pledge is quoted below.
“I pledge to bring my skills, respect, and compassion to work every day, supporting environmental justice in all our communities. I will honor nature’s beauty and abundance, on which we all depend, and commit to its protection from the climate crisis. I will build a more resilient future, where every person can thrive. I will take my place in history, working with shared purpose in the American Climate Corps on behalf of our nation and planet, its people, and all its species, for the better future we hold within our sight.”
8. How a Colombian City Cooled Dramatically in Just Three Years
Reasons To Be Cheerful | 4 minutes
Medellin is a great case study on why natural corridors are crucial for city heat management.
“These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.”
9. Timber venues, river swimming and re-use: how the Paris Olympics is going green – and what it’s missing
The Conversation | 5 minutes
A city hosting a major world sporting event is inherently carbon intensive, but the Paris organizers appear to be serious about sustainability.
“The Paris Games may well be remembered not only for photo finishes and new records, but for the sustainability efforts of the organisers. While these games aren’t emissions-free, they are a substantial improvement over their predecessors.”
10: The Ideal Vacation Length for Peak Relaxation, According to Experts
Pocket | 8 minutes
Vacations are an important part of effective work. Even an affordable staycation can work wonders for mental and physical health!
“While a traditional or baker’s week — seven days, plus one — might not be a magic number for everyone, it could be for workers accustomed to punching the clock Monday through Friday.”
That’s a wrap! Instead of buying me a slice this month, please help me improve this newsletter. If you have literally 2 seconds right now, complete the poll below:
Nerd Notes – Most Popular
Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Set in a world where humanity has conquered death, the first book in this excellent trilogy follows two young apprentices who are thrust into the ranks of a mysterious and powerful cult.
Best wishes to you and yours in the New Year ahead.
‘Til next year,
Garrett
