I write about AI and Geopolitics
Bill Friend Actions speak louder than words. And sometimes timing tells you almost everything you need to know. That’s what I keep coming back to when I look at Ukraine’s strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. This wasn’t a random move. Ukraine has been saying for a while now that it’s already at war … Read more
The deep ocean floor holds vast deposits of polymetallic nodules — potato-sized mineral concretions rich in nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese — scattered across abyssal plains, and concentrated particularly in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a deep-sea region of the Pacific lying between Hawaii and Mexico. These minerals are inputs for electric vehicle batteries, defense technologies, … Read more
I’ve been watching the world’s plumbing for a long time. Rivers, aquifers, supply chains, treaties — they’re all systems, and systems fail the same way. Pressure builds somewhere out of sight. Nobody fixes the small leak. Then one day the whole thing lets go, and everybody acts surprised. That’s where I think we are right … Read more
I’ve been watching the current buildout of UHVDC—the ultra-high-voltage lines designed to move massive amounts of electricity across continents—and AI data centers, and I keep coming back to a couple of questions: Are these two things building a virtuous cycle that pays for the grid of the future? Or are they locking us into a … Read more
Four Years of U.S. Chip Controls and What China Built Instead Washington built a wall to keep China off the AI frontier. China went around it, under it, and eventually started building its own version of the wall out of the rubble. That’s the short version of a four-year story that’s still unfolding, and it’s … Read more