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Aggregator’s AI Risk – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

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A recurring theme on Stratechery is that the only technology analogous to the Internet’s impact on humanity is the printing press: Johannes Gutenberg’s invention in 1440 drastically reduced the marginal cost of printing books, dramatically increasing the amount of information that could be disseminated. Of course you still had to actually write the book, and set the movable type in the printing press; this, though, meant we had the first version of the classic tech business model: the cost to create a book was fixed, but the potential revenue from printing a book — and overall profitability — was a function of how many copies you could sell. Every additional copy increased the leverage on the up-front costs of producing the book in the first place, improving the overall profitability; this, by extension, meant there were strong incentives to produce popular books. This set off a number of changes that transformed history. Before the printing press: The printing press was a direct assau

Aggregator’s AI Risk – Stratechery by Ben Thompson Skip to content Aggregator’s AI Risk Monday, March 4, 2024 This Article is available as a video essay on YouTube A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, Essays: First Series, 1841 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. — John 1:1, King James Version A recurring theme on Stratechery is that the only technology analogous to the Internet’s impact on humanity i

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