Innovation

November 19, 2019

Musk vs. Ma on AI: Why the future of work is bright

Given the breakneck pace of improvements in automation and artificial intelligence, fears about job loss and human obsolescence are taking increasing space in the cultural imagination. The question looms: What is the future of human work in a technological age? Continue Reading...

July 01, 2019

Is social media the source of our social problems?

The British economist John Kay made a powerful argument in his 2011 book Obliquity: Why our goals are best achieved indirectly that the best way to achieve any complex of broadly defined goal is indirectly through a gradual process of risk taking and discovery. Continue Reading...

May 20, 2019

Is Facebook a monopoly the government should break up?

Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook and co-chairman of the Economic Security Project, has recently written an impassioned plea in the New York Times calling for the government to break up Facebook. Continue Reading...

May 09, 2019

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: The battle for 5G

Referencing Newt Gingrich’s recent report regarding 5G technology, Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, commented this morning in Forbes on the technology and its relation to free markets. Chafuen argues that a new, less centralized approach to wireless networking would be a source of great benefit both for individual consumers and for the United States on the world stage. Continue Reading...

April 04, 2019

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Aquinas and Bitcoin

Yesterday in Forbes, Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, analyzed moral questions of cryptocurrency in light of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae. It is an application of centuries-old thought to a very recent phenomenon—but of course, as the article seeks to show, moral considerations are perennial even as their particular objects change. Continue Reading...

March 20, 2019

Captain Marvel’s grit

The latest Marvel film has done well at the box office, and for good reason. It is a solid entry in the MCU, and an introduction to a new character that promises to be central to the ongoing narrative arc following Avengers: Infinity War (some spoilers follow). Continue Reading...

February 22, 2019

For nature and neighbor: Economic lessons from an Icelandic goat farmer

For over 1,100 years, a unique “heritage breed” of Icelandic goats has sustained the country’s population, serving as a staple of cuisine for centuries. Yet as dietary needs and preferences shifted, the goat population slowly dwindled, reaching the brink of extinction at under 100 animals by the late 20th century. Continue Reading...

November 15, 2018

Debunking the durable Malthusian myths

On his show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh discussed the famous bet between Julian Simon and Paul Ehrlich in 1980 over the question of whether or not the Earth had sufficient natural resources to sustain the growing global population. Continue Reading...

August 29, 2018

Harry Potter: Venture capitalist

I recently read the first Harry Potter novel to my six-year-old son Brendan, then watched the film with him. It was all the fun I hoped it would be: he is just the right age for it — excitedly asking what is going to happen next and jumping and cheering at the end. Continue Reading...

July 06, 2018

Robots will continue to ‘take jobs,’ and humans will continue to create more

Given the breakneck pace of improvements in automation and artificial intelligence, fears about job loss and human obsolescence continue to consume the cultural imagination. The question looms: What is the future of human work in a technological age? Continue Reading...

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