Showing archive for: “Diffusion of Innovation”
‘The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria,’ by Theodore Schultz
The most valuable skill in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) may not be coding, prompt engineering, or any of the other competencies appearing in job listings. It may be the ability to figure out which skills will be valuable next. Half a century ago, Theodore Schultz had a name for something much like this: ... ‘The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria,’ by Theodore Schultz
Licensed to Wait: The High Cost of Spectrum Delay
America’s wireless future is on hold, pending another study. Federal agencies control much of the spectrum needed to build it—and the process for opening those frequencies rewards incumbents for taking their time. Sustaining U.S. leadership in wireless technology requires more spectrum—the radio frequencies that carry wireless signals—for fifth- and sixth-generation mobile networks (5G and 6G), ... Licensed to Wait: The High Cost of Spectrum Delay
BEAD’s Second Act: The Future Is Pending Approval
The road to rural access to AI-enabled services runs through the permit office. Chips, data centers, and electricity get the attention, but delivering AI to a farmer’s field, a rural clinic, or a factory floor takes a broadband network. Building it means navigating utility poles, road crossings, and public rights-of-way—each with a gatekeeper who can ... BEAD’s Second Act: The Future Is Pending Approval
You Can’t Export-Control the Future: The Case for Defensive AI
Washington keeps looking for the AI equivalent of a locked vault: control the chips, control the models, control the danger. But artificial intelligence is starting to look less like uranium and more like malware—hard to contain, easy to adapt, and most dangerous where people actually use it. The White House’s new AI executive order is ... You Can’t Export-Control the Future: The Case for Defensive AI
Europe Can’t Decouple Its Way to Power
Europe is experiencing a bout of geopolitical vertigo. With Donald Trump having once again floated the purchase of Greenland and threatened tariffs against his European allies, the transatlantic relationship looks more fragile than at any point in recent memory. NATO may yet survive the strain, but hoping for a return to predictability is no longer ... Europe Can’t Decouple Its Way to Power
Lutnick’s BEAD Pivot: Progress Through Pragmatism
The U.S. Commerce Department plans to revamp the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program with a shift toward a more technology-neutral approach, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced yesterday, adding that his department is also exploring ways to cut the program’s red tape. Lutnick’s announcement follows criticisms of BEAD’s initial focus on fiber-optic ... Lutnick’s BEAD Pivot: Progress Through Pragmatism
NTIA’s BEAD Technology Guidance: In Search of a Bang for the Buck
Created as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in November 2021, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program is supposed to provide $42.45 billion to U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia to help with broadband planning, deployment, mapping, equity, and adoption—all overseen by ... NTIA’s BEAD Technology Guidance: In Search of a Bang for the Buck
Why Technological Neutrality Is Key to BEAD’s Success
Congress intended the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) ambitious $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to bridge America’s digital divide by subsidizing infrastructure buildout to areas that are either unserved or underserved by broadband internet. With projects administered by the 50 states, five insular territories, and the District of Columbia, the ... Why Technological Neutrality Is Key to BEAD’s Success
Gotta Go Fast: Sonic the Hedgehog Meets the FCC
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel this week announced a notice of inquiry (NOI) seeking input on a proposal to raise the minimum connection-speed benchmarks that the commission uses to define “broadband.” The current benchmark speed is 25/3 Mbps. The chair’s proposal would raise the benchmark to 100/20 Mbps, with a goal of having ... Gotta Go Fast: Sonic the Hedgehog Meets the FCC
A Comparison of US and UK Physicians Advice on Nicotine and Vaping
In 2020, an academic paper suggested that more than 80% of U.S. physicians mistakenly thought that nicotine was a carcinogen. The implication of this finding was that perhaps physicians thought vaping (and even nicotine-replacement therapy) to be almost as dangerous as smoking. But physicians are busy people and I suggest that some, maybe most, might ... A Comparison of US and UK Physicians Advice on Nicotine and Vaping
To Infinity and Beyond: The New Broadband Map Has Landed!
Announced with the sort of breathless press release one might expect for the launch of a new product like Waystar Royco’s Living+, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has gone into full-blown spin mode over its latest broadband map. This is, to be clear, the map that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will use ... To Infinity and Beyond: The New Broadband Map Has Landed!
Whatcha Gonna Do When the Well Runs Dry?
As the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations convenes this morning for a hearing on overseeing federal funds for broadband deployment, it bears mention that one of the largest U.S. broadband-subsidy programs is actually likely run out of money within the next year. Writing in Forbes, Roslyn Layton observes of the Affordable Connectivity Program ... Whatcha Gonna Do When the Well Runs Dry?
