'Visualising AI spending: How does it compare with history’s mega projects?' #AI #AlJazeera

Excerpt: Technology over the long run

The big visualization offers a long-term perspective on the history of technology.1

*"The timeline begins at the center of the spiral. The first use of stone tools, 3.4 million years ago, marks the beginning of this history of…

The key to harnessing mega forces and their potential is to first identify the catalysts that can supercharge them and how they interact with each other.

Rapid adoption of technology can change the path of transitions. Markets can underappreciate the speed of transitions, creating investment opportunities. Conversely, exuberance over their potential can also cause temporary price spikes. AI has been…

From bytes to zettabytes in four decades #Internet #UBS #Report

1. TL;DR The internet evolved from a decentralized Cold War defense project into a global commercial fabric, now entering a new phase of AI-driven productivity and terabit-scale connectivity through 6G and optical innovations.

2. Key findings

• Packet Switching: This decentralized architecture ensures network resilience by routing data through redundant nodes (p.5).
• Protocol Standardization:…

McKinsey: The United States has led the invention of new products, systems, and technologies over the past 250 years.

America’s ‘can-do’ spirit

From its inception to this day, the United States has had an entrepreneurial culture that has served as an ongoing foundation for competitiveness. By some accounts, entrepreneurs and inventors have been “cultural heroes” throughout US history. Entrepreneurship in…

Innovation, Jobs and Inflation: Lessons from 250 Years of Disruption | March 4, 2026| Deutsche Bank Research Institute #Report

A historic inflection point

Railroads unlocked new markets and gave rise to industries like mail-order retail in the 1800s. Electrification boosted productivity by enabling innovations like the moving assembly line in the early 1900s. Then, as the 1900s gave way to the new century, the digital economy was built upon nascent internet infrastructure, which connected global markets and gave rise to e-commerce.…

When they allude to Mark Twain's prescient but overused quote :- "History Doesn't Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes” , this is what they mean:- The following article appears in The New York Times' print on Oct. 12, 1986. Yes, 1986 - not the 2020s. Such uncanny resemblance today:-

Article:-

*THIS is another story of the loss of a manufacturing industry to Japan, of protectionism that backfired, and…

Excerpt from the report:

By the late 1860s, the leaders of Japan began taking seriously trends around their region and the world and recognized that they were in deep trouble. A scientific, technological, economic, and industrial revolution was transforming several leading powers, most especially the United Kingdom. In the nations that led this conversion, groups of scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, and…

"Price is Right": oil is the best performing asset in 2026 on US Iran, and geopolitical shocks. Following geopolitical shocks in past 90 years oil is the best performer over 3 months (up 18%), then gold (6%) US stocks (4%); but 6 months after geopolitical shocks gold keeps outperforming (up 19%), stocks stall, while oil reverses all gains. Or "Rock the Geopolitics = trade oil, own gold."

The Hyperbolic Arc of Civilization

#UBS #AssemblyLine

#UBS #Electrification

Putting the AI Boom in Perspective

Current AI investment is smaller than history suggests, but carries significant risks:

• Scale: At ~1% of GDP, AI investment is 2x smaller than the 90s Dot-com boom and 5x smaller than historical mining surges.
• The "Cliff": The end of investment booms typically slows GDP growth by >1pp on average.
• Growth Myth: Even tech-driven booms rarely translate into…

This is the story of the railroad capital cycle: how America financed, built, overbought, and eventually consolidated the most transformative infrastructure of the 19th century...