A capital-intensive, high-risk way to revolutionize global commerce
Robert Solow quipped, “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” What if AI is the same way? What if it changes…

February 2022

As we drill into the earth from the surface, we travel through layers of sedimentary cover and eventually hit basement rock. Basement rock is ancient…

July 2021

What would we do with abundant energy? I dream of virtually unlimited, clean, dirt-cheap energy, but lately, we have been going in the wrong direction…

January 2021

Can a change in the voting system save our country? Start with a simple electoral model: two strong, instrumentally rational parties; one dimension of…

December 2020

As we start a new decade, it’s a good time to reflect on expectations for the next 10 years. Tyler thinks the Great Stagnation could be ending. Caleb…

January 2020

For my first post at CGO’s Benchmark blog, I chose to write about the Space Launch System, the rocket that Boeing and other military contractors are…

October 2019

In a few decades when the reward gets too small, the transaction fee will become the main compensation for nodes. I’m sure that in 20 years there will…

September 2019

This summer, Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen called for a new science of progress. Let’s study, they say, “the combination of economic, technological…

August 2019

Let’s be honest. The world’s governments might not coordinate to stop climate change. Between bickering over which country is paying the bill, the fact…

January 2018

So far, three cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum—have hit a market cap of $100B. Notably, they all did so within three months of each other…

April 2017

I spent a few days this week at my undergraduate alma mater, Furman University, to participate in a conference at the Riley Institute on national…