Korva rescues the ideas worth keeping from podcasts. Each one becomes a Card.

Tech, By the Numbers

Ruth Kellan@ruthkellan

14 cards·

From VeritasiumThe World's Most Important Machine

The only machine enabling the next stage of chip miniaturization costs about $400 million.

From VeritasiumThe World's Most Important Machine

Scaled to the world, a high-NA mirror’s tallest bump would be playing-card thick. A low-NA mirror’s would be roughly millimeter-sized.

From VoxThin underwater cables hold the internet. See a map of them all.

Telegraph networks grew from experiments connecting two ends of a garden to neighborhoods, train signaling, and multiple cities.

From The Royal InstitutionThere is No Algorithm for Truth - with Tom Scott

AI read retinal photographs to infer sex with 97% accuracy and age within four years.

From The Royal InstitutionThere is No Algorithm for Truth - with Tom Scott

Apparently, Google serves more advertisements to users who tolerate them, so skipping ads can reduce future ad frequency.

From VeritasiumHow Does a Transistor Work?

Roughly 300 qubits can represent 2^300 classical bits, comparable to the number of particles in the universe.

From ComputerphileShor's Algorithm for Quantum Computing - Computerphile

Nobody knows when quantum computers will break cryptography. Estimates range from roughly five years to hundreds.

From Alex LiebermanAI Isn't Killing Jobs. It's Sorting Them.

The top 1% of companies spend $7,449 per employee per month on AI. Median companies spend $11.38.

From Lightspeed Venture PartnersThe 7 Layers of the AI Data Center Stack ft. Guru Chahal | Lightwork

U.S. data centers use roughly as much water annually as California almond farms use in four days.

From CGP GreyThis Video Will Make You Angry

Every social media post is a mental sneeze seeking enough attention to make you pass it on.

From 20VC with Harry StebbingsWix Founder: Will Base44 Win the Vibe-Coding Wars? | The Truth About the Economics of Vibe-Coding

Base44 cost $80 million to acquire and later reached roughly $160 million in revenue.

From ComputerphileThe Problem with Time & Timezones - Computerphile

In Britain, the year began on March 25 until the 16th century.

From ComputerphileThe Problem with Time & Timezones - Computerphile

UTC includes leap seconds, astronomical time does not, and software assuming every minute has 60 seconds breaks.

From Dwarkesh PodcastGrant Sanderson (@3blue1brown) – AI disproved a famous math conjecture. Now what?

An AI can find deep mathematical connections yet still perform poorly at ordinary white-collar work such as editing.

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