Reading List 04/25/26

Transformer steel manufacturing, textile engineering, bringing power plants online quickly, infrasound, and more.

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Reading List 06/13/2026

Homes being built on top of libraries, Patriot missile manufacturing, an effort to construct new US coal plants, a tunnel between the US and Russia, and more.

Brian Potter·Jun 13, 2026

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Biological Evolution and Information Acquisition

A few weeks ago we looked at a simulation of technological evolution by economist Brian Arthur, in which he was able to start with simple building blocks (such as a NAND gate) and evolve surprisingly complex circuits (such as a 12-way AND gate or a 4-bit adder) by randomly combining increasingly useful existing components.

Brian Potter·Jun 11, 2026

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Reading List 03/28/26

Plastic price jumps, crypto-backed mortgages, a proposed AI data center pause, US battery manufacturing, and more.

Brian Potter·Mar 28, 2026

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Reading List 04/04/2026

Aluminum disruptions, the EV rust belt, the ongoing transformer shortage, SpaceX’s IPO, and more

Brian Potter·Apr 4, 2026

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Reading List 05/16/26

Tokyo’s cheap housing and expensive land, the House response to the Senate housing bill, an IED near an Alabama dam, Fervo’s IPO, and more.

Brian Potter·May 16, 2026

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Reading List 05/30/26

A California chemical leak, weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear reactor startups, a startup that will clean your house to get robot training data, Blue Origin’s rocket explosion, and more.

Brian Potter·May 30, 2026