Hi, I’m Bhuvan.This is my commonplace book.

Gold is a hedge against debasement

Gold's tendency to move opposite the dollar comes from where it sits, outside the system that issues it and beyond the reach of any government or central bank. Bitcoin's link to the dollar runs the same direction but far looser, so its claim rests on that shared independence rather than on any price relationship. Both are non-sovereign currencies, money no government issues and no central bank can expand. That can sound like…

Pep Guardiola on players he admires

Pep's favorite football players

Welcome to AI slopulism

The AI vibes in America are almost definitively rotten. There was an interesting Pew survey on attitudes towards AI recently. They asked Americans whether the increased use of AI in daily life made them more concerned or more excited, and the responses are telling. Among 18–29-year-olds, 55% now say they are more…

Quotes

“If the little grey cells are not exercised, they grow the rust.” ― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

T.M. Krishna on symbols

AI is still underhyped

Looking at all the online discourse, it might feel like everybody is using AI. But that's really not the case. Contrary to all the proclamations that AI is overhyped, if anything, I'd argue that AI is still underhyped. And I think the best available data is broadly on my side. If you look at surveys of AI usage,…

Rare earths are neither financially valuable nor financially viable

Expensive to produce, expensive to store... so what’s the solution? Government intervention — and lots of it. All along the supply chain, the US has stepped in. It has bought stakes in several US rare earth producers, struck offtake agreements with some of those producers to ensure a minimum price for their products, and pledged $10bn in debt backing for Project Vault, a stockpiling initiative designed as a backstop against…