TouchStone Reads - August 22nd, 2025

Share

We often set aside articles that are longer, deserve a re-read, are broader in scope…or just for fun - for weekend reading. Below are some from this week - pour yourself a hot cup of coffee & enjoy...

  • Inside the automated warehouse where robots are packing your groceries: A third of Ocado’s orders are already packed by machines, and this is just the start. (The Verge)

  • How to Trick Your Brain into Making Life Feel Longer and Richer (The Walrus)

  • To understand America today, study the zero-sum mindset - Stefanie Stantcheva (The Economist)

  • Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose (NPR)

  • Common Sense about Negotiations. For Americans about Ukraine (Timothy Snyder)

  • World's First 'Robot Olympics' Featured Soccer, Kickboxing and Lots of Falling Down (Smithsonian Magazine)

  • What share of new cars in your country are electric? (Our World in Data)

  • Ryan Holiday: Wisdom, insight, skill and intelligence still a requirement to use AI (Instagram)

  • The private sector can’t replace official statistics - but could be a great partner: Private sector data offer speed and specificity that official statistics cannot match, despite not being representative or comprehensive. (Peterson Institute for International Economics)

  • Enough is enough - I dumped Google’s worsening search for Kagi (Ars Technica)

  • Podcasts:
    Firing line with Margaret Hoover
    The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie: Helen Lewis – The dark side of genius

  • The Invention That Changed Everything (TFP)

  • Global Trade Slowdown Coming (Source: Apollo)

What are you reading or listening to?