🍋 The Dark Side of Self-Driving Cars

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Good Morning! Cities like New York, San Francisco, and Seattle are starting to feel the pinch as more tech workers get laid off. But at least Chipotle is hiring - the burrito chain says it wants to hire an additional 15k people in 2023. A new study found that the top 10% earning men worked an average of two fewer hours per week after Covid. 

The economy expanded at a healthy clip during the fourth quarter, and some economists think we might be able to make a soft landing. And Bed Bath & Beyond announced banks cut off its credit lines, and the company will likely go bankrupt...

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1. Story of the Day: The Dark Side of Self-Driving Cars

Looks like the future of self-driving cars is about to hit the gas pedal on carbon emissions - and not in the way we hoped. Researchers from MIT found that the energy required to power just the computers on a global fleet of autonomous vehicles could generate as much greenhouse gas as all the data centers in the world.

Self-driving cars may not have a driver, but they sure have a brain. These tech-savvy vehicles need a powerful computer to run all the fancy algorithms and camera systems that keep them from crashing into other cars on the road. But, as it turns out, all that brainpower comes at a cost.

Tesla, GM, and other major manufacturers are all betting big on the future of autonomous vehicles, but it's been a bumpy road filled with safety concerns, technical difficulties, and delays. And now, experts are saying that sustainability ought to join the litany of challenges manufacturers must consider. Despite these setbacks, the industry was still worth a whopping $22 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to nearly $76 billion by 2027.

Takeaway: It’s still uncertain how self-driving vehicles would change driving habits. For instance, some researchers think self-driving cars would lead to longer drive times because people can finally multitask and catch up on their Netflix shows. 

Others say drive time would decrease because computers would find the quickest ways to destinations. But one thing’s for sure - the amount of energy used is a real concern, and car makers are starting to take that into consideration when designing new cars. So, before we all jump on the self-driving bandwagon, let's make sure we're not just trading in one set of problems for another.

2. Markets Rundown

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Stocks closed higher after strong GDP data and hopes of a soft landing.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) BuzzFeed ($BZFD) +120% after the company announced it will use AI to create quizzes and content.

• (+) Tesla ($TSLA) +11% after reporting record revenue, beating earnings.

• (–) Southwest Airlines ($LUV) -3% after reporting Q4 revenue that included cancellations.

Private Dealmaking

• Apollo and Marcelo Claure in talks to buy LatAm telecom Millicom which has a $3 billion market cap 

• Dell bought Cloudify, a cloud infrastructure platform, for $100 million

• Angle Health, a digital health insurance platform, raised $58 million

• Global Screening Services, a British sanctions screening startup, raised $45 million

• aiOla, a developer of AI voice and image recognition software, raised $25 million

• Beaconstac, a QR code management platform for airlines, raised $25 million

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3. Top Reads

• New year, new bond market (Axios)

• Microsoft is beating Google at its own game (Vox)

• The 2023 stock market rally is facing its first technical challenge (YF)

• Elon Musk thinks a Chinese automaker will be Tesla’s closest competitor (CNBC)

• 5 in-demand remote side hustles that pay $100,000 or more (CNBC)

• Southwest Airlines lost $800 million due to holiday travel meltdown (YF)

• ChatGPT passes exams from top law and business schools (CNN)

• What did the GDP figures tell us about the 2023 economy (Axios)

• The economy ended 2022 on a high note, but this year looks different (NPR)

• New unemployment claims number shows job market resilience (Axios)

4. Book of the Day: The Myth of Normal

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In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. 

Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. 

In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. 

And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So, what is really “normal” when it comes to health?

Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. 

For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. 

Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. 

“A groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

• 9 addictions you must break to become the best version of yourself 

• Quitting is underrated

• Why everyone needs to know the difference between habits and routine

• A journalist asked ChatGPT to make a market-beating ETF. Here's what happened.

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6. Daily Visual: Total Worldwide Box Office for Oscar Best Picture Nominees

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen

"For people who achieve great things, they often maintain a very ordinary mentality. 

In other words, if you keep an ordinary mind, accept yourself as you are, and do well for yourself, you can often do things well. 

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things."

8. Memes of the Day

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