TouchStone Reads - May 8th, 2026

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... 

• The Strait of Hormuz is today’s energy chokepoint. China is tomorrow’s.: As the global economy moves beyond oil, the strategic importance of the world’s most critical hydrocarbon chokepoint is likely to decline rapidly. (Big Think)

• 11 Discoveries That Changed My Worldview: Have you ever taken a pause and considered the events, learnings, and forks in the road that have constructed and built your current worldview? (The Great Simplification)

• The Social Edge of Intelligence:  AI doesn’t really “think.” Rather, it remembers how we thought together. And we’re about to stop giving it anything worth remembering. (The Ideas Letter)

• Bizarre moment at Berkshire’s annual meeting spotlights cyber risk:  Kicking off the Q&A on Saturday morning, the spotlight went to a video where “Warren from Omaha” asked the first question... (TKer)

• We Made Technology Easy to Use: That was a mistake: The problem isn’t usability itself; it’s what it has become - a design approach that replaced any need whatsoever to understand complex systems with the ability to thoughtlessly interact with them. (Slate)

• The particles in the early Universe painted a different picture: Cosmology done patiently. Ethan Siegel walks through what the cosmic baby pictures actually reveal about matter, antimatter, and why we ended up here at all. T (Starts With A Bang)

• Last year, Croatian freediver Vito Maričić held his breath underwater for 29 minutes and 3 seconds, which is longer than an episode of The Simpsons. (YouTube)

• Two new reports by the U of T's Citizen Lab, one of the world's great unveilers of cybercrime. (Reports - The Citizen Lab)

• It’ll be years before Americans get used to higher prices — and politicians can’t just wait it out: Consumers will eventually adjust, but in the meantime, they’ll keep punishing leaders who don’t act. The reference point reset on the price level is permanent damage to political incumbents — left or right. Voters anchor on what they remember. (G. Elliott Morris)

• Why Your Best Ideas Aren’t Original: Derek Thompson on the recombinant nature of creativity. Originality is mostly cross-pollination wearing a top hat. (Derek Thompson)

• Name changes as a bubble symptom (Source: Acadian)
  
   

What are you reading or listening to?