Always Be Curious #263: ASML in The New York Times, AI consciousness, and WIRED's tech dystopia
This week in ABC: The New York Times profiles ASML in a time of tarrifs and export control, we explore the question of AI consciousness, and WIRED dives into a world where tech's gone bad
So Mozilla’s bookmark app Pocket is shutting down next month 😨, but thankfully there are amazing alternative read-it-later apps for power readers: my own fave is Reader (which imports Pocket btw!) and all members of the Curious Clan can still grab it with 2 months of trial use. 🎁 That’s double their usual trial length. I use Reader to organize my reading, saving everything from articles, RSS feeds, PDFs, newsletters, YouTube videos, quotes from random websites, Kindle highlights—all within a clear customizable structure and with nice features like AI summarization and browser integrations. 🔥
Sup Curious Clan! ✌️ This week, we feature another few gems that you want to read: The New York Times profiles ASML and how this “maker of the ‘most complex machine humans ever created’ is navigating trade fights”, WIRED envisions the evil tech future you haven't prepared for, and podcast Acquired speaks with former Microsoft exec Steve Ballmer (“Developers developers developers!”). 🔥
But I also wanted to draw your attention to a lecture below that eloquently explores a provocative and philosophical question, cutting to the heart of our relationship with technology: why do we so readily entertain the idea that AI will become conscious? 🔮
Dr. Bernardo Kastrup (former ASML colleague, Dutch philosopher, computer scientist, computer restorer, entrepreneur) offers a compelling perspective that challenges the assumption of AI consciousness. While we can't categorically disprove it, Kastrup argues the concept is fundamentally misguided. He posits that most computer scientists are power users of the technology, but have never actually built a computer from scratch. ⚙️ This gap in hands-on hardware experience matters more than you might think. Because when you truly understand the nuts and bolts, the leap to consciousness becomes as far-fetched as suggesting a sufficiently complex sewage system of pipes and valves might suddenly become aware.
As AI reshapes society and presents us with regulatory and existential challenges, Kastrup reminds us that distinguishing fact from fiction isn't just academic—it's essential. The notion that Turing machines can achieve consciousness isn't even science fiction, he argues. It's pure fantasy.
Let's stay curious about technology. Not just about what we believe, but why we believe it in the first place. 🙏
Have a good week, stay safe and sound,
👨💻The round-up in sci-tech💡
💀 You're not ready (WIRED)🔐
Seems bad out there. Unfortunately, it can always get worse. From evil hacker AI to world-changing cyberattacks, WIRED envisions the future you haven't prepared for.
🔥 Computer scientists don’t understand this! Lecture about conscious AI by dr. Bernardo Kastrup (Essentia Foundation)
In this lecture, former ASML colleague and philosopher dr. Bernardo Kastrup, argues why the idea of conscious AI is silly.
🫣 Something alarming is happening to the job market (The Atlantic)🔐
A new sign that AI is competing with college grads
🤖 Amazon is reportedly training humanoid robots to deliver packages (The Verge)
The robots are leaving Amazon’s warehouses.
💪 Anthropic CEO: Don’t let AI companies off the hook (The New York Times)🎁
The A.I. industry needs to be regulated, with a focus on transparency.
🔔 Amodei rings the warning bell on AI and jobs (Forbes)
This is a dire warning from someone with a front-row seat to Claude and AI progress.
🤝 ‘Humanity deserves better’: iPhone designer on new partnership with OpenAI (The Guardian)
Sir Jony Ive indicates unease over impact of modern technology amid tie-up with ChatGPT developer
Switch 2 teardown: still glued, still soldered, still drifting (iFixit)
We opened up the new Switch 2 to find out how repairable it really is, and it didn’t take long before we started asking: Is this the best Nintendo could do?
💡 Why good ideas die quietly and bad ideas go viral (The New Yorker)
A new book, “Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading,” argues that notions get taken up not because of their virtue but because of their catchiness.
🎧 The Steve Ballmer Interview (Acquired Podcast)
The complete Steve Ballmer interview (and transcript!) on Microsoft’s history and strategy
👓 AR/VR glasses taking shape (Semiconductor Engineering)
Smart glasses with augmented reality functions look more natural than VR goggles, but today they are heavily reliant on a phone for compute and next-gen communication.
🚀 Missions to Mars with the Starship could only take three months (Phys.org)
Mars has received considerable attention in the past few decades, thanks to the many robotic missions exploring it to learn more about its past. NASA and China plan to send astronauts/taikonauts there in the coming decades, and commercial space companies like SpaceX hope to send passengers there sooner. This presents several significant challenges, one of the greatest being the lengthy transit times involved. Using conventional propulsion and low-energy trajectories, it takes six to nine months for crewed spacecraft to reach Mars.
🤓This week in chips⚠
🇳🇱 How the maker of the ‘most complex machine humans ever created’ is navigating trade fights (The New York Times)🎁
ASML, the Dutch company that makes multimillion-dollar tools to manufacture advanced semiconductors, is grappling with the repercussions of a tech trade war.
🤓Jim Keller: “Whatever NVIDIA does, we'll do the opposite.”(EE Times)🔐
Tenstorrent’s Blackhole cards are shipping, and a training computer is on its way.
🔥 SK hynix presents leading AI memory at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2025 (SK hynix)
At COMPUTEX Taipei 2025 from May 20–23, SK hynix presented a range of leading memory products for AI servers, PCs, and mobile devices.
👷♂️ GlobalFoundries commits $16B to expand New York, Vermont facilities (Construction Dive)
The chipmaker said the move resulted from President Trump’s push to onshore U.S. manufacturing and expand the domestic semiconductor supply chain for companies like Apple and General Motors.
🚀 Is NVIDIA's Blackwell the unstoppable force in AI training, or can AMD close the gap? (IEEE Spectrum)
Nvidia's GPUs reign supreme in MLPerf benchmarks, overshadowing AMD's MI325X, which only matches Nvidia's older H200. Is AMD forever a step behind? Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs excel in all tasks, but power efficiency remains a mystery. Will AI's energy use be its downfall?
🇩🇪 Hightech-Cluster Eindhoven – Im Auge des Chipkriegs (Handelsblatt)
“ASML hat seinen Mutterkonzern Philips in Eindhoven längst abgehängt. Nun steht der wichtigste Ausrüster der Chipbranche im Fokus der Großmächte – und kämpft mit den Folgen des Wachstums.”
🏭 TSMC crosses 90% 2nm yields, Arizona US plant close to 100% capacity with NVIDIA's AI chip slated for production (wccftech)
TSMC is set to achieve full capacity utilization at its Arizona fab, says report.
💪 Broadcom ships new gear meant to improve AI chip performance (Bloomberg)🔐
Data center switch will let customers get more from their Nvidia processors
Bits&Chips talks to Infinitesima’s Peter Jenkins (Bits&Chips)
Headed by former ASML colleague Peter Jenkins, UK’s Infinitesima is offering a new kind of atomic precision 3D metrology technology that has been qualified by leading semicon companies.
📈By the numbers📉
📊 Broadcom announces Q2 fiscal year 2025 financial results (Broadcom)
"Broadcom achieved record second quarter revenue on continued momentum in AI semiconductor solutions and VMware. Q2 AI revenue grew 46% year-over-year to over $4.4 billion driven by robust demand for AI networking," said Hock Tan, President and CEO of Broadcom Inc. "We expect growth in AI semiconductor revenue to accelerate to $5.1 billion in Q3, delivering ten consecutive quarters of growth, as our hyperscale partners continue to invest."
❤️For the love of tech❤️
🔮 Can AI be trusted in schools? (The Economist)
A pilot programme in Nigeria helped students make two years’ worth of progress in six weeks. 💪
🏥 Engineered nanostructures boost CAR T-cell potency and longevity for cancer therapy (Phys.org)
Our immune system is designed to protect us by recognizing and attacking infected or abnormal cells. However, cancer cells often manage to "cheat" the immune system by pretending to be healthy cells and thus disabling immune cell attack mechanisms.
Always Be Curious is the personal newsletter of Sander Hofman, Senior Creative Content Strategist at ASML. Opinions expressed in this curated newsletter are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.