Links and quotes for May 25, 2017: Smartphones everywhere, immigration, and more

A third of Americans live in a household with three or more smartphones – Pew 

Taken together, 90% of U.S. households contain at least one of these devices (smartphone, desktop/laptop computer, tablet or streaming media device), with the typical (median) American household containing five of them. And nearly one-in-five American households (18%) are “hyper-connected” – meaning they contain 10 or more of these devices.

The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results – NBER As a whole, the evidence from refugee waves reinforces the existing consensus that the impact of immigration on average native-born workers is small, and fails to substantiate claims of large detrimental impacts on workers with less than high school.

This technology could unleash the self-driving revolution for older vehicles –  Ars Technica

The Nomad Who’s Exploding the Internet Into Pieces – The Atlantic 

Facebook and Twitter are only like water coolers if there were one, giant, global water cooler for all workplaces everywhere. That sounds empowering at first—people anywhere can see and spread news and ideas from anyone. But those users are entirely reliant on the service operator. Outages, bans, lack of connectivity, or state suppression might get in the way. More often, companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google change their services’ behavior or the terms of their usage—especially the way customer data is gathered, stored, and used.

Proponents of decentralized services (which are sometimes abbreviated as “decents”) hope to overcome some of these limitations by scattering the software and data that run online services closer to their ultimate points of use. Tarr’s Secure Scuttlebutt isn’t a social network like Twitter or Facebook, nor is it an email client like Gmail. Instead, it’s a platform for encrypted, automated, and local replication of information. Atop this information, new, decentralized versions of services like Twitter—or anything else—can be built.

Study examines traits British students like — and don’t like — in instructors. – Inside Higher Ed

Curiosity May Be Vital for Truly Smart AI – Tech Review

Rethinking the Next China – PS 

But there is an even deeper irony for China’s new global push. It runs against the grain of a populist anti-globalization backlash that is brewing in many developed countries. As a producer-focused economy, China has long been the greatest beneficiary of globalization – both in terms of export-led growth and poverty reduction stemming from the absorption of surplus labor. That approach has now been stymied by China’s mounting internal imbalances, a post-crisis slowdown in global trade, and an increase in China-focused protectionism. As a result, China’s new attempts to gain increased leverage from globalization are not without serious challenges of their own.

The Rise of the Fat Start-Up – Farhad Manjoo