Later even when the printing press was invented, we burned books. Certain book ownership is still illegal.

You must be talking about free societies my friend, because... good luck using the internet in Iran or North Korea.

Exterior is not my style, but then again, I'm not the target.

My strong guess is the buyer of the electric Ferrari is not your typical Ferrari buyer.

These same people probably criticized the Porsche Cayenne for 'not being fast enough' or 'lacking features that Toyota SUVs have'

The target buyer is probably more like Dubai housewife with kids.

They have a different aesthetic. They LOVE their iPhone.

Everyone hating on it probably needs to reconsider. There's almost 0 chance that a company like Ferrari did this to not embarrass Jony Ive.

They legitimately expect this thing to sell to its target audience.

1. MIT is one of the 'better' run institutions.

2. Most academic institutions are hilariously lean compared to most companies. The problem is the administrative burden associated with record-keeping, compliance, and 'student experience.' All 3 of these could reasonably be automated or cut.

3. On record-keeping: AI should help reduce that eventually.

4. On compliance, professors and universities need to restore academic freedom, period. Students have been pushing for 'all views' and the university model just doesn't support that. Different viewpoints will diverge, and some students will need to be threatened. Imagine a communist yelling at a business school about the principles of capitalism; an atheist yelling that God doesn't exist at Harvard's divinity school. Senseless.

5. On student experience: this is the shot in the foot. Students obviously want to choose the best social experiences, but getting gourmet food, shuttles, and super-designed buildings is nice to have. The competitive admissions process is competitive, but the cuts are probably stepping down the arms race. One $30M building can fund a lot of grad students. Which is more important to the institution?

On the tax itself, given most University's objectively socialist leanings, they should be proud to take an 8% tax on the GAINS of the Endowment, which is over $2M per student.

The breathless "let's go to Washington" on - again - a lower tax rate than nearly any graduate pays on their income on their massive per student endowment while they and their students preach and promote socialist policies across the board is beyond parody.

Where do they think the federal "funding" comes from?

All to say I find the response mostly spineless - unwilling to tackle the real issues facing universities today. For an engineering school to say 'let's beg for funding on Washington' suggests a wrongheaded institutional approach, regardless of politics.

Not so easy for 3-4 year kids out of school to make $500K-$600K.

The supergenius quanty ones go to Jane Street and the smart product-y ones jump ship to OpenAI or Anthropic (e.g. Boris) but there just aren't 20,000 high paying roles out there.

Anyone saying otherwise is kidding themselves.

There's a massive restructuring going on - layoffs, reorgs - and an even more ruthless performance bar.

The internal spying is common across companies. The extent would shock most 'big company' employees.

The realization and angst IMO is more that the days of extremely great comp, job security (even if you're good) and career progression is over at Meta unless they figure this pivot out.

What will social media become when influencers aren't a thing, and "creators" is no longer a moat.

You imagine Mark must be sweating bullets right now, along with the rest of media.

That's the reason for the flak

Just add Saudi Arabia / Iran Sunni-Shia hatred and you've got war.

Oil is the last remaining 'strategic commodity' everyone (including China) needs to keep a balance of power.

Many people missing the actual game here.

The next generation will shop in a different way, if it's better, and the change will be gradual as well.

Adoption takes time.

People hated Americans in the 2000s invasion of Iraq. There were popular rock songs about it and students were hesitant to say they were American.

It seems to go in cycles. Next president many will forget.

Such is the power and fickleness of the American system.

People eventually want to spend their money.

The liquidity challenges of a $1.2T shock to the economy is meaningful, because it has knock on effects on equity as well.

When private credit (which is propping up private valuation) falls, private equity also falls and then everyone realizes that everyone else has been swimming naked.

That breaks down when there isn't open discussion on campus. Communists were jeered but essentially allowed on campus in the 60s and 70s, even at the height of the cold war.

The left now holds a place of orthodoxy in the universities and power structures. Whether the 'right' can break it back into an enforced balance is yet to be seen.

Until then, the central tie of an otherwise diverse institution will break down and break into fragments. Which would be a shame. The opposition needs to "live" somewhere!