Media reports blame Goldman Sachs’ guru Robert Bouroujerdi for Friday’s tech sell-off, but Asia Times takes credit for starting the ball rolling downhill: last Thursday Asia Times ran a commentary by the distinguished scientist and tech investor Henry Kressel warning about fads in the tech industry.
Most of the tech industry buzzwords — big data, Artificial Intelligence, driverless cars, machine learning — are the subject of excessive hype. Computers aren’t good at thinking. Driverless cars are much farther away than the industry thinks.
R&D in materials and electronics has declined while cash-glutted tech companies pursue science fiction projects. It’s a grim picture of the condition of the tech sector and explains why you probably shouldn’t go near it for the time being.