To Regulate Tech, Nullify Click-Through Contracts
The techlash phenomenon emerged in 2018, as many scandals erupted and Big Tech's reputation took several blows. Surveillance…
Moshe Vardi August 30, 2023
15 Results
Who Is Responsible Around Here?
In January 2012, I wrotea about the past and future of artificial intelligence (AI). I reiterated Bill Joy's 2000 question: …
Moshe Vardi March 1, 2023
Accountability and Liability in Computing
In 2017, I wrote:a "So here we are, 70 years into the computer age and after three ACM Turing Awards in the area of…
Moshe Vardi November 16, 2022
Mexico’s PEMEX Doubles Down on Crude Oil Refining
Why did Mexico’s state-owned PEMEX buy a Houston-area oil refinery this week, when many other oil companies are moving away from fossil fuels? Post-doctoral energy fellow Adrian Duhalt explains in the Baker Institute Blog.
Adrian Duhalt May 25, 2021
Engineers and Economists Prize Efficiency, but Nature Favors Resilience — Lessons From Texas, COVID-19 and the 737 Max
Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar and University Professor Moshe Vardi analyzes three recent crises — the 2021 winter storm in Texas, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Boeing 737 Max software failure — that highlight the cost of valuing efficiency over resilience and provide lessons for bringing society into balance.
Moshe Vardi May 19, 2021
Electric Cooperatives, the Lone Shining Utility Star of the Texas 2021 Winter Storm
Texans served by regulated electricity markets, especially by electric cooperatives, were much more satisfied with their providers’ performance during Winter Storm Uri than those in deregulated markets. In this post for the Baker Institute Blog, the authors offer possible explanations for the contrast in favorability.
Mark P. Jones, Pablo M. Pinto, Renee Cross, Kirk P. Watson May 11, 2021
Survey Shows Texans Don’t Like Warren Buffett’s $8 Billion Texas Power Plan
Despite the demand for policies that mitigate the impact of severe weather, a majority of Texans seem opposed to one that requires consumers to pay for reserve electrical generation capacity.
Mark P. Jones, Pablo M. Pinto, Renee Cross, Kirk P. Watson March 30, 2021
Where Have All the Domestic Graduate Students Gone?
University Professor Moshe Vardi condemns the actions taken by the U.S. government to restrict the immigration of technical workers into the country but also questions why the U.S. has become so dependent on international students as the major workforce for its academic science and engineering research enterprise. Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/3llmHg2
Moshe Vardi October 6, 2020
There Is More to Mexico Than Pemex
The oil boom in the 1970s and early 1980s and the resulting social and economic crisis left policymakers with valuable lessons that — considering today’s conversation on the role of the oil industry in Mexico — should not be overlooked.
Adrian Duhalt July 17, 2020
Four NOCs: Facing the Current Demand Destruction
The oil glut and the unprecedented drop in demand, along with plummeting oil prices due to the coronavirus pandemic, is revealing the strengths and weaknesses of oil firms globally. The authors consider four NOCs — Ecopetrol, Petrobras, Petronas and Pemex — in the context of the current crisis.
Benigna Cortés Leiss, Adrian Duhalt May 20, 2020