Thinking Aloud

THINKING ALOUD

Emergency extinguisher full or empty? Crunch time for Asean’s fuel pact

This energy crisis will test whether the bloc’s emergency fuel-sharing pact is a gentleman’s agreement in disappearing ink

Many professionals are now focused on personal well-being and maintaining quality of life.
THINKING ALOUD

5 am starts, less alcohol and the quest for longevity 

Businesses that can respond to these trends will enjoy a long life, too

Anthropic has insisted that its technology is not to be used for domestic mass surveillance of Americans, nor to develop or operate fully autonomous weapons systems.
THINKING ALOUD

When principle meets power: the Anthropic-Pentagon stand-off

What is the future of AI governance – especially in military and national security contexts?

If children generate positive externalities – fiscal, social and strategic – then public co-investment should mirror that reality across the life cycle.
THINKING ALOUD

Children are national assets. Our support must reflect that

A case for treating children as Singapore’s long-term equity

When someone does actually sound the alarm over a legitimate threat to our well-being from AI, nobody will hear it since we might have collectively tuned out by then.
THINKING ALOUD

If everything is an AI crisis, then nothing is

Beware the absurd tyranny of what-if scenarios

Are the market gains seen in February built on durable fundamentals or, to borrow a famous phrase from former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, on “irrational exuberance"?
THINKING ALOUD

Dow at 50,000, STI at 5,000, Singtel at S$5 – what’s next?

Bullish investors beware: record highs and the breaching of psychological barriers tend to lead to an underpricing of risk

Residents protesting against the lack of water in many parts of Johannesburg, South Africa. Affluence is not an absolute defence against water shortages.
THINKING ALOUD

Amid digital push, real-world problems such as water bankruptcy risk being overlooked

As countries race to push technological boundaries, similar attention should be paid to fundamental resource needs

The Post's death spiral began not with market forces but with moral failure.
THINKING ALOUD

Requiem for The Washington Post

The newspaper that brought down a president is dying in darkness – and its billionaire owner lit the match

Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica more than tripled sales of its Meta AI glasses in 2025, selling more than seven million units.
THINKING ALOUD

The rose-tinted inevitability of smart glasses

I laughed at them in 2013; I might buy a pair in 2026

As the World Population Review notes, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea top the list for plastic surgery among East Asians.
THINKING ALOUD

The coming brave new world of designer babies

Genetic testing and other genomic services will likely be a hit in Asia