10 Weekend Reads – The Large Image

• These individuals nonetheless consider in democracy (little d) and are working to maintain it. On this July 4th vacation, America’s system of democracy is below risk. These individuals are working to maintain it alive and effectively. (USA Right now)

• The Fried Hen Sandwich Wars Are Extra Cutthroat Than Ever Earlier than: Right here’s why everybody from fast-casual chains to cooks at Michelin-starred eating places try to one-up one another. (Businessweek)

• America’s startup increase continues to be going sturdy. Right here’s what it means for the economic system: we’re now effectively previous the pandemic disaster and even the pandemic restoration. It has been virtually precisely 4 years because the startup increase started — and there’s nonetheless a bonanza of recent enterprise creation in america. It’s tougher to be dismissive about it. (NPR)

• What Is It Going to Take to Get to the Finish of Most cancers, and Who Is Investing in It? How buyers can take part within the battle towards most cancers. (Chief Funding Officer)

• Constructing the Bell System: For many of the twentieth century, AT&T was one of many largest and most vital firms in your entire world. 40 years after its founding in 1877, it was the second largest firm within the U.S. by belongings after US Metal, and it continued to develop from there. In 1939, AT&T’s $5 billion in belongings (the worth of its phone infrastructure) was “the biggest aggregation of capital that has ever been managed by a single firm within the historical past of enterprise.” In 1974, this had grown to $74 billion (~$470 billion in 2024 {dollars}). The corporate’s a million staff had been greater than 1% of the U.S. labor drive. (Building Physics)

• The 84-Yr-Previous Visionary With One Reply for Two Actual Property Crises: Whereas his friends had been constructing Modernist towers, the architect Joseph Pell Lombardi devoted his life to restoring lovely previous buildings. (New York Instances)

• Mass Transit That Can Transfer a Megalopolis: Rising cities world wide are creating “fast regional rail” techniques that enable residents to commute throughout metro areas at excessive speeds. Will the US get on board? (Citylab)

• A.I. Begins Ushering In an Age of Killer Robots: What the businesses are creating is expertise that makes human judgment about focusing on and firing more and more tangential. The widespread availability of off-the-shelf units, easy-to-design software program, highly effective automation algorithms and specialised synthetic intelligence microchips has pushed a lethal innovation race into uncharted territory, fueling a possible new period of killer robots. (New York Instances)

• How the Photo voltaic System led planet-hunters astray: The construction of our Photo voltaic System has been identified for hundreds of years. After we lastly began discovering exoplanets, they stunned everybody. (Large Assume)

• Kevin Bacon Spent a Day as a Common Particular person: “I Was Like, This Sucks” The actor opens up about his storied profession, the movie trade’s “hierarchical bullshit,” and the 2 movies he has opening this week: the horror film MaXXXine and the Eddie Murphy action-comedy Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. (Self-importance Truthful)