In the early days of the automobile industry, competition was driven by engineering. Faster engines, better suspensions, and more reliable cars won customers. But by the 1950s, something changed. America’s highway system had matured, and most cars were already fast enough for the roads people actually drove on. Competition shifted away from performance and toward … Continue reading
Category Archives: Avram’s Past
My memoir, The Flight of a Wild Duck, is now free on Substack — thanks to Claude Cowork.
https://avram.substack.com/p/the-flight-of-a-wild-duck-start-here It took me three years to write my memoir. The first year was spent doing research, the second writing, and the third editing. I enjoyed the process immensely. I had three audiences in mind while writing it. The first was people like me or parents of people like me who could not follow the … Continue reading
AI / Avram's Past / longevity
The Decline and Ascension of Avram Miller
My body is slowing down as my brain speeds up. It is quite a dilemma. It is understandable that my body would be slowing down. After all, I am 81 years old. But why is my brain speeding up? That is not to be expected. Now, I feel like I felt when I was an … Continue reading
Watching a Black man beat a Jewish man while shouting “Gaza! Gaza!” made me incredibly sad
I saw a video on Facebook this week that I cannot get out of my head. A big, powerful Black man is attacking a middle-aged man on a street somewhere. The middle-aged man is wearing a Star of David. The bigger man kicks him again and again, shouting the word “Gaza” over and over, as … Continue reading
Ted Turner: One of the Last of the Big Characters
When I learned that Ted Turner had died, I felt unexpectedly sad. I met Ted several times during the 1990s, mostly around the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley. The first time may have been at a party or event where he was with his then wife, Jane Fonda. Like many people, I already … Continue reading
Fiber internet in Lecce
I decided to upgrade my internet to fiber. There is one company that does all the fiber for the city of Lecce (Open Fiber). Then there are various companies like TIM, FastWeb that “rent” the fiber. The Open Fiber people came out to bring the fiber into our home. The fiber connects to a device … Continue reading
Apple / Avram's Past / Intel
Apple at 50 — A Tribute to the Genius and Tenacity of Steve Jobs
Apple turned out to be the most influential computer company since IBM and it continues. So while we celebrate its 50th year, we need to take amount to recognize the genius of the man who was responsible for that, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs entered my life in 1982 and remained a recurring presence—sometimes directly, sometimes … Continue reading
Rethinking My Only Meeting with Jeffrey Epstein
I met Jeffrey Epstein exactly once, over breakfast at the Carlyle Hotel in New York in 1998. What I remember most is how boring he was. He seemed distracted, almost uninterested in the conversation. I chalked it up to a bad meeting and moved on. It was only years later, after the full scope of … Continue reading
The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse and AI
In 1963, I took a course on German literature at the University of California. We studied three authors: Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and Hermann Hesse. That course changed me. It opened a door into a world where intellect, creativity, sexuality, and even drugs intertwined. I still remember the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, where I … Continue reading
My first speech in 27 years
I am working on my keynote address at the World Business Forum in November. I use to give many such speeches but the last one I gave was in 1998 when I shared the stage with Steve Jobs. Hard to imagine. I didn’t think I had a lot to say after I left Intel in … Continue reading
Two Thirds Done 