Quick notes: Tariff exemption | Price of Intelligence...

• India’s pollution is becoming an economic roadblock: The government’s inaction runs counter to its goals. The latest budget cut funding for pollution control. It is all getting embarrassing. In December a cricket match between India and South Africa was called off because smog made it impossible to see the ball. In January one the world’s top badminton players pulled out of the India Open in Delhi citing the bad air (and getting a $5,000 fine). Those who did play sent an official complaint to International Olympic Committee.



• Tariff exemption for apparel made with US cotton: US–Bangladesh deal jolts India’s textile calculus



• The Price of Intelligence is Collapsing One developer with Claude Code can now do what took a team a month. The cost of Claude Pro or ChatGPT is $20 dollars a month, while a Max subscription is $200 dollars. The median US knowledge worker costs ~350-500 dollars a day fully loaded. An agent that handles even a fraction of their workflow a day at ~6-7 dollars is a 10-30x RoI not including improvement in intelligence.
  
  Microsoft’s Conundrum The cost collapse is destroying the seat-based software model. There has been no bigger share shift than Microsoft’s seat-based Office 365. Most of the cash today still comes from Office. The core way of how a human interacts with a computer is about to change, and Microsoft sits at the center of the old paradigm.
  
  Why does a company need to standardize Salesforce if an agent is just going to query data on leads on your behalf? Salesforce is a form and workflow wrapper, and the form and workflow can likely be scaffolded by AI into a database and then queried as needed.
  
  AI fears wipe out $50 billion from Indian IT stocks. . . Software ate the world. AI is eating software.



• Dr Vishal Sikka: At a time when there was no ChatGPT, Gemini, or self-driving cars, Vishal Sikka gave a presentation on AI before NITI Aayog at the PM’s request, where officials of 20 Union Ministries were gathered. . . India's risk-averse capitalism has no place people like him

"India Has a Great Opportunity in AI, Period" – Dr. Vishal Sikka (Ex-Infosys)

1. TCS has partnered with him to fight its existential crisis

2. PM & officials have met him multiple times

3. Oracle, GSK, BMW, Stanford have him on their Boards for AI

What is Vishal Sikka Saying:…

— Vikas Vij (@TheClubJunto) February 5, 2026




• Engineering Talent Pipeline: Elon Musk’s impact on a new generation of engineers.




• Starlink, a regime-change weapon? U.S. Smuggled Thousands of Starlink Terminals Into Iran After Protest Crackdown


• Existential threat: The European Union should consider either an unprecedented 30% across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods or a 30% depreciation of the euro against the renminbi to counter a flood of cheap imports, according to a French government strategy report.

China is depleting the world's oceans of fish. Estimates are between 200,000 - 800,000 fishing vessels, going as far as Argentina.

They account for ~half of the world's fishing catch and do not respect stewardship protocols to preserve ecosystems. This is not industrial… pic.twitter.com/BfbJoGTveM

— Isabella Anderson (@IsabellaAn67) January 31, 2026



• The long game: As Trump trashes the dollar, China smells opportunity


• Hindus could be next: Without a Border ‘Invasion,’ Texas G.O.P. Turns to an Old Enemy, Islam. . . . . Muslims know how to play this game. Hindus..?



• Not everything imported in healthy: Why is eating oatmeal damaging if you eat it every morning?



• Sounds of Isha: Akka Kelavva (ಅಕ್ಕ ಕೇಳವ್ವ)