New tools create new biology. “Similarly it is by means of the new tools and techniques developed in many instances by the physical sciences that the door to a biology of molecules has only recently been opened.” Weaver’s bet at […]
How Rockefeller and his partners built Standard Oil. In contrast to popular accounts, Rockefeller’s empire wasn’t built on shady railroad deals but “returns to scale and capital efficiency.” From 1865 to 1872, their production expanded 20x, dropping costs by over […]
I have mentioned the case of Standard Oil a few times in the past year when the topic of Amazon’s antitrust risks came up. Right after the U.S. government broke Standard Oil into 34 companies, the shareholders (Rockefeller the largest […]