logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
26m 55s

Too big tech: is Alphabet approaching a ...

The Economist
About this episode

As the tech giant approaches its 25-year anniversary, there are questions of just how much more it can possibly grow. Investors are used to stratospheric returns. Is it time to manage expectations? Nested behind the appearance of social discontent in France is an economy that is actually thriving (10:51). And, a tribute to a true man of the woods (19:02). 


For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
Emission creep: a contentious COP closes
<p>It is telling and troubling that the annual climate talking-shop’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2025/11/22/cop30-ends-with-a-whimper?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownote ... Show More
25m 51s
Nov 21
Flee country: Britain seeks to slash migration
<p>Britain’s home secretary Shabana Mahmood proposed a big shift in <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/11/20/will-britain-copy-asylum-policy-from-a-place-with-poor-integration?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discov ... Show More
23m 22s
Nov 20
War graft: scandal engulfs Ukraine
<p>Pentagon officials are meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv to discuss a <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/11/19/a-terrible-american-russian-proposal-to-end-the-war-in-ukraine?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_con ... Show More
25m 24s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
Too big tech: is Alphabet approaching a growth ceiling?
<p>As <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2023/07/30/is-there-more-to-alphabet-than-google-search?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopen ... Show More
26m 55s
Aug 2023
Teutonic plague: is Germany the sick man of Europe?
<p>Owing to a host of deep-rooted economic and political challenges, it could be the only G7 economy to contract this year. How might it <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/08/17/is-germany-once-again-the-sick-man-of-europe?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.n ... Show More
24m 55s
Jan 2024
The Intelligence: Growing, no pains
<p>America seems to be in a best-of-worlds scenario: growth is <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/01/03/has-america-really-escaped-inflation?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous ... Show More
25m 13s
Dec 2023
The Intelligence: searching for the elixir of life
<p>Scientists are making considerable progress in the race to <a href="https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2023/09/25/slowing-human-ageing-is-now-the-subject-of-serious-research?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discov ... Show More
30m 6s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: F is for falling standards
<p>America is producing more high-school graduates—but on average, they know less. We ask how a push for equity can in reality seed a <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/03/10/new-numbers-show-falling-standards-in-american-high-schools?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medi ... Show More
19m 15s
Jan 2024
The Weekend Intelligence: Digital Ghosts
<p>As life moves progressively online, it is becoming increasingly possible to keep people alive in the digital sense. Tech companies are starting to use AI to simulate the personalities of the dead from the data they’ve left behind. <em>The Economist</em>’s science correspondent ... Show More
46m 42s
Apr 2024
The Intelligence: Naan inflationary growth
<p>India is not the first country to leapfrog from poverty-induced undernourishment to also having an obesity crisis—but a <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/03/07/indian-food-is-great-perhaps-too-great?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelli ... Show More
24m 23s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: Russia pushes back on Kharkiv
<p>The northeastern province has been subject to more and more shelling, and Western officials are worried about Ukraine’s capacity to respond. Could there be a breakthrough? Not everyone is happy with the 28-year-old building America’s first <a href="https://www.economist.com/un ... Show More
23m 24s
Jan 2024
The Intelligence: Country code
<p>As with many technologies that preceded it, generative artificial intelligence is increasingly viewed as a means to geopolitical advantage: welcome to the era of <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2024/01/01/welcome-to-the-era-of-ai-nationalism?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_m ... Show More
24m 22s