The case for slowing tech down, the selfish argument for diverse workplaces, and more top insights

During the week, the Daily Rundown brings you the day’s trending professional news. On the weekend, we try to keep you current on the big ideas that can help you see what’s coming. Read on and join the conversation.

Our devices are getting too smart, too fast: Over 11 billion internet-enabled devices are expected to be in use this year, up from 6.3 billion in 2016, according to Gartner. This includes our cars, medical devices, power grids and transit systems. And Harvard security expert Bruce Schneier argues that such tech is arriving faster than we know how to secure it. What might help? According to Schneier, governments need to step up and regulate this space more tightly, and companies need to slow their roll. • Here’s what people are saying.

Diverse workplaces make us all wealthier. Economists from Stanford and the University of Chicago have found that 25% of U.S. economic growth between 1960 and 2010 came from giving women and minorities access to high-skill jobs. The researchers claim that 80% of those gains came from greater educational opportunity, with the remaining 20% stemming from shifting employer attitudes, Quartz reports. The economists assert that GDP per capita could further increase by 15-20% if educational access were completely equal and discrimination rooted out. • Here’s what people are saying.

Pittsburgh: Self-driving laboratory. When you think of autonomous vehicles, you may not immediately think Pittsburgh. But the former steel town has become a self-driving tech hub, serving as home to two of LinkedIn’s Top Startups, Argo AI and Aurora Innovation. Why Pittsburgh? It has a low cost of living, good cultural amenities and, perhaps most critical of all, it has Carnegie Mellon, writes LinkedIn’s George Anders. The university, which has been working on AI and robotics for decades, has as many as 100 grad students a year researching self-driving. • Here’s what people are saying.

Only the lonely: 22% of U.S. adults and 23% of those in the U.K. always or often feel lonely or lack companionship, according to a new study from The Economist and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Between 1985 and 2009, the size of Americans’ social networks declined by a third, and more of us are living alone, The Economist reports. Such feelings can take a sizable toll on our health: loneliness has been connected to increased risk of heart attack, drug abuse, depression and cancer. • Here’s what people are saying.

A birdie-shaped bot that could solve a massive water problem: WatchTower Robotics’ You Wu has developed a robot that can spot water leaks that may otherwise go undetected. The robot, which is shaped like a badminton birdie, swims through pipes with a skirt that’s covered in leak-detecting sensors. Software can translate the data the bot collects and map out the problem spots. The U.K. loses 3 billion liters of water a day and 10% of California’s supply never makes it to homes because of leaks, according to Fast Company. • Here’s what people are saying.

One last idea: At times, it may feel like we are waging a battle to manage our time as effectively as we can, to accomplish as much as we can. But the BBC’s José Luis Peñarredonda writes that, sometimes, the best productivity tool is simply to give yourself a break for a bit. • Here’s what people are saying.

“There is one thing we all can do to have a healthier relationship with work: don’t be too hard on yourself. Self-criticism is terrible for your productivity. Compassion is way better than self-judgement.”

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— Scott Olster