who rules the world?

9^th century Persian polymath Al-Khwārizmī needs credit. His treatise about linear equations was the most widely read in Europe during Middle Ages. “Algorithm” is a corruption of his name, referring to the decimal system from his book.

In 21^st century, algorithms shape the world: “game of life,” robot-cleaners, algorithmic trading which runs 70% of Wall-Street (screwing it in 2010, Flash-Crash), e-commerce (a book “Making of Fly” being 23 million on Amazon), rental (60% of Neflix’s rental run by an algorithm), even Hollywood (an algorithm deciding which movies to produce) and health.

We have little idea about how much algorithms know/can do…

Happiness in ancient Greece and modern era

Tetrapharmakos is the four-part cure Epicurus recommended for leading the happiest possible life:

Don’t fear god,

Don’t worry about death;

What is good is easy to get, and

What is terrible is easy to endure

Gandhi ‘s formula for happiness H = R/N (H-happiness, R-your resources, N-needs).

China’s Comm-Party perceives happiness as that which “makes their [people’s] wallets bulge.”

Faisal Sethi read a study which found those who keep “gratitude journals” about what they’re grateful for in their lives were generally happier, slept more, had lower blood pressure, are more successful in their career. He turned those insights into a business.

Devil in Pound Sterling and WebMoney

“Pound” is missing from the infamous “The Devil’s Dictionary” of A.Bierce, first published in 1906. Many of its observations resonate more strongly now than when Bierce first made them . “Money” is:

A blessing that is of no advantage to us excepting when we part with it. An evidence of culture and a passport to polite society. Supportable property.

“Pounds Sterling” originates in 12th-century. It derives from “Easterling Silver” (the metal and techniques for refining it) which took its name from the Easterling area of Germany, noted for its 92.5% pure/hard/high-quality coin-grade silver.

History accelerates. We now have WebMoney, EntroPay, NetEller, …

To post every week with DailyPost

This experimental (read: beta) is for scanners/polymaths/curious people who like learning about life from all perspectives/angles.

I started this experiment to commit myself to more learning and writing something new for you (my audience), regularly.

To keep on this challenging task, I thought I’d commit myself to a nice initiative organized by WordPress.com called The DailyPost. The idea is to post at least once a week for the rest of this year.

With time and other constrains, hopefully I’ll keep on posting and engaging/being engaged with a committed and interesting community of bloggers out there.

Signed,

Hayk