Category: economy

Two extremes in blockchain-sphere illustrate current state

How do you know how well an industry/technology/product/.. does?

One way to check is to find out the two contextual (from economic, technological, social, …other perspectives) extremes of that industry/technology/product/…

Let’s have a go at Bitcoin/blockchain.

If you go to Etherscan, click on top menu item Tokens and then View Tokens, and if you search for “fuck,” below is the screenshot from few days ago.

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This of course is just one extreme, negative one, illustrating at once absurdity, creativity and ambition one can find in crypto space. While some of those tokens are placeholders, some like FUCK Token have a website and give an impression of an upcoming product. The F-word derived tokens allude to Facebook and Ethereum. Unsurprising.

For a positive extreme, check out DeepRadiology, which employs both deep learning (Yan LeCun, father of deep learning, is their advisor) as well as blockchain to “applying the latest imaging analytic deep learning algorithm capability for all imaging modalities to optimize your facility service needs.“

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DeepRadiology uses AI to process myriads of data and blockchain to store and distribute it efficiently and effectively. Both time to process, for example, a CT scan and relevant costs are an order of magnitude less than the incumbents. Everyone wins.

And while Q1 2018 was bearish for all cryptocurrencies, whether rest of 2018 will be bearish or bullish is still a question. Either way,  due to maturing crypto market, more educated/pragmatic crypto investors/enthusiasts and less easy-to-get crypto, the focus is now on technology itself, which is what’s needed, in long-term.

Lastly, for your education – and entertainment! – have a read of this list of 100 cryptocurrencies described in 4 words or less.

wikileaks: 25 days of leaking 25 million secrets of the world

List of Wikileaks exposures.

10 reasons why socrates is still relevant today

Leaders in Europe and America have to take out dusty books of philosophy and check why Socrates and his ideas are still valid today:

  1. They’ve Never Been Rendered Obsolete
  2. He Taught Us to Question Everything
  3. He Taught Us That Life is Worthless Without Happiness
  4. He Taught Us to Ask if There’s Such a Thing as a Just War
  5. He Advocated True Freedom of Speech
  6. He Invented Philosophical Ethics
  7. He Was a Champion of Human Virtue
  8. He Warned Us of the Follies of Materialism
  9. He Taught Us the Value of Civil Disobedience
  10. He Taught Us to Stand Up For What We Believe

is democracy bad for growth?

Why did China outperform India?

“Shanghai Theory of Economic Growth”

  • Infrastructures
  • Strong government
  • State capitalism and government ownership
  • Democracy is a hindrance to growth

It is neither infrastructure (Soviet Union vs China before 1989) nor strong government (Pakistan vs India by 2008) nor state capitalism (success of Korea, Singapore vs failures Burma and DPRK).

So why did China so systematically outperform India even during its Cultural Revolution?

China’s greatest advantage over India was basic education (literacy rate – to read/write 1500 Chinese characters vs write your name in any Indian language you happen to speak) whereas India focused heavily on tertiary education instead.

random about modern america and historic china

Modern America looks as below:

  • 4 million cups/day on airline flights (not reused/recycled).
  • 40 million papers cups/day for hot beverages.
  • Has the largest percentage of population in prisons (2.3 million in 2005).
  • >400.000 (1.100/day) Americans die of smoking annually.
  • 384.000 American women (vast majority <21) opted for breast augmentation surgery (the most popular high-school graduation gift).

Historic China personifies:

  • Fortune cookies (considered Chinese) invented in 1920 by a noodle-factory worker in SF.
  • Kites (1000 BC, to frighten enemies), soccer  (1000 BC), natural gas (used as heat source by 4th century BC), parachute (4th century AD), ice-cream (Marco Polo).
  • Stamp collecting (#1 hobby).
  • Red (happiness) and white (sadness).

professionals vs amateurs – who innovates better in 21st century

Pro-Ams – term coined by Charles Leadbeater – are people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards.

Since the industrial age of 18th century, there was a steady rise of professionals and narrow specialization in medicine/science/education/etc.. Amateurism was driven out.

Pro-Am Revolution argues that in 21st century this historic trend is reversing.

Passionate amateurs who have vast knowledge/skills in a certain domain(s), often driven by confusion/lack of sought solutions, come up with new inventions gradually improving their quality, eventually ushering into high-quality products/services.

what physics can teach about marketing

TED talk by Dan Cobley

Summary:

  1. a=F/m  (Anderson launched Accenture; Hoover is more than vacuum cleaner; why P&G keeps separate brands).
  2. Δx Δh ≥ 1/2 (McDonalds sells millions, while mothers talk about healthy life to their kids).
  3. You cannot prove a hypothesis through observation, you can only disprove it (scientific method) – BP spent millions building environment-friendly image and than one accident ruined it all; Toyota perceived as reliable and one big recall changed that image; Tiger Woods.
  4. Increasing entropy (2nd law of thermodynamics) – your brand is more and more  dispersed; you can’t fight it; embrace it.

what is money?

Banks create money based on borrowers’ promise (in exchange for bank loans) to pay back, i.e. money is created out of debt.

The Bible:“One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor but has great wealth” (Proverbs 13:7). Or: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.”(Proverbs 22:7).

Buddhism states  money complex is a demonic religion – demonic because it cannot absolve our sense of lack.

French classic-liberal Bastiat‘s collection includes an Achilles-Tortoise-styled polemic about money.

P.S. Bush’s grandfather used money helping Hitler rise to power.

(tech) innovation stalls – what’s next?

There’s growing realization that value-added technology innovation stalls. How did ancients invent/innovate?

New York Times started its own Google-Labs-style innovation-driving initiative called beta620. A response to stalling news industry?

Recently, Google’s CFO acknowledged that every single day 15% of the queries Google handles are completely new/never seen before.

Also, many modern financial tools (cheques, stock-certificates, bills-of-exchange) have ancient roots.

Even Roman dictator’s post was an innovative response to demands/aspirations of the time, namely overcoming inter-fighting of magistrates. List of Roman inventions are must serve as examples for modern leaders aspiring to innovate.

Isn’t it time for 21st-century value-based innovations?

time and world accelerated – what about humans?

A roadside dentist  in China. By-the-hour hotels.

Everything is fast. Time is faster. We are faster.

World has accelerated from around 1989.

We now started running through time, but we misperceive it.

Running is one important factor that made humans dominating species on earth. We can run in conditions that other animals can’t.

Maybe we actually need to go faster, as it seems the Earth’s day length shortened (by 1.8 milliseconds) by the recent Japan earthquake.

By 2048, which world would we have?

  • Market World?
  • Fortress World?
  • Transformed World?

Time magazine predicts a more robotic future with functionally immortal humans after 2045.