CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY The Importance Of Ritual Key Takeaway: A “ritual” is a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. They are often embedded in a larger symbolic system, such as religion or philosophy. The oldest evidence for ancient rituals is found at Mt Carmel in Israel, where a woman was buried 130,000 years ago. Rituals play an important role […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Why TikTok Might Be A Threat To Music Key Takeaways: Viral TikTok videos have meant success for new and established artists alike. The short-form video service has earned US$12 billion (£10.5 billion) in advertising revenue in 2022. Many of its most popular videos feature music – available to use for free – through its audio library. TikTok pays the “Big Three” record labels […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Can Science Solve Poverty? Key Takeaways: The fight against poverty and inequality is resuming with tools and programs that are more effective than ever before, thanks to a quiet revolt against business as usual. The evidence-based policy movement is increasingly being embraced by researchers, activists and government officials. The use of randomized controlled trials to assess social programs is […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Is Twitter’s Blue Tick A Status Symbol? What Will Happen If Everyone Can Buy One? Key Takeaways: Elon Musk proposed a range of controversial changes to the Twitter platform. One of the ideas was to charge US$8 a month to obtain a verified status. The paid verification change has already been rolled out in several countries, including Australia, under the Twitter Blue subscription service. Musk’s proposal is not only misguided […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Who Invented Music? Key Takeaways: The short answer is: No one knows who invented music. The earliest civilizations throughout Africa, Europe and Asia had music. But again, people were not singing complete melodies or songs; our modern lullabies – like “Rock-a-bye Baby” – took centuries to develop. In Greece, instruments like the krotola, a set of hollow blocks […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY STRATEGY Prediction Markets: How To Predict The Future Key Takeaways: Wikipedia posits a handful of contenders for Physiology or Medicine, about 20 different possible winners for the Peace Prize and several dozen potential winners of the Literature Prize. Each stock’s price is tied to a different event happening in the future. Despite using different devices to keep up engagement, such as leader boards […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS SOCIOLOGY How Did Patriarchy Start? Key Takeaways: The patriarchy, having been somewhat in retreat in parts of the world, is back in our faces . In some of these matrilineal systems in Africa, men remain a powerful force in households, but it is older brothers and uncles who try to control women rather than husbands or fathers. Women are also […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY The Hidden Structure Of Community Dynamics Key Takeaways: The world is a networked place, literally and figuratively. For example, the network consisting of the international financial corruption scheme uncovered by the Panama Papers investigation has an unusual lack of connections among its parts. The concept is so simple that it can be drawn on paper: Entities of interest – people, businesses, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY SOCIOLOGY What Makes People Willing To Risk Their Lives To Save Others? Key Takeaways: Is there such a thing as a heroic personality type? People tend to have an idea of what heroes are like. Psychologists are still at a loss to predict in advance who will heroically step up when needed. Some studies show that people who exhibit heroic behavior and first responders score high on […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Is The Concept Of “Overpopulation” Flawed? The gross misconception that too many of us have, with regard to population and resources, is that we will run out. What we fail to realize is that this assumes a future population will do things the same way that we do today. We are projecting—without a second thought—that human beings will continueto conduct “business as usual” without the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why Amazon Became So Successful Key Takeaway: Amazon with a market capitalization of over $1.5 trillion and net revenue of $386 billion in 2020. Customer Service and Convenience is one of the key factors that has contributed to its success. Amazon’s focus on customer service and convenience has played a major role in its success. Innovative Business Model is another […] Written by Andreas Lehmann January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Terence Clarke – Founder of CastleCourt, DailyCoach and GrowthHub This article was originally published here: Terence Clarke – Founder of CastleCourt, DailyCoach and GrowthHub Terence Clarke believes that everyone has the answers to life’s questions and, as a coach, it is for him to help them find them. What’s your story? Born in Ireland, I grew up in England and I’ve lived and studied […] Written by Callum Laing January 11, 2023January 11, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Importance Of Ritual Key Takeaway: A “ritual” is a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. They are often embedded in a larger symbolic system, such as religion or philosophy. The oldest evidence for ancient rituals is found at Mt Carmel in Israel, where a woman was buried 130,000 years ago. Rituals play an important role […] Written by Michelle Langley December 27, 2022December 27, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Origin Of Christmas Trees Key Takeaways: The humble Christmas tree is emblematic of the growth of market economics and world trade. Who would have imagined that fir trees would be grown in Denmark especially for the export market, or that factories in China would produce plastic replicas? So, let’s climb on the sleigh and take a ride around this […] Written by François Lévêque December 24, 2022December 24, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The “Sunk Benefit” Fallacy Key Takeaways: When you work on a project with people and successfully solve a problem, you (rightly) feel proud and accomplished. If the project helped create some “thing” that will require further maintenance and attention, you’ll probably come to love (and hate) that system. Don’t be afraid to move on to the next task, always […] Written by Yonatan Zunger December 23, 2022December 23, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why TikTok Might Be A Threat To Music Key Takeaways: Viral TikTok videos have meant success for new and established artists alike. The short-form video service has earned US$12 billion (£10.5 billion) in advertising revenue in 2022. Many of its most popular videos feature music – available to use for free – through its audio library. TikTok pays the “Big Three” record labels […] Written by Beth Klein December 22, 2022December 22, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Important Lessons From FTX’s Collapse Key Takeaways: Cryptocurrency exchanges are sometimes described as being like stock exchanges. But they are very different to the likes of the London or New York stock exchanges, which are highly regulated and serve a regulatory function. Cryptocurrency exchanges make money by helping “mum and dad” investors into the market. Seven of the world’s ten biggest crypto […] Written by Paul Mazzola December 19, 2022December 19, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Rethinking Education Key Takeaways: The Industrial model of education that fueled the modern era and its dizzying reach did its job incredibly well. In his writing, Flynn illustrates study after study, spanning nations and decades, in which modern educational gift of abstraction — a transcendent sign of intelligence, as we saw in Raven’s Matrices — has been […] Written by Anthony Fieldman March 2, 2022October 19, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How China Is Transforming Its Economy Through Learning I highly recommend reading the McKinsey Global Institute’s new report, “Reskilling China: Transforming The World’s Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learners”, which focuses on the country’s biggest employment challenge, re-training its workforce and the adoption of practices such as lifelong learning to address the growing digital transformation of its productive fabric. How to transform the country […] Written by Enrique Dans February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why You’re Not Seeing Success With Influencer Marketing With the new year around the corner, now is a good time to re-evaluate your past marketing strategies and gear up for the year ahead. For some businesses, influencer marketing has simply not seemed to live up to its lofty promises of genuine engagement, credibility, and transparency. Some have claimed that it has been failing […] Written by Michael Tan January 14, 2021January 15, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A New Philosophy of Business I’m about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and I’ll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what “community” means for business. “Where should community fit in my organization?” and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked