EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY The Rise Of Deinfluencers Key Takeaways: Deinfluencing is a social media trend that discourages influencers from promoting overpriced or ineffective products. With nearly 730 million views on TikTok, it aims to address the desire for authenticity, social media burnout, and a shift in values. Deinfluencers prioritize genuine content and engagement over curated content and commercial partnerships, addressing the emotional […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK Can The Work From Home Trend Be Reversed? Key Takeaway The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant shift in workplaces, with nearly 38% of Canadian adults working remotely in the early months of 2023. The likelihood of working from home varies by occupation, with office workers and executives or managers being the most common. However, skilled trade workers are less common, and the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE New Studies Show Bitcoin Has No Mainstream Use And Is More Like Gambling Key Takeaway Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are becoming mainstream, but the true success of these cryptocurrencies depends on the average punter selling them for more than they bought them. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s data shows that cryptocurrency is rarely used for buying things, with only 2% of adults using it as a payments instrument. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS Wise Politic Lessons From The Ancient Greeks Key Takeaway Ancient Greeks developed a more sophisticated political system than modern European societies, known as direct democracy. They practiced “people power” and took measures to prevent ruthless, narcissistic individuals from dominating politics. Modern democracy is merely representative, with representatives elected by the public. However, recent political events show that modern societies are not stringent […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK The Dark Side Of Amazon Returns Key Takeaway E-commerce offers convenience but also has a dark side: returns can be costly for retailers, costing them around $816 billion in lost sales in 2022. The return process, including transportation and packaging, generates about 24 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Returns can travel hundreds of miles, requiring manual unpacking, inspection, and […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN EDITOR'S PICK The Secrets Of Vernacular Art Key Takeaway Vernacular art, a self-taught visual art genre, is dominated by African American, Appalachian, and working-class artists. It has gained recognition, with the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, American Visionary Art Museum, Atlanta’s High Museum, and Milwaukee Art Museum building significant collections. Vernacular art emphasizes the artist’s biography, providing meaning and value to collectors […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE Is Hydrogen The Way Forward? Key Takeaway Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but can be isolated and used as a fuel to store energy and reduce emissions. It can also be blended with natural gas in existing power plants to reduce emissions. Green H2 is CO2-free, but is costly due to the high energy required to […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE Does Insider Trading Actually Matter? Key Takeaway: Insider trading is an illegal act in which someone relies on market-moving, nonpublic information to decide whether to buy or sell a financial asset. Punishment can range from a few months to over a decade. Insider trading is common and profitable, but difficult to prove and prevent. It undermines public confidence in financial […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS TECHNOLOGY How Should We Regulate A.I.? Key Takeaway: Regulation is needed to ensure that AI products deserve trust and don’t lead to fraud and misinformation, as human imagination is out of proportion. AI poses a unique challenge because designers cannot predict how it will behave, making it difficult to regulate. Professional organizations can play a role in regulating AI by combining […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ENTREPRENEURSHIP Why Did Signature Bank Fail? Key Takeaway: The failures of SVB and Signature Bank were caused by two major risks: interest rate risk and liquidity risk. Interest rate risk caused the market value of previously issued debt to plunge, especially for longer-dated debt. Liquidity risk is the risk that a bank won’t be able to meet its obligations without incurring […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
What Vietnam Can Teach Us About The Vulnerabilities Of Banks Key Takeaway: Vietnam’s businesswoman Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for taking out $44 billion in fraudulent loans from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) by bypassing a law that prevents anyone from owning more than 5% of a bank’s shares. The loans made up 93% of the bank’s entire lending portfolio. The case highlights the […] Written by George Kladakis May 6, 2024May 6, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
What Is Meaningful Work? Key Takeaway: Work is a crucial aspect of modern life, with 82% of employees stating that creating meaningful work is a top priority. Meaningful work requires an objective feature that connects the worker with a larger framework that extends beyond themselves. This feature is social contribution, which is the positive difference made by the work […] Written by Caleb Althorpe May 2, 2024May 2, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Being Thoughtful In The Age Of A.I. Key Takeaway: Concerns about AI’s potential roguehood and potential harm to privacy and dignity are a significant concern. AI’s algorithms, programmed by humans, are also biased and discriminatory. However, a psychologist’s research suggests that AI is a threat to making people less disciplined and skilled in making thoughtful decisions. Making thoughtful decisions involves understanding the […] Written by Joe Arvai April 24, 2024April 24, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Are Single People Happier? The Science Of Being Single Key Takeaway: A study published in the Journal of Personality suggests that long-term single people can be secure and thriving, possibly due to their attachment style. The research found that 78% of singles were insecure, with 22% being secure. Secure singles are comfortable with intimacy and closeness in relationships, while anxious singles worry about rejection […] Written by Yuthika Girme April 23, 2024April 23, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Greater Secrets Of Stonehenge Key Takeaway: A project involving archaeologists, astronomers, and photographers from English Heritage, Oxford, Leicester, and Bournemouth universities, as well as the Royal Astronomical Society, aims to study the lunar alignment at Stonehenge. The project aims to identify the layout of certain stones and the major lunar standstill, which occurs when the northernmost and southernmost moonrises […] Written by Fabio Silva April 22, 2024April 22, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Time May Not Exist Key Takeaway: Modern physics suggests that time may be an illusion, as Einstein’s theory of relativity suggests the universe is a static, four-dimensional block. J.M.E. McTaggart, an English philosopher, published a paper in 1908 arguing that time is unreal using logic alone. He proposed two ways to describe time: the “B-series” and the “A-series”. The […] Written by Matyรกs Moravec April 19, 2024April 19, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Humility Is The Secret To Leadership? Key Takeaway: A study has found that humble leaders can become more promotable by growing others through a “humility route”. Human capital theory suggests that employees’ value can be enhanced by investing in their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Humble leaders focus on the learning and growth of their followers, creating human capital value for themselves. […] Written by Elsa Chan April 18, 2024April 18, 2024 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 โ a transcendent sign of intelligence, as we saw in Ravenโs Matrices โ 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 Instituteโs new report, โReskilling China: Transforming The Worldโs Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learnersโ, which focuses on the countryโs 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 Youโre 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 Iโm about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and Iโll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what โcommunityโ means for business. โWhere should community fit in my organization?โ and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked