EDITOR'S PICK PSYCHOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Is A.I. Now More Creative Than Humans? Key Takeaway: Creativity is a crucial human intelligence that AI should emulate, as it defies the cold logic of machines. AI tools like DALL-E and Midjourney are increasingly used in creative projects, with some receiving recognition for their inventiveness. A recent study found that AI-based creativity is just getting started, with examples of both its […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGY Imitation Does Not Always Work LinkedIn has warned its advertisers that it is eliminating its video stories, thus becoming the second social network, after Twitter pulled the plug in July on Fleets, to realize that strategies based on literal copies of other social networks’ features don’t always pan out. When Instagram decided to copy Snapchat’s ephemeral stories format, it took a product from […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Tokyo 2021: An Olympics Without Crowds? The Tokyo 2021 Olympics will be the first Games to take place with no spectators. The sight of sparsely populated stadiums and arenas has, of course, become common during the pandemic – and sports economists have studied the impact this has had on athletic performance. But the Olympics are different. For so many athletes, reaching the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PSYCHOLOGY SCIENCE Is Love Losing Its Soul In The Digital Age? Instagram users have taken to issuing “weekiversary posts,” where they diligently mark the duration of their romances. An article in The New York Times explained how weekiversary posts have the unintended – or very much intended – consequence of shaming people who are not in love. The article also noted that this phenomenon makes some doubt the intensity […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY STARTUPS The Relationship Economy Terry Mollner — whose Calvert Impact Capital funds are the world’s largest, at $9 billion (or $12 billion, depending on what source you cite) — is one of the great pioneers of a new economy based on meaningful relationshipsand the common good — a conceptual framework that is increasingly called ‘Game B’ these days, as an alternative to the prevailing […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS The Sharing Economy: Capitalism’s Last Stand? Access over ownership. After decades of excessive consumerism, this prospect sounded revolutionary. At first. Now that the sharing economy has become mainstream, more critical voices are appearing. So, what will it be? Empowerment or exploitation? A revolution or business as usual? Before getting to the heart of the matter, I’d like to set something straight: […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Hazarizq, Founder Of Insporeum Hazarizq (‘Rizq’ to his friends) is a creative entrepreneur hailing from Malaysia. Describing himself as a man with big dreams, he dropped out of his studies in International Business and started Ten Points Up, a successful creative production company and have worked closely with notable brands such as Good Vibes Festival, Urbanscapes Festival, Red Bull […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS PIYASAK UKRITNUKUN, MD Abandoning his hopes of studying for an MBA, Piyasak Ukritnukun has turned a relatively small lending company into a billion dollar financial inclusion company. What’s your story? I was born in the US and came back to Thailand to study at Thammasat Business School in 1999. After college, I spent two years with Boston Consulting Group […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS ALEX NG, Founder and Director Never one to be constrained by convention, Alex Ng has created Singapore’s first unstaffed store, powered by AI. What’s your story? Since I was young, I have had the habit of choosing less popular or niche decisions. For example, instead of playing computer games during my secondary school days, I found more enjoyment in selling […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS MINESH PORE, Co-Founder and CEO Minesh Pore has used his global trade expertise to create a ‘dating’ agency where buyers can meet suppliers and BuyHive does the crucial bits in the middle. What’s your story? BuyHive wanted to solve the problem of trust and transparency in sourcing to improve buyers’ outcomes, especially with the assumptions that the growing segment of […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
What Lies Inside Quantum Black Holes? Key Takeaway: The concept of the “cosmic censorship conjecture” suggests that singularities within the universe are hidden within black holes, providing a protective barrier. However, the integration of quantum mechanics challenges this idea, creating “quantum black holes” that obey the subatomic world’s rules. These quantum entities must account for effects like negative energy, which does […] Written by Empirics Asia December 2, 2024December 2, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The New Frontier Of Time Key Takeaway: The second, the fundamental unit of time, is being refined through advancements in timekeeping technology. Throughout history, humans have sought to track time with greater precision, starting with the Neolithic site of Newgrange in Ireland. In 1967, the International System of Units established that a second corresponds to 9,192,631,770 oscillations of radiation emitted […] Written by Empirics Asia November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Birth Of Fractals Key Takeaway: A visiting professor from Canada delivered lectures on complex dynamics, revealing breathtaking visuals of fractals, a realm pioneered by Benoit Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot’s groundbreaking work transformed how mathematicians approached their work, legitimizing the use of pictures in mathematics and challenging the field’s traditional reliance on purely analytical methods. His groundbreaking work, “The Fractal Geometry […] Written by Empirics Asia November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Universe’s Biggest Mystery: Why Are We Here? Key Takeaway: Recent research by physicists has revealed that our universe may not be optimal for intelligent life. The mysterious force known as dark energy accelerates the universe’s expansion, but its value is far smaller than theoretical expectations. Researchers used anthropic reasoning to explain this, arguing that the properties of the universe must align with […] Written by Empirics Asia November 22, 2024November 22, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Test Of Human Intelligence Key Takeaway: Scale AI has launched the initiative “Humanity’s Last Exam” to determine the capabilities of cutting-edge large language models (LLMs) like Google Gemini and OpenAI’s o1. The initiative aims to determine how close we are to achieving AI systems that rival human expertise. The challenge lies in evaluating intelligence in machines that can already […] Written by Empirics Asia November 21, 2024November 21, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
When Reality Fractures Key Takeaway: Researchers have discovered that delusions, which are convictions that cling to a distorted view of reality, are a result of the same cognitive pathways that produce everyday beliefs. Delusions often defy common sense but emerge when the system of meaning-making veers off course. A case of postpartum psychosis revealed that a woman experienced […] Written by Empirics Asia November 20, 2024November 20, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Rise And Fall Of Volkswagen Key Takeaway: Volkswagen, once a symbol of German industry and co-management between shareholders and unions, is facing a crisis due to strategic missteps, a convoluted governance structure, and a culture that often prioritizes control over innovation. The company’s journey began in 1937 with the Beetle, which became the world’s largest carmaker in the 1980s and […] Written by Empirics Asia November 19, 2024November 19, 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 — 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