EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY The Dark Side Of Digital Drama Key Takeaway: The subreddit “Am I the Asshole?” has become a cultural phenomenon, with 20 million members and a focus on dissecting digital disputes. The platform encourages users to share stories about their non-violent conflicts, transforming them into moral judgments with quick votes and comments. AITA’s success lies in its structured approach to storytelling, which […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY The Upcoming Revolution For Global Internet Access Key Takeaway: High-altitude platform stations (HAPS) are emerging as a new frontier in communications technology, offering a unique blend of accessibility and affordability. Positioned between 4 and 30 miles above Earth, these stations bring telecommunications equipment closer to the surface than satellites, resulting in stronger, higher-capacity signals. Researchers have demonstrated that HAPS could provide high-speed […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY The Science Fiction Feedback Loop Key Takeaway: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sparked controversy by referencing the 2013 movie “Her” to highlight the novelty of ChatGPT’s latest iteration. Actor Scarlett Johansson accused the company of improperly using her voice after she spurned their offer to make her the voice of ChatGPT’s new virtual assistant. This highlights the “sci-fi feedback loop,” which […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS TECHNOLOGY Should TikTok Be Banned? Key Takeaway: President Biden signed a US$95 billion foreign aid bill in April 2024, allowing TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app. If the law stands, TikTok will be blocked from any US app store or web-hosting service, affecting over 170 million US users, including 62% of Americans aged 18 to 29. Critics argue […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY The Inherent Risks Of A.I. Key Takeaway: Leading scientists and technologists often make terrible predictions about the direction of innovation, leading to misalignments between a company’s economic incentives to profit from its proprietary AI model and society’s interests in how the AI model should be monetised and deployed. Focusing on the economic risks from AI is not just about preventing […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS TECHNOLOGY The Hidden Risks Of TikTok? Key Takeaway: The U.S. House of Representatives voted 352-65 to require TikTok’s parent company, China-based ByteDance, to sell the app or face a nationwide ban. The bill’s fate in the Senate is unclear, and the resulting legislation could survive a court challenge. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed legislation banning TikTokin in May 2023, the first […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK STRATEGY The Hidden Costs Of Lay-Offs Key Takeaway: Businesses are facing rising borrowing costs and wage growth, affecting industries like advertising and retail. Redundancies can impact all employees, including those at risk, survivors, and management and HR teams. Decreased trust can lead to a toxic work environment, causing employees to question loyalty and commitment. Psychological stress can lead to increased absenteeism, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK Understanding How Companies Use Dark Patterns Against You Key Takeaways: Dark patterns are clever tricks built into apps and websites to encourage users to do things they may not want to do. They make it easy to accept tracking cookies and agree to terms and conditions while making purchases. These patterns often benefit companies at the expense of consumers. The US Federal Trade […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PSYCHOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Does Social Media Warp How People Learn? Key Takeaway: Online algorithms on social media platforms amplify information people are biased to learn from, leading to social misperceptions, conflict, and the spread of misinformation. This mismatch between human psychology and algorithm amplification can result in functional misalignment, leading to incorrect perceptions of the social world and the spread of misinformation. Research on this […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK Twitter’s Future After Threads Key Takeaway: Mark Zuckerberg’s new social media platform, Threads, has been released in smartphone app stores, with at least 30 million users signing up on its first day. The platform could potentially be a reliable alternative to Twitter, as Twitter has faced issues with user data, safety, and reliability since its acquisition by Elon Musk […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Of Power Generation With Black Holes Key Takeaway: Black holes, a potential energy source, have been the subject of theoretical research since the 1970s. The Zel’dovich Effect, a theory that rotating objects could amplify energy waves, was tested in 2020. The experiment confirmed that a rotating cylinder could amplify sound waves and electromagnetic waves, revealing similarities between the rotating cylinder and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 19, 2024September 19, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Secret Life Of Sunflowers Key Takeaway: Plants, once considered passive life forms, are now found to be dynamic and responsive. Researchers discovered that even seemingly insignificant behaviors, such as circumnutations, can have a profound impact on their survival and productivity. Sunflowers, for example, self-organize in a zigzag pattern to maximize sunlight exposure, promoting healthy growth and increased yield. This […] Written by Empirics Asia September 18, 2024September 18, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Volcanoes On The Moon? Key Takeaway: China’s Chang’e 5 mission has challenged long-held assumptions about the Moon’s volcanic past, suggesting eruptions occurred far more recently than expected. The lunar landscape might not have been as dormant as once believed, with volcanic activity on the Moon potentially being active as recently as 120 million years ago. The findings suggest that […] Written by Empirics Asia September 10, 2024September 10, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Freud’s Forgotten Theory: The Hidden Desires Behind Creativity and Genius Key Takeaway: Sigmund Freud’s theory of sublimation aimed to explain why some people display extraordinary talent by transforming repressed sexual desires into creative or intellectual prowess. He believed that Leonardo da Vinci’s life and work exemplified this process, as he left many of his paintings unfinished and engaged in scientific experiments that derailed his artistic […] Written by Empirics Asia September 9, 2024September 9, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Upcoming Revolution For Global Internet Access Key Takeaway: High-altitude platform stations (HAPS) are emerging as a new frontier in communications technology, offering a unique blend of accessibility and affordability. Positioned between 4 and 30 miles above Earth, these stations bring telecommunications equipment closer to the surface than satellites, resulting in stronger, higher-capacity signals. Researchers have demonstrated that HAPS could provide high-speed […] Written by Empirics Asia September 6, 2024September 6, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Mystery Of Horse Domestication Key Takeaway: Horse domestication remains a mystery, despite its significant impact on human civilization. The Indo-European or “Kurgan hypothesis” suggests that horse domestication began on the steppes of western Asia, specifically among the Yamnaya people. However, recent advances in technology have revealed that the horses from the Botai culture were not the ancestors of today’s […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2024September 5, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why Profit Alone Won’t Save Us Key Takeaway: A study by researchers has found that companies can make a difference without sacrificing financial performance by integrating social and environmental concerns into their business strategies. This approach, known as “social profit orientation,” places equal value on financial profits and positive social outcomes. Companies like Mastercard’s Girls4Tech initiative and World Central Kitchen’s Food […] Written by Empirics Asia September 4, 2024September 4, 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