BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE Why Crypto Crashed Key Takeaway: Japan’s stock market plunged 12% on August 5, marking its worst day in 37 years. The fall was triggered by fears of a US economy slowdown, with the Nasdaq index dropping over 6% and the S&P 500 dipping by 4.25%. The US Federal Reserve’s chairman, Jerome Powell, suggested an interest rate cut in […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY TECHNOLOGY 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 […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE Discovering Your Money Attachment Style Key Takeaway: The current economic climate is particularly concerning for young people, who are often financially worse off than their parents. To overcome this, it is important to understand one’s financial attachment style, which can be secure, anxious, or avoidant. Attachment theory, influenced by childhood experiences and education, can help shape one’s relationship with money. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE Democratising Finance Through Artificial Intelligence Key Takeaway: Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing investment by making professional financial insight and portfolio management accessible to everyone. AI-powered robo-advisers, such as Betterment and Vanguard, are democratizing investment and providing tailored advice to a new generation of investors. With 31% of gen Zs and 20% of millennials using robo-advisers, the financial industry is adapting […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE Why We Will Never Master The Financial Markets Key Takeaways: Stock market enthusiasts often claim to predict financial market trends with great accuracy, but this is not possible due to the uncertainty and unpredictable nature of the environments in which we make daily decisions. Human cognition tends to favor a reductionist approach to information processing, sometimes called “tunneling,” which can lead to biased […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Are Rich People More Intelligent? Key Takeaway: Intelligence is a crucial factor in determining one’s wealth, as it contributes to economic and professional success. It is the best predictor of both educational achievement and work performance, and academic and professional success are a fairly good forecaster of income. However, not all highly intelligent people are primarily driven by a desire […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY Quantum Computing In 2023 In June, an IBM computing executive claimed quantum computers were entering the “utility” phase, in which high-tech experimental devices become useful. In September, Australia’s Chief Scientist Cathy Foley went so far as to declare “the dawn of the quantum era”. This week, Australian physicist Michelle Simmons won the nation’s top science award for her work on developing silicon-based […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN EDITOR'S PICK The Economics Of Art Museums Key Takeaway: Art museums, such as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, have a large number of visitors but struggle to generate revenue. The Met, the world’s third most popular museum, has a budget deficit of $10 million and is laying off over 100 employees. Meanwhile, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is expanding and […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK The Computer Science Of The Future Of Blockchain Key Takeaway Blockchain technology is proving to be a promising solution for various challenges in trust and security in network-based applications. It can improve integrity, accountability, and traceability in supply chains, healthcare, banking, property records, voting, and smart cities. Blockchain systems enable decentralized access control of medical records, ensuring all stakeholders’ interests are protected. They […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Are Rich People More Intelligent? Key Takeaway Intelligence contributes to economic and professional success, but not all highly intelligent people are driven by wealth. Intelligence consists of fluid and crystallised intelligence, which develop differently. Fluid intelligence is inherited and decreases with age, while crystallised intelligence increases throughout adulthood and declines after 65 years. Fluid intelligence builds up crystallised intelligence, which […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Is Cosmology About to Rewrite Everything We Know? Key Takeaway: Cosmology is facing a series of uncertainties due to inconsistent predictions of the standard model, which posits the universe is composed of 68.3% dark energy, 26.8% dark matter, and 4.9% ordinary matter. The Hubble constant, which describes the rate of the universe’s expansion, has been a significant issue, with some scientists using different […] Written by Empirics Asia September 23, 2024September 23, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Comeback Of China’s Tech Billionaires: A New Dawn Or Controlled Market? Key Takeaway: Pony Ma, co-founder of Tencent Holdings, has regained the title of China’s richest individual with a net worth of over A$65 billion. His rise reflects Beijing’s control over its private sector, which aligns with the state’s goals in China’s unique “socialist market economy.” Tencent’s success, including the AAA video game “Black Myth: Wukong,” […] Written by Empirics Asia September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Rethinking Wealth: Why GDP Isn’t Enough Key Takeaway: Inclusive wealth, a concept that includes not just economic output but also natural resources, human skills, and social networks, is gaining traction among international institutions like the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This broader measure of a nation’s well-being aims to address the limitations of GDP, which focuses only […] Written by Empirics Asia September 12, 2024September 12, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Dark Side Of No Sleep Key Takeaway: The “no-sleep challenge” has become a dangerous trend on social media, with some individuals trying to break world records for consecutive days without sleep. Sleep is essential for survival, as it helps the body repair itself and prevents health problems like depression, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and a shortened lifespan. Chronic sleep deprivation […] Written by Empirics Asia September 11, 2024September 11, 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
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