CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY TECHNOLOGY What It Means To Be Authentic In The Age Of A.I. Key Takeaway: Authenticity is important for both individuals and society, as it is a social glue that reinforces trust. People need to reexamine and recalibrate how authenticity is judged. Social science offers guidance on what makes something feel authentic. George Newman found three dimensions of authenticity: historical authenticity, categorical authenticity, and values and beliefs. Generative […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK The Life Story Of Nobel Prize Winner Kenzaburo Oe Key Takeaways: Kenzaburō Ōe was a literary giant who criticised factors damaging democracy and human rights in Japan, including nationalistic governmental policies, atomic power plants, and the imperial system. His early work explored the relationship between disenfranchised individuals and authoritarian power. Ōe’s “ambiguity” in Japan was a response to Kawabata’s “beautiful” representation, highlighting the multiplicity […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY Exploring Kintsugi: The Japanese Philosophy Of Imperfection Key Takeaways: The art of kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery. If a bowl is broken, the fragments are put back together with a glue-like tree sap and the cracks are adorned with gold. There are no attempts to hide the damage, instead, it is highlighted. The practice has come to represent […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK How Flooding Impacts The Economy Key Takeaways: The impacts of natural disasters, in particular those related to climate change, have been attracting growing attention. The results show that floods hamper GDP, with the extent depending on how financial intermediary activities respond to the floods. The study is related to a growing literature that quantifies the impact on natural disasters such […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK The Story Of Issey Miyake Key Takeaways: Designer Issey Miyake has died aged 84, leaving an indelible mark on the fashion world. He sustained a serious leg injury and lost his mother to radiation sickness soon after, events which inspired him to “think of things that can be created, not destroyed”. Issey Miyake’s time in Paris after the student protests […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK Has Japan Been Left Behind In The Global EV Race? Key Takeaways: Sony and Honda’s announcement that their alliance to produce electric vehicleswill see the creation of an independent company with a new brand typifies the challenges the Japanese motor industry faces in transitioning away from petrol and diesel vehicles. A world beater that created its own management philosophy has been living in a comfort […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK Understanding The World Economy In 2022 Will 2022 be the year where the world economy recovers from the pandemic? That’s the big question on everyone’s lips as the festive break comes to an end. One complicating factor is that most of the latest major forecasts were published in the weeks before the omicron variant swept the world. At that time, the mood was […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGY How Cup Noodles Became One of The Biggest Business Success Stories Of All Time See a container of Cup Noodles at a convenience store and you might think of dorm rooms and cheap calories. But there was a time when eating from the product’s iconic packaging exuded cosmopolitanism, when the on-the-go meal symbolized possibility – a Japanese industrial food with an American flair. Cup Noodles – first marketed in […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK China: The Future Of The Car Industry? Europeans and other western nations have dominated automotive excellence for over a century. Whether it is the satisfying thud of the door closing on a Volkswagen from Wolfsburg, or the beauty of a Ferrari from Modena, these brands are iconic – and very lucrative for their manufacturers. When we think of reliability, the Germans, and latterly the Japanese, have […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Complex Identity Of The Modern Individual In Japan After having lived as an isolated feudal society for more than 250 years, Japan opened its doors to the rest of the world when the United States sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to issue a treaty of trade. The Meiji period from 1868 to 1912 led to enormous fundamental changes in Japan’s political, economic, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Unravelling The Secrets Of DNA Key Takeaway: Seventy years ago, Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the structure of DNA, which led to technologies such as DNA fingerprinting, gene sequencing, gene editing and personalised medicines. Franklin, along with her PhD student Raymond Gosling, created one of the most famous images in science, Photo 51. Matthew Cobb and Nathaniel Comfort unearthed […] Written by Mark Lorch May 8, 2023May 8, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Concept Of Beauty In The Middle Ages Key Takeaway: Standards of beauty have been embedded in different cultures since time immemorial, often based on binary notions of idealised forms of femininity or masculinity. Eleanor Janega’s book explores medieval women’s social roles to consider the ways that women’s roles have and haven’t changed. Religious women in the middle ages used weaponised beauty to […] Written by Empirics Asia May 5, 2023May 5, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Will The Earth Last Forever? Key Takeaway: The Earth formed from a nebula 4.6 billion years ago, and the atmosphere of the early Earth was not oxygen-rich. Cyanobacteria were the first organisms to produce oxygen, and humans emerged 200,000-2 million years ago. The Sun provides energy and plants for food and oxygen. The Earth’s surface is constantly changing, leading to […] Written by Shichun Huang April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why Everyday Decisions Feel So Stressful Key Takeaway: The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less argues that an abundance of choices can cause people anxiety due to the difficulty of comparing and contrasting options, lack of expertise, and emotional high stakes. Maximisers are more likely to experience post-decision regret, so it is important to build habits to avoid ruminating on […] Written by Yaniv Hanoch April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Tragic Truth Of Venture Capital Key Takeaway: J.P. Morgan saved the financial system in 1907 by pledging $8 million to the next domino, the Trust Company of America, and convincing a dozen other banks and the U.S. Treasury to deposit $70 million into other vulnerable banks. Bank of America is backed by a safety net of federal agencies, such as […] Written by Scott Galloway April 11, 2023April 11, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
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 […] Written by S. Shyam Sundar April 7, 2023April 7, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Secret Behind The Success Of Logan Paul’s Prime Key Takeaways: Prime Hydration has become popular due to its founders’ audience engagement and savvy use of YouTube’s algorithmic networks. Logan Paul and KSI have used their audience engagement strategies and savvy use of YouTube’s algorithmic networks to create a hugely popular brand, creating a blueprint for other content creators. YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI […] Written by Hantian Zhang March 29, 2023March 29, 2023 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
