EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY SCIENCE What Is Intelligence? Key Takeaway: The Anthropocene era highlights the dangers of humanity’s extinction, with migration, war, climate change, hacking, and nuclear annihilation being the main threats. Human intelligence is unique in reproduction and survival, as it also poses an ethical risk. Western mythology and literature provide insights into the moral dilemmas at the heart of human intelligence, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY Bringing Back The Dead With A.I.? Key Takeaway: Generative AI, such as large language models (LLMs) and image and video generators, is amplifying the phenomenon of “digital necromancy,” which involves the reanimation of the dead through their digital remnants. This technology has been used to reanimate celebrities like Bruce Lee, Michael Jackson, and Tupac Shakur, and has expanded access to these […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK How Video Games Are Reviving Classical Music Key Takeaways: Starfield, a highly anticipated video game, allows players to build their own character and spacecraft, travel to multiple planets, and follow multiple story arcs. The game’s interactive music uses a palette of musical language that cultivates a contemplative soundscape, launching the listener into the vastness of space while remaining curious, innocent, and restrained. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY POLITICS The Philosophy Of Karl Marx Explained Key Takeaway: Human history is shaped by social contexts, and Marx believed philosophy could help us realize our potential and overcome impediments to self-understanding and freedom. He argued that inequality is socially created, and that economic systems like feudalism and capitalism are our own creations. Marx argued that a rational social order could realize our […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK China’s Hidden Century Key Takeaway The British Museum’s China’s Hidden Century exhibition focuses on details of daily life in the 19th century, including ornaments, clothes, and artefacts. The exhibition highlights the deteriorating domestic and international situation, such as the Taiping and Nian rebellions, starvation, and violent encroachments by the British and other European and Asian countries. The exhibition […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE A Scientific Look At Astrology Key Takeaway Astrology is often associated with exclusivity, as it describes traits of different zodiac signs for a large audience. However, the scientific community has rejected the idea that celestial signs influence a person’s life or personality traits. A 1985 experiment by physicist Shawn Carlson found that astrologers were able to persuade clients through body […] 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
EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY The Dangers Of Anthropomorphising A.I. Key Takeaway: Chatbots like ChatGPT have raised anxieties about machine sentience, but these worries are groundless as they are sophisticated sentence completion applications. They are a function of how predictable humans are when it comes to communication. The question of machine sentience is a red herring, as it is easy for people to anthropomorphize or […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE Unlocking The Secret Language Of Honeybees Key Takeaway: Honeybees use a physical “waggle dance” to communicate the direction, distance and quality of resources to their nestmates. Bees are born with some knowledge of how to dance, but can learn how to dance even better by following experienced bees. This is the first known example of such complex social learning of communication […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PSYCHOLOGY The Art Of Receiving Feedback Good feedback, whether you are on the receiving or giving end, requires an attitude of curiosity and openness. Intentionally creating space for feedbackcan help, but even with the right space, receiving feedback can be really scary. Many organizations have formal systems of feedback in the style of mid-year and annual reviews. And it’s not uncommon for informal continuous […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Secret Functions Of Dopamine Key Takeaway: Recent neuroscience research suggests that popular strategies to control dopamine are based on an overly narrow view of its function. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that tracks reactions to rewards, such as food, sex, money, or answering a question correctly. There are many types of dopamine neurons located in the uppermost […] Written by Kimberlee D'Ardenne September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
NASA Finally Revealed Findings On UFOs Key Takeaway: NASA’s independent study team released a report on UFOs, describing them as UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) to move beyond the stigma associated with UFOs. The report found no evidence that reported UAP observations are extraterrestrial. The report also highlighted the need for transparency and reducing the stigma associated with UFOs. The study team […] Written by Chris Impey September 18, 2023September 18, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Some Silicon Valley Investors Are Trying To Create A Utopian City Key Takeaway: George Bernard Shaw referred to Ebenezer Howard’s “garden cities” concept in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which he believed would offer the advantages of town and country without the drawbacks. Recently, a Silicon Valley consortium called Flannery Associates purchased land for California Forever, a contentious project that echoes Howard’s ideas. Howard’s […] Written by Empirics Asia September 12, 2023September 12, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How Video Games Are Reviving Classical Music Key Takeaways: Starfield, a highly anticipated video game, allows players to build their own character and spacecraft, travel to multiple planets, and follow multiple story arcs. The game’s interactive music uses a palette of musical language that cultivates a contemplative soundscape, launching the listener into the vastness of space while remaining curious, innocent, and restrained. […] Written by J. Aaron Hardwick September 11, 2023September 11, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Psychology Of Fyre Festival II Key Takeaway: The founder of the 2017 Fyre Festival, William “Billy” McFarland, has announced plans for a second attempt at the festival, with a target date of the end of 2024. McFarland, who was charged with several fraud offences and sentenced to six years in prison, has been promoting the event on Instagram. The promotion […] Written by Yaniv Hanoch September 8, 2023September 8, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
What Exactly Is Nudge Theory? Key Takeaway: The concept of “nudge theory” has gained prominence 15 years after its 2008 book, “Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness.” The book, which inspired politicians like Barack Obama and David Cameron, led to the creation of government teams to incorporate nudge theory into public policy. However, the success of these nudges […] Written by Stuart Mills September 7, 2023September 7, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Age Of Nanotechnology Key Takeaways: Nanotechnology is set to revolutionize clothing, transportation, and transportation. Clothing will be tailored to individual needs, with synthesizers in closets creating clothing that fits perfectly. Nanosuits, made of 5 microns thick fabric, will cover the wearer’s body, allowing separate holes for individual hairs and making them weightless. This technology will double the amount […] Written by Ella Alderson September 6, 2023September 6, 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
