EDITOR'S PICK STRATEGY TECHNOLOGY How Netflix Uses Data Science To Produce Amazing Shows Key Takeaways: Netflix has released hundreds of Originals and plans to spend $8 billion over the next year on content. Each production is a mountain of operational and logistical challenges that consumes and produces tremendous amounts of data. At Netflix’s scale, this is further amplified to levels seldom encountered before in the history of entertainment. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY Do I Even Exist? Brave New World. The Matrix. The Truman Show. Inception. Source Code. And the latest dystopia I’ve seen: Archive. They all trade on the same group of basic structures: the idea that we do not exist, and moreover, may never have; that we are but algorithms; that we are mere vestiges of something past; or that reality is anything but real, in spite of the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY Amazon And Quantum Computing One of the most commonly used examples used in schools and colleges to explain the need for quantum computing is the so-called traveling salesman problem, which requires complex combinatorial optimization skills to solve the following question: “Given a list of cities and the distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible route that […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY This Year’s Biggest Technological Breakthrough The breakthrough was a quiet affair, escaping the light of many major media outlets. Up until this year any research behind this technology was highly secretive; details were ushered out of the public eye and bound behind closed doors. It was only a few weeks ago that we became aware of the brilliant strides one […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY Are We Living In A Simulation? Brave New World. The Matrix. The Truman Show. Inception. Source Code. And the latest dystopia I’ve seen: Archive. They all trade on the same group of basic structures: the idea that we do not exist, and moreover, may neverhave; that we are but algorithms; that we are mere vestiges of something past; or that reality is anything but real, in spite of the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS SOCIOLOGY Racism In Sport: The Truth In the penalty shoot-out that saw Italy defeat England in the UEFA Euro 2020 final, the skill of the goalkeepers was overshadowed by the perceived failure of the English players who missed their shots. Three young players – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – were subjected to torrents of anti-black racist abuse. One of […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY Electric Cars And Mass Adoption An interesting article by Justin Rowlatt on the BBC website, “Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think”, applies the S-curve of the technology life cycle to electric car sales, comparing what is happening at the moment to the spread of internet connectivity in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and concludes that we are at the point […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS TECHNOLOGY Are Tech Giants Above The Law? A US federal court has ruled that the antitrust lawsuits that the Federal Trade Commission and 40 states had filed against Facebook failed to prove conclusively that the company is a de facto monopoly, rejecting the state lawsuits and giving the FTC 30 days to substantiate its arguments. As a result, Facebook shares are up 4%, pushing the company’s share price […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE TECHNOLOGY The 2 Things Needed For Crypto To Truly Change The World What do we need for crypto to really hit the big time? What does it take for crypto to turn into something nobody can live without, something invisible and universal that everyone just uses and nobody even thinks about anymore? All technological revolutions follow the same patterns. Over time, we go from a few smart […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS FINANCE Is Decentralized Finance Here To Stay? Cryptocurrencies have been steadily increasingly in popularity and more cryptocurrencies join the space each year. Some new coins provide value and could pose threat to some of the established cryptocurrencies. However, most are here today and gone tomorrow — let’s see why. The Early Internet Argument There are almost 2 billion websites live right now […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How China Makes Economic Plans Key Takeaway China’s decision-making calendar is structured with key moments when it makes plans for its economic and political future. These include two sessions, study sessions of the politburo, and the declaration of President Xi Jinping’s third term as general secretary. The Chinese political calendar features seven plenary sessions to establish a unified vision for […] Written by Mark Greeven May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Science Of Cringe Key Takeaway Cringe is a physical and emotional emotion that can help people better understand themselves and one another. A recent study showed that cringe-filled entertainment can actually help people better understand themselves and one another. The study found that binge-watching a show with cringeworthy moments can be therapeutic, as it reminds us of the […] Written by Anuja Anil Pradhan May 23, 2023May 23, 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
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 […] Written by Victor Lee May 3, 2023May 3, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Importance Of Solitude Key Takeaway: Solitude is different from loneliness, as it can be found in public spaces and can have a positive impact on our daily mood. It can help us deal with feelings of frustration, agitation or anger. Spending time alone can be difficult and lonely, so it is important to have something to do during […] Written by Thuy-vy Nguyen May 2, 2023May 2, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Of Digital Journalism After BuzzFeed Key Takeaway: Buzzfeed News has announced it will shut its award-winning news division for good, laying off 60 journalists. This is bad news for those involved and a tragedy for the wider digital news media, as it produced hard-edged, scoop-heavy journalism. Media companies sought to emulate Buzzfeed’s irreverent and flippant style, but its quality journalism […] Written by Sean Dodson May 1, 2023May 1, 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
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
