EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY The Future Of Taste Key Takeaway: In the past decade dining out has become a cultural touchstone and an essential form of entertainment. Gastronomy tourism continues to rise each year as people travel the world to seek out new dining experiences. After World War II, big shifts in transportation led to the emergence of new types of restaurants. TV, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY Does A.I. Mean The End Of Creativity? Key Takeaway: To what extent does this technology interfere with creativity? We argue that AI art devalues the act of creation for both the artist and the public. The focus on the idea and framing of the artistic task amounts to the fetishization of the creative moment. ChatGPT and DALL-E aim to make the process […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK The Origin Of Christmas Trees Key Takeaways: The humble Christmas tree is emblematic of the growth of market economics and world trade. Who would have imagined that fir trees would be grown in Denmark especially for the export market, or that factories in China would produce plastic replicas? So, let’s climb on the sleigh and take a ride around this […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Can Science Solve Poverty? Key Takeaways: The fight against poverty and inequality is resuming with tools and programs that are more effective than ever before, thanks to a quiet revolt against business as usual. The evidence-based policy movement is increasingly being embraced by researchers, activists and government officials. The use of randomized controlled trials to assess social programs is […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY What Is Mastodon & Why It Won’t Be The Next Twitter Key Takeaways: In the wake of Elon Muskโs noisy takeover of Twitter, people have turned to Mastodon. Mastodon allows users to post, follow people and like and repost othersโ posts. While Mastodon supports many of the same social networking features as Twitter, it is not a single platform. Each Mastodon server is governed by rules […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Is Twitter’s Blue Tick A Status Symbol? What Will Happen If Everyone Can Buy One? Key Takeaways: Elon Musk proposed a range of controversial changes to the Twitter platform. One of the ideas was to charge US$8 a month to obtain a verified status. The paid verification change has already been rolled out in several countries, including Australia, under the Twitter Blue subscription service. Muskโs proposal is not only misguided […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PSYCHOLOGY The Biggest Lessons From Social Psychology Last spring, I took a class on social psychology. It was one of the most useful classes Iโve ever taken, so I figured Iโd share some of the more interesting findings. Each paragraph has a citation to its right so you can get more information or read the original study. 1. Reciprocity has a strong […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE The Global Debt Crisis & How We Can Solve It Key Takeaways: Countries across the world are drifting towards a debt crisis. Unfortunately for many emerging economies, the reserves they hold are simply not enough to cover all of these demands โ especially after energy prices soared when Russia invaded Ukraine. Other countries are turning to some of the oil-rich gulf states currently profiting from […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK STRATEGY The Strategies Of Tech Giants For Economic Downturn Key Takeaways: Rising inflation and looming recessions are squeezing household finances, but businesses also worry about an economic downturn. With the Standard & Poorโs 500 stock market index down 17% in the year to date, and the Nasdaq 100 tech sector index down 33%, market uncertainties can affect a companyโs ability or willingness to spend […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY SCIENCE The Perception Of Sentience Key Takeaways: Any suggestion that a bee, or any invertebrate, had a mind of its own or that it could experience the world in an intricate and multifaceted way would be met with ridicule. Failure to recognise your hive and return home equals death. The questions we pose to understand the minds of bees must […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How To Tell If Conspiracy Theory Is False Key Takeaway: Conspiracy theories are prevalent and can involve various factors. People believe false conspiracy theories for various reasons, such as the existence of real conspiracies. However, unfounded conspiracy theories often lack evidence and substitute elements that should be red flags for skeptics. To vet a claim, one should seek out evidence, test the allegation, […] Written by H. Colleen Sinclair May 10, 2024May 10, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Surprising Discoveries About The Origin Of Life Key Takeaway: Recent research has focused on replicating the chemical reactions that constitute life as we know it in conditions plausible for early Earth around 4 billion years ago. However, the rise of experimental work has led to many contradictory theories. Some scientists believe that life emerged in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where the conditions provided […] Written by Louise Gillet de Chalonge May 9, 2024May 9, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
NASA’s Search For Life On Mars Key Takeaway: NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rover missions are investigating the planet’s evidence for life, known as its “biosignatures,” in unprecedented detail. The rovers are acting as extraterrestrial detectives, hunting for clues that life may have existed eons ago, including evidence of long-gone liquid surface water, life-sustaining minerals, and organic molecules. The Mars of today […] Written by Amy Williams April 30, 2024April 30, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Smartphones & The Source Of Our Anxiety Key Takeaway: Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation, calls for action to limit teenagers’ smartphone access and address the mental health crisis caused by the widespread use of smartphones. Haidt cites the “great rewiring” period from 2010 to 2015 as a time when adolescents’ neural systems were primed for anxiety and depression by daily smartphone […] Written by Hugh Breakey April 29, 2024April 29, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
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 […] Written by Sarah Florini April 26, 2024April 26, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
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 […] Written by Joe Arvai April 24, 2024April 24, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Are Single People Happier? The Science Of Being Single Key Takeaway: A study published in the Journal of Personality suggests that long-term single people can be secure and thriving, possibly due to their attachment style. The research found that 78% of singles were insecure, with 22% being secure. Secure singles are comfortable with intimacy and closeness in relationships, while anxious singles worry about rejection […] Written by Yuthika Girme April 23, 2024April 23, 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 โ a transcendent sign of intelligence, as we saw in Ravenโs Matrices โ 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 Instituteโs new report, โReskilling China: Transforming The Worldโs Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learnersโ, which focuses on the countryโs 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 Youโre 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 Iโm about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and Iโll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what โcommunityโ means for business. โWhere should community fit in my organization?โ and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked