CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY The Art Of Getting Lost Key Takeaway: In 1967, French philosopher Guy Debord argued that we should not be passively consumed by images, but rather engage with them. The Situationist International movement, formed in 1957, aimed to create new ways to reflect on and experience cities as acts of resistance against profit-motivated capitalist structures. The group’s philosophy suggests that we […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK The Rise Of Robo-Retail Key Takeaway: Canada’s first robotic cafe, RC Coffee, opened in Toronto in October 2020, reviving the concept of a restaurant where food and drinks are served by technology. The trend of digitally enabled retail automation has grown in popularity in Canada over the past decade, driven by safety concerns and labor shortages. As of the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY SOCIOLOGY How A.I. Might Shape Religion Key Takeaway: AI is transforming our engagement with faith and spirituality by making access to ancient texts easier and enabling AI-tutors to guide people through them. However, AI also poses challenges, such as misinformation and misrepresentation, which could lead to hate crimes and community tensions. In the future, AI will become a co-pilot for all […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS The Future Of China’s Semiconductor Industry Key Takeaway: China’s national champions for semiconductor design and manufacturing, HiSilicon and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), are making waves in Washington. Huawei’s launch of the Huawei Mate 60 smartphone in August 2023 showed that Chinese self-sufficiency in HiSilicon’s semiconductor design and SMIC’s manufacturing capabilities were catching up at an alarming pace. The US has […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE The Future Of Transhumanism Key Takeaway: Tech industry leaders are discussing the convergence between humans and machines, inspired by transhumanism. Elon Musk’s company Neuralink aims to facilitate this convergence, aiming to prevent humans from being left behind in technology advancements. Transhumanists advocate for the three “supers” of superintelligence, superlongevity, and superhappiness. Companies like OpenAI, DeepMind, and Anthropic are racing […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK Why Are Most Robots White In Colour? Key Takeaway: Racial and gender bias in artificial intelligence algorithms and language models has been a concern in social robots, which are designed to interact with diverse groups of people. Socially assistive robotics aims to create machines that will help people help themselves, but these robots often do not reflect basic aspects of society’s diversity. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK The Secret Recipe Of Disney Films Key Takeaway: Disney has a rich musical legacy, with landmark films featuring musical numbers that remain household favourites today. The studio’s first sound film, Steamboat Willie, (1928), established Disney as the leading animation studio. The silent era of cinema (1923-1928) saw films without soundtracks but often accompanied by local organists or pianists. The Alice Comedies […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY The Future Of Art In The Age Of A.I. Key Takeaway: Ai Weiwei’s perspective on AI technology suggests that it might push us towards a new goal for art. The new challenge is establishing what a truly digital future of art might look like and what our human contribution to it might be. Weiwei believes that art is about freedom of expression, a new […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE Can We Trust Science? Key Takeaway: A study has found that people who distrust science are not only not well-informed about the facts but also believe they do understand the science. This distrust is not just due to a deficit of knowledge, but also a lack of trust in the message and messenger. Research has shown that people who […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE Exploring The Secrets Of Our Brain Waves Key Takeaway: Brain-measuring tech is evolving, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI being key tools in understanding brain activity. Brain states are recurring activity patterns distributed across the brain that emerge from physiological or cognitive processes. These states involve the synchronization of different brain regions and are functionally relevant. The most commonly studied […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Building Blocks Of The Universe Key Takeaway: Peter Higgs, the creator of the Higgs boson, has died at the age of 94. Higgs, a great scientist in particle physics, discovered the Higgs boson in 1964 after reading a paper by American theoretical physicist Philip Anderson. This led to the development of the Standard Model, which explained how fundamental particles and […] Written by Harald Fox April 16, 2024April 16, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Inherent Risks Of A.I. Key Takeaway: Leading scientists and technologists often make terrible predictions about the direction of innovation, leading to misalignments between a company’s economic incentives to profit from its proprietary AI model and society’s interests in how the AI model should be monetised and deployed. Focusing on the economic risks from AI is not just about preventing […] Written by Mariana Mazzucato April 15, 2024April 15, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
When Will Quantum Computers Actually Become Practical? Key Takeaway: Quantum computing, which uses entanglement to represent information, has the potential to revolutionize everyday life. However, the development of quantum computers has been slow due to the need to demonstrate an advantage over classical computers. Only a few notable quantum algorithms have been developed, such as the BB84 protocol and Shor’s algorithm, which […] Written by Adam Lowe April 4, 2024April 4, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Predicting China’s Economy In 2024 Key Takeaway: China’s leaders have declared a GDP growth target of 5% in 2024, despite facing economic problems and a property crisis. The country’s rapid economic growth has been attributed to market incentives, cheap labor, infrastructure investment, exports, and foreign direct investment. However, none of these drivers are working effectively. The government’s determination to deflate […] Written by Hong Bo April 3, 2024April 3, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Of Human Computing Key Takeaway: Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, aims to implant a brain-computer interface (BCI) in people’s brains, allowing them to control computers or phones by thought alone. This technology holds the promise of alleviating human suffering and allowing people with disabilities to regain lost capacities. However, the long-term aspirations of Neuralink include the ability to […] Written by Allan McCay April 2, 2024April 2, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Real Mystery Of Sand Dunes Key Takeaway: Sand dunes, primarily formed of quartz and feldspar grains, can also be formed from ash, snow, and gypsum. They can record a history of climate changes and can be enormous, with the largest being as tall as skyscrapers. Only a fifth of deserts are covered by sand dunes, and only about a fifth […] Written by David Thomas April 1, 2024April 1, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Economics Of Betrayal Key Takeaway: Judas Iscariot, a disciple of Jesus, is often associated with treachery and betrayal due to his loyalty. However, research suggests that acts of betrayal are rare, as most humans can be trusted due to their interests. In a trust game, the sender can keep the money or send it to the receiver, who […] Written by Renaud Foucart March 29, 2024March 29, 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