BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK The Brewing Storm In The Coffee Industry Key Takeaway: The coffee industry is facing a potential reckoning as rising prices threaten to slow its expansion. Giuseppe Lavazza, the head of the iconic Italian coffee brand, suggests that consumers in the U.S. might see prices increase by 20%-25% over the next year. The price of a latte or flat white is becoming pricier, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK What Vietnam Can Teach Us About The Vulnerabilities Of Banks Key Takeaway: Vietnam’s businesswoman Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for taking out $44 billion in fraudulent loans from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) by bypassing a law that prevents anyone from owning more than 5% of a bank’s shares. The loans made up 93% of the bank’s entire lending portfolio. The case highlights the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS SOCIOLOGY Do Nobel Peace Prize Winners Actually Create Peace? Key Takeaway: The Norwegian Nobel Committee is set to announce the winner of the annual Nobel Peace Prize on October 6, 2023, from a pool of 351 nominees. Environmental activist Greta Thunberg and Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy are among the nominees. The winner will receive a medal, US$994,000, and global recognition. The prize has […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK How China Is Rethinking Its Economy The People’s Bank of China is encouraging Chinese banks to lend more to businesses and consumers by cutting the proportion of deposits that they have to hold as reserves by 0.5 percentage points to an average of 8.4% from December 15. It follows a similar cut in July, and is an interesting counterpoint to western central banks such as […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS PIYASAK UKRITNUKUN, MD Abandoning his hopes of studying for an MBA, Piyasak Ukritnukun has turned a relatively small lending company into a billion dollar financial inclusion company. What’s your story? I was born in the US and came back to Thailand to study at Thammasat Business School in 1999. After college, I spent two years with Boston Consulting Group […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS ALEX NG, Founder and Director Never one to be constrained by convention, Alex Ng has created Singapore’s first unstaffed store, powered by AI. What’s your story? Since I was young, I have had the habit of choosing less popular or niche decisions. For example, instead of playing computer games during my secondary school days, I found more enjoyment in selling […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS MINESH PORE, Co-Founder and CEO Minesh Pore has used his global trade expertise to create a ‘dating’ agency where buyers can meet suppliers and BuyHive does the crucial bits in the middle. What’s your story? BuyHive wanted to solve the problem of trust and transparency in sourcing to improve buyers’ outcomes, especially with the assumptions that the growing segment of […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid 19 Management Strategies & Outcomes: East Asia & Western World In December 2019, a new strain of Coronavirus, later identified as SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) or COVID-19, began to surface in Wuhan, China. By February 2020, COVID-19 had become a pandemic which required emergency measures across the globe. However, regions in East Asia and Europe adopted different pandemic strategies which led to […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS SCHWIN CHIARAVANONT, Founder & Managing Partner After being educated in the USA, Schwin returned to his native Thailand and began his career into asset management What’s your story? I grew up in Thailand and was sent to the US at the age of 12, where I studied for 10 years. I have a very entrepreneurial nature and am also very passionate […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS TRISTAN HAHNER, Co-founder A commitment to knowledge and truth was the basis of Tristan Hahner’s desire to enable patients to access an online resource of medical information. What’s your story? As a firm believer in education, I’m passionate about healthcare and trying to improve the quality of people’s lives. Through DoctorxDentist, people have access to free, expert knowledge […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Merging Of Mind And Machine Key Takeaway: Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology is rapidly redefining human potential, with breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and machine learning enabling the translation of thoughts into action. The brain is a complex network of over 80 billion neurons, processing thoughts, memories, emotions, and sensory inputs. Advances in AI, miniaturized electronics, and neuroimaging have led to the […] Written by Empirics Asia April 16, 2025April 16, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Hard Problem Of A.I. Key Takeaway: AI systems are often portrayed as human, but they are not sentient, conscious, or feeling. They lack the interoceptive feedback that shapes human cognition and are not able to understand the content they produce. This disconnect creates a gulf between real consciousness and synthetic simulation. The illusion of humanity projected by AI becomes […] Written by Empirics Asia April 15, 2025April 15, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Tech Of Music Is Space-Bending Key Takeaway: Researchers have developed a technology that creates “audible enclaves” in open air, creating highly focused, localized zones of sound. These isolated audio pockets allow sound to materialize only at a precise point in space, unheard by others nearby. This breakthrough could revolutionize public communication, entertainment, military applications, and office design. The process, known […] Written by Empirics Asia April 9, 2025April 9, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Promise And Peril Of A.I. Therapy Key Takeaway: AI-powered mental health tools, such as chatbots and self-help apps, offer immediate emotional support to those in need. However, these tools cannot replace the complexity, depth, and ethical safeguards of human therapy, especially when dealing with serious mental health issues. AI lacks emotional understanding, cultural context, and real-time adaptability, which can be dangerous […] Written by Empirics Asia April 8, 2025April 8, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Humanity’s Greatest Threat Might Come From Above Key Takeaway: The discovery of asteroid 2024 YR4 has reignited fears about cosmic threats, highlighting the need for a global planetary defense system. Political scientist Daniel Deudney warns that unchecked expansion into space, especially with geopolitical rivalries, could be a recipe for global disaster. The fear of space, its vastness, and existential indifference is deeply […] Written by Empirics Asia April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How Cereal Sparked The Plant Based Revolution Key Takeaway: John Harvey Kellogg, a controversial doctor, played a significant role in the development of the plant-based movement. He combined the Progressive Era with “biologic living” and established an experimental kitchen to develop alternatives to meat. In 1896, the U.S. Department of Agriculture asked Kellogg to create a plant-based protein that could rival meat […] Written by Empirics Asia April 4, 2025April 4, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Are Viruses Alive? Key Takeaway: The question of whether viruses are alive or not has become increasingly complex due to the lack of a universally accepted definition of life. Viruses are neither truly alive nor completely inanimate, as they cannot replicate on their own and have no metabolism or self-contained cellular structure. They can, however, hijack a host […] Written by Empirics Asia April 3, 2025April 3, 2025 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