The IMF adds to a chorus of concern about competition
By: The Economist April 4, 2019 Physicists’ quest for a “theory of everything” is well-known. The equivalent in economics is the hunt for common causes for the rich-world macroeconomic trends of the past decade or so: a shrinking share of the economic pie for workers, disappointing investment and lacklustre productivity growth. These must be reconciled with […]
Slower growth in ageing economies is not inevitable
By: Economist March 28, 2019 For the first time in history, the Earth has more people over the age of 65 than under the age of five. In another two decades the ratio will be two-to-one, according to a recent analysis by Torsten Sløk of Deutsche Bank. The trend has economists worried about everything […]
Born to Win, Schooled to Lose
By: Georgetown University March 28, 2017 The American Dream promises that individual talent will be rewarded, regardless of where one comes from or who one’s parents are. But the reality of what transpires along America’s K-12-to-career pipeline reveals a sorting of America’s most talented youth by affluence—not merit. Among the affluent, a kindergartner with test […]
The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition
By: Jonathan Tepper December, 2018 The Myth of Capitalism tells the story of how America has gone from an open, competitive marketplace to an economy where a few very powerful companies dominate key industries that affect our daily lives. Digital monopolies like Google, Facebook and Amazon act as gatekeepers to the digital world. Amazon is capturing […]
Why exercise alone won’t save us
By: The Guardian January 3, 2019 This is the time of year when trainers are mined from under beds and gym kits are disinterred from the bottom drawer. Google searches relating to physical fitness peak in January. Many people even trawl the web to find out about “desk exercises” and “workouts on the go” in […]
Uber’s quiet ride option is a warning: we are falling victims to convenience
By: The Guardian May 29, 2019 Uber has launched a quiet ride service in the US, which means that passengers can request that a driver refrain from talking to them during their trip. The quiet ride feature is available in Uber’s premium Black service. If you’re reading this thinking, “Great, now rich people have even […]
To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future
By: Quanta Magazine July 10, 2018 A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all depend on comparisons between ongoing actual experiences and the brain’s modeled expectations. ast month, the artificial intelligence company DeepMind introduced new software that can take a single image of a few objects in a virtual room and, […]
This AI generates ultra-realistic fashion models from head to toe
By: MSN January 5, 2019 You’ve already seen how AI can be used to generate eerily realistic images of human faces, food, and even Airbnb homestays. Kyoto-based firm DataGrid is taking things a step further to creep you out with complete human bodies conjured afresh from images it’s gleaned. That’s right – according to the company, the models you’re looking […]
The New Military-Industrial Complex of Big Data Psy-Ops
By: NY Books March 21, 2018 Apparently, the age of the old-fashioned spook is in decline. What is emerging instead is an obscure world of mysterious boutique companies specializing in data analysis and online influence that contract with government agencies. As they say about hedge funds, if the general public has heard their names that’s […]