Opinions + Links
Insight Links for Feb 18, 9:19 pm
// February 18th, 2011 // No Comments » // Opinion
- The shadow workers of the iceberg economy, the other ‘invisible hand’, Michel Bauwens @ P2P Foundation:
Radicals often speak as though we live in a bleak landscape in which the good has yet to be born, the revolution yet to begin. As Constantino points out, both of them are here, right now, and they always have been. They are represented in countless acts of solidarity and resistance, and sometimes they even [...] - How Women and Men Spend Their Money, Team @ Freakonomics:
Both men and women lie to their partners about their spending, but the money similarities between the genders seem to end there. Viviana A. Zelizer explores the differences in a Wall Street Journal article, writing that women in many different cultures… - The LWOT: "JihadJane" expected to plead guilty; Spanish judge sets deadline on Gitmo investigation – by Andrew Lebovich, ANDREW LEBOVICH @ Foreign Policy:
Foreign Policy and the New America Foundation bring you a twice weekly brief on the legal war on terror. You can read it on foreignpolicy.com or get it delivered directly to your inbox — just sign up here. - The Art of Upheaval – By Christina Larson, CHRISTINA LARSON @ Foreign Policy:
How Egyptian artists channeled a society’s immense frustrations and foreshadowed the revolution. - A New Leader for Egypt’s Protesters? – By Blake Hounshell, BLAKE HOUNSHELL @ Foreign Policy:
An emotional figurehead emerges after nearly two weeks in darkness, but the masses in Tahrir are moving further apart as the days progress. - Mobile Banking Takes Off in Kenya, Team @ Freakonomics:
A new paper by William Jack and Tavneet Suri looks at M-PESA, a mobile-money transfer service in Kenya. Mobile banking has become particularly popular in the developing world, where safe, reliable banking has historically been limited, and often availa… - Need to Turn Off His Sex Drive? Cry, Team @ Freakonomics:
What happens to men when women cry? A new study finds that, as in mice, human tears may serve a “chemosignaling function.” Specifically, female tears seem to reduce male sexual arousal. - Eyeballing the Forbidden Fruit, Team @ Freakonomics:
Ordering your significant other to ignore the attractive person at the next table might backfire, according to a new study. - Did the Rooney Rule Really Work?, Team @ Freakonomics:
Last week, Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim wrote a guest post about black coaches in the NFL and the introduction of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority applicant when filling head-coaching spots. Moskowitz … - Scorecasting: A Guest Post, Team @ Freakonomics:
When my wife saw the cover of the new book Scorecasting by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim, which was sitting on my bedside table, all she could do was shake her head.
Hindsight Links for Feb 18, 6:00 am
// February 18th, 2011 // No Comments » // Digests, Hindsight
- Super Priority Inbox, Fred Wilson @ A VC:
I love gmail priority inbox. I can’t imagine doing email in an email client that doesn’t have this feature. For those who are not familiar with priority inbox, it’s a feature that splits the gmail inbox into three sections. The… - The Essence of a Great Presentation, Team @ HBR.org:
[For more, visit the Communication Insight Center.] Last week, I played the piano for my friend Macy Robison’s cabaret-style recital… - Help Employees Listen When They Don’t Want to Hear, Team @ HBR.org:
[For more, visit the Communication Insight Center.] When change initiatives fail, the culprit is often a lack of good communication… - Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, Team @ Cool Hunting:
Among the many new exciting games and oddities at the 2011 Toy Fair, Activision’s latest gaming experience for the Nintendo Wii stood out for its fresh take on role-playing games. Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure is action-packed entertainment that lets player interaction cross between the game and real worlds. The game… - Solowheel, Karen Day @ Cool Hunting:
Like a stripped-down Segway, Inventist’s new Solowheel is geared for the mobile urbanite. The “self-balancing electric unicycle” operates through gyroscopic technology, which a 1000-watt rechargeable lithium-ion battery powers. On a full charge (which takes about 45 minutes), the Solowheel lasts two hours—but the battery actually recaptures energy when going…
Insight Links for Feb 16, 6:00 am
// February 16th, 2011 // No Comments » // Digests, Insight
- Thomas Goetz: It’s time to redesign medical data, Team @ Complexity Digest 2011.03:
Your medical chart: it’s hard to access, impossible to read — and full of information that could make you healthier if you just knew how to use it. At TEDMED, Thomas Goetz looks at medical data, making a bold call to redesign it and get more insigh… - Event Announcements, Team @ Complexity Digest 2011.03:
IWSOS 2011, Fifth International Workshop on Self-Organizing Systems , Karlsruhe, Germany, 2011/02/23-25 2011 Complexity Conference, Evanston, IL, USA, 2011/03/6-7 Natural Computing Winter School, Hakodate, Japan, 2011/03/15-16 Imagin… - Webcast Announcements, Team @ Complexity Digest 2011.03:
Lakeside Research Days 2010. Smarter Cities NYC. Posted on 2009/10/05 ASSYST Digital Library. Since 09/09 Complex Systems Teleconferences. Since 09/09 Symmetry Festival 2009, Budapest, Hungary, 09/08/1-4…. - Other Announcements, Team @ Complexity Digest 2011.03:
ASSYSTComplexity One of the main goals of the ASSYST Coordination Action is to promote Complex Systems for Socially Intelligent ICT (COSI-ICT) and, more generally, Complex Systems (CS) Science in Europe and Worldwide. We do this by communicating wi… - In Fast-Forward Middle East, Think Backgammon Not Dominoes, Robin Wood @ Everyone’s Blog Posts – R2 Global Meshwork:
By Mort Rosenblum
Egypt toppled after Tunisia, and now others totter. Distant analysts seize on the obvious: dominoes. But the Middle East plays backgammon, far more intricate and old as the Sphinx….
Foresight Links for Feb 14, 6:00 am
// February 14th, 2011 // No Comments » // Digests, Foresight
- Any Animals Qualify For Personhood Status?, Randall Parker @ FuturePundit:
A view which I see as completely wrong: The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) is committed to the idea that some non-human animals meet the criteria of legal personhood and thus are deserving of specific rights and protections. My t… - Confirmed: Key Anonymous Activities Masterminded by Small Groups of Decision-Makers, Michael Anissimov @ Accelerating Future:
In a recent post (December) I made on Anonymous, commenter “mightygoose” said: i would agree with matt, having delved into various IRC channels and metaphorically walked among anonymous,i would say that they are fully aware that they have no head, no leadership, and while you can lambast their efforts as … - Anders Sandberg on “AI: Predictably Unpredictable”, Michael Anissimov @ Accelerating Future:
From UK H+ 2011. Nice to see transhumanism doing well in the UK. Anders sports his cryonics necklace on the outside… classy. - Anna Salamon at UKH+: Survival in the Margins of the Singularity?, Michael Anissimov @ Accelerating Future:
Anna Salamon is a Research Fellow at the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Her work centers on analytical modeling of artificial intelligence risks, probabilistic forecasting, and strategies for human survival. Previously, she conducted machine learning research at NASA Ames, and applied mathematics research at the Rohwer Phage Metagenomics lab. This … - Social Networks Predict Disease Spread, Janice Karin @ TFOT – The Future Of Things:
Scientists at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and The University of California at San Diego determined a method of predicting the spread of contagious diseases using social networking theories. Utilizing the friendship paradox – the idea…
Hindsight Links for Feb 11, 6:00 am
// February 11th, 2011 // No Comments » // Digests, Hindsight
- Wonderwall Archives 01, Team @ Cool Hunting:
From A.P.C.’s bungalow-style boutique in Tokyo to Hong Kong’s freezer-like Ice Cream store, Wonderwall, the interior design firm founded in 2000 by Masamichi Katayama, has made its name by creating a diverse range of spaces throughout Asia, the U.S…. - Welcome to the Age of Dilemma, Umair Haque @ HBR.org:
Another week, another potentially destabilizing global mini-crisis. This time, it’s (yet another) global food crisis: food prices are set to… - Ask Customers to Use Less of Your Product: The Big Heresy, Team @ HBR.org:
Last week I attended an Executive Sustainability Summit hosted by Xerox, Waste Management (WM), and Arizona State University. The short… - The Power of the Right Question, Team @ HBR.org:
I recently spent a couple days inside a large financial services company with a team that had been tasked with… - Matt Shlian, Team @ Cool Hunting:
As teacher, paper engineer and artist Matt Shlian explains on his site, “researchers see paper engineering as a metaphor for scientific principals; I see their inquiry as basis for artistic inspiration.” His geometric sculptures elegantly reflect this strong connection to the education and scientific communities, exploring the physicality of…
Insight Links for Feb 9, 6:00 am
// February 9th, 2011 // No Comments » // Digests, Insight
- Should We Be Surprised at Political Bias in Academia?, Stephen J. Dubner @ Freakonomics:
Ruh-Roh. John Tierney in today’s Times: “… Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia who studies the intuitive foundations of morality and ideology … polled his audience at the San Antonio Convention Center [during the ann… - The Downside of Playing Sports, and Watching Too, Stephen J. Dubner @ Freakonomics:
Two good questions from a reader named Harold Laski, who is the medical director of Southside Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla.: “As a physician treating injured sportsmen, I understand (or at least I think that I do), the reasons that people get in… - The rise of personal robots: Cynthia Breazeal on TED.com, Emily McManus @ TED Blog:
As a grad student, Cynthia Breazeal wondered why we were using robots on Mars, but not in our living rooms. The key, she realized: training robots to interact with people. Now she dreams up and builds robots that teach, learn — and play. Watch for amazing demo footage of a … - Why Is the German Economy Cranking?, Team @ Freakonomics:
What’s behind Germany’s economic success? It’s not a wirtschaftswunder; The Economist explains. - Worldchanging 2.0: Abuzz with New Solutions, Team @ Worldchanging: Bright Green:
WorldChanging TeamThe future of green is orange: within the 600 pages of the new Worldchanging book, you’ll find the global sustainability movement redefined. This is a…
Foresight Links for Feb 7, 6:00 am
// February 7th, 2011 // No Comments » // Digests, Foresight
- Future News – February 4, 2011, Rick Schettino @ FutureTimes.net – The Future News Archive:
5 Earth-sized planets spied in ‘habitable zone’ ‘Tall order’ sunlight-to-hydrogen system works, neutron analysis confirms Diesel from waste: Simple, energy-efficient process for producing high-quality fuels from biomass Atom-thick sheets unlock fu… - Web Firms Set the Pace for Innovation in Other Industries, IFTF Report Says, Lisa Mumbach @ Institute For The Future:
attachment: SR1259_LightweightInnovationMemo.pdf teaser: What can other industries learn from what’s … - Vertical Axis Wind Turbines For Offshore, Randall Parker @ FuturePundit:
An article in Technology Review takes a look at the use of vertical axis wind turbines to lower the center of gravity in order to enable a cost reduction by cutting the size of the flotation system. French oil and gas engineering company Technip and wi… - Geomagnetic Storm in Progress, Michael Anissimov @ Accelerating Future:
In other, potentially civilization-saving news, NSF-affiliated scientists are rolling out the first system that may help predict coronal mass ejections and other solar storms one-to-four days in advance. Would power companies be foresightful enough to shut down the grid for a few days in the instance of a truly major … - Why Not Philanthropic Book Buying?, Randall Parker @ FuturePundit:
Say you are reading a book you really like and want others to read it too. Maybe you just one certain friend to read it. Maybe you want to try to influence millions of people you do not even know. Or somewhere in between. It should be possible to easil……
Greenfields