Tuesday night starts Yom Kippur, one of the High Holy Days for Jews, otherwise known as the Day of Atonement. As part of the holiday, we read down a list of sins (text available here), apologizing for the ones that we committed, and asking forgiveness. In addition, we promise to do better next year.It's really interesting how little human nature has changed in the past several thousand years. The list of sins is just as relevant today as I imagine it was back then.
Equally important to recognizing and repenting for your sins, is what comes after. Remembering all the good you did as well … for yourself, your friends and family, or your community.
It's an important framework that highlights how you have grown; and, it also shows where you have room to grow.
Hoping you all experience growth in your mental states, your relationships, and in your businesses.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- Jamie Dimon Picks a Fight with Trump. (ComplianceX)
- Articles about Most Innovative Companies and this Year's Highlights. (FastCompany)
- The New Passport-Poor. (NYBooks)
- Leadership Expert Simon Sinek on the Importance of Finding Your Tribe. (Heleo)
- Five Smart Behaviors that Helped France Win the 2018 World Cup Can Help Businesses, Too. (Strategy-Business)
Trading Links
- AI Will Create $13 Trillion in Value by 2030. (TechRepublic)
- A Few Notes on the Wealthy Elite. (CXOAdvisory)
- Martin Armstrong: We are Witnessing the Global Collapse of Socialism. (FinancialSense)
- Billionaire Ray Dalio: Trump's Tariffs Aren't 'That Big of a Deal' to China. (CNBC)
- JPMorgan's Experimental Investment in Detroit Was So Successful that It's Decided to Invest $500,000 in Up-and-coming Cities. (BusinessInsider)
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – September 16th, 2018
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Understanding the Scope and Scale of Humanity (and Our Impact)
"Progress is the attraction that moves humanity." ~ Marcus Garvey
Human expansion and development is without precedent. We're in an entirely new territory. People could "only imagine" many of the things we take for granted today.
To put it in perspective.
- There are more than 7 Billion people inhabiting our planet today. in 1950. That number was just 2.56 billion.
- 200 years ago there were less than 1 billion people.
- We produce approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of waste in a year.
- More data was created in 2017 than in all of history combined.
- Here's an interactive website showing our footprint, urbanization, networks etc.
via OurWorldInDataWhile growth is slowing down, and we're reaching carrying capacity, the population is still on the rise.
Technology is Growing Exponentially
“Technology goes beyond mere tool making; it is a process of creating ever more powerful technology using the tools from the previous round of innovation.” ~Ray Kurzweil
The only thing that's perhaps more impressive than our population growth is our technological growth. For the first ~ 64,000 years of humanity, we relied upon the verbal transfer of information. The creation of writing and the formal recording of knowledge was the tinder for a blaze of progress.
The above graph stops in 1990, and it's almost hard to quantify the growth since then. Nonetheless, Moore's Law does a good job of adding some context (even if it is coming to an end).
Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles about every two years. Extrapolated outwards, we can expect more technologies to evolve every two years, if not faster.
Information is the fuel for so much of human progress and it most embodies the future to me. We create more data today than in all of history and digest more data today than ever before.
As our ability to parse information increases … so do our capabilities.
History is defined by asymmetric information, but our future may not be. The growth in information creation and digestion – I believe - will have massive effects on how we congregate, what we create, and how we interact with each other and the corporate world around us.
I can't begin to imagine what my children's children will have at their disposal.
What's the coolest future-tech you expect to see in your lifetime?
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A Rennaissance in Mathematics: The Mathematician Who Cracked Wall Street
Jim Simons is a mathematician and cryptographer who realized that the complex math he used to break codes could help explain financial patterns – and he made billions because of it in his notoriously secretive hedge fund firm called Renaissance Technologies.
He is famous not only for the duration of his success and the size of his results … but also for the way he made his money (with much lower volatility and risk than his peers and competitors).
His background is impressive. Simons taught at Harvard and MIT and worked with the NSA. Here is a video where he shares some thoughts in a 2015 TED talk interview. It's worth a watch.
TED via Youtube
Interesting stuff … I hope you got something from it.
Despite advanced math still being a mystery to many, most rely on it more than ever … for example, look at what we're seeing with the growth of machine learning and AI.
The Heart of AI is Still in Humans
Simons built a team of mathematicians whose motivation was doing exciting mathematics and science (rather than hired guns who could be lured away by money).
That doesn't mean money wasn't a motivator, but it hits on something important.
The heart of good math and good AI will always benefit from the quality of the humans around it. You still have to champion integrity, culture, and purpose.
Better Math as a Competitive Advantage
We stayed ahead of the pack by finding other approaches and shorter-term approaches to some extent … but the real thing was to gather a tremendous amount of data – Jim Simons
If you've been to our office, or heard me speak, you know how important I believe those ideas are to continuing prosperity.
Constant innovation on a massive scope and scale create more ways to win.
Onwards!
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – September 9th, 2018
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- 7 Best Photos that Celebrate the Magic of Burning Man.(MillionMileSecrets)
- SpaceX Engineer Details Ambitious Plan to Build Multiple Cities on Mars'. (Inverse)
- Can You Wear White after Labor Day? What You Need to Know. (Cheatsheet)
- Yuval Noah Harari: Why the Reluctant Guru is Upsetting Scientists. (NewScientist)
- Inspire Your Team by Living this One Leadership Principle from the U.S. Marines. (Entrepreneur)
- What is Industry 4.0? Here's a Super Easy Explanation for Anyone. (Forbes)
- How Virtual Reality Will Drive the Future of Business.(DigitalTonto)
- The Battle between Two Elites: the Haves and Have-Yachts.(FT)
- College Degrees that Command the Highest Salaries: Short-Term and Long-Term. (Graphicspedia)
- Startups Will Be next Big Thing on Blockchain, Says Crowdfunding Giant Boomstarter. (Newsbtc)
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How To Thrive After the A.I. Revolution
The world is poised on the cusp of an economic and cultural shift as dramatic as that of the Industrial Revolution. – Steven Levy
Artificial Intelligence is one of my favorite things to talk about … It makes so much possible!
In a previous article I mentioned that forecasts expect AI to impact or eliminate up to 50% of current jobs. Nevertheless, I think that is the start of the story. The ultimate impact will be bigger and more positive than most people expect.
Personally, I believe that freeing us to do more has always been a boon to society. Electricity put a lot of people out of work as well … but, look what it made possible.
We'd be naive to think A.I. isn't going to influence the job market, but that doesn't mean you can't navigate that shift.
A Look At Industrial Revolutions
The Industrial Revolution has two phases: one material, the other social; one concerning the making of things, the other concerning the making of men. –Charles A. Beard
There are several turning points in our history where the world changed forever. Former paradigms and realities became relics of a bygone era.
Today, we're at another turning point.
Tomorrow's workforce will require different skills, and face different challenges than we do today. You can consider this a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Compare today's changes to our previous industrial revolutions.
- First industrial revolution – Discovery of the steam engine and creation of factories
- Second industrial revolution – Introduction of the assembly line and mass production
- Third industrial revolution – The world wide web and computers connect the world together heralding the digital age.
Each revolution shared multiple similarities. They were disruptive. They were centered on technological innovation. They created concatenating socio-cultural impact.
The fourth shares all the same hallmarks. We're harnessing new technologies like A.I., the IoT, renewable energy, and quantum computing. Automation is going to reach a new paradigm in this revolution, but there will also be an explosion of new fields, new markets, and new necessary skillsets – it's going to impact the world as holistically as electricity.
How will humans create value in an increasingly automated world?
I believe that, if managed well, the Fourth Industrial Revolution can bring a new cultural renaissance, which will make us feel part of something much larger than ourselves: a true global civilization. I believe the changes that will sweep through society can provide a more inclusive, sustainable and harmonious society. But it will not come easily. – Klaus Schwab
Guthrie Jensen has 10 skills they believe will become more important in the new world, five industries they think will grow the most, and another 10 jobs they think will be the most "in-demand".
Check out the infographic below (click it to see the whole thing).
via Guthrie JensenRobots can do many things, but they've yet to match the creativity and emotional insight of humanity. As automation spreads to more jobs, the need for management, creativity, and decision-making won't go anywhere … they may be bolstered by data analytics, but they won't disappear.
Our uniqueness and flexibility rightly protect our usefulness. AI and automation free us up to be our best selves and to explore new possibilities.
These are exciting times!
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Hope you’re having a relaxing Labor Day weekend
Jennifer and I are in Maine, where it’s getting a little chilly … and the leaves are starting to turn autumn colors. Probably my favorite weather.
Hope you are having a nice Labor Day Weekend.
Winter may not be coming … but fall is near.
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading, September 2nd, 2018
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- The US Military is Funding an AI That's Learning to Write Its Own Code. (311institute)
- A Record Number of Americans Support Legalizing Marijuana, New Survey Shows. (Fool)
- These 10 Questions are Used to Test the US Public's Knowledge of Science. How Many Can You Answer?(ScienceAlert)
- Jeff Bezos: We Must Go Back to the Moon, and this Time to Stay'. (Wall Street Journal)
- Scientists Reanimate Disembodied Pigs' Brains but for a Human Mind, It Could Be a Living Hell. (The Conversation)
Trading Links- If You Invested $1,000 in Apple 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now. (CNBC)
- The 15 Richest Families in America. (CNW)
- Jobless Rate Looks like Old Times, but the Economy Doesn't.(New York Times)
- Facebook is Reportedly Exploring the Creation of Its Own Cryptocurrency. (BusinessInsider)
- Ninety Years of Lessons Learned: T. Boone Pickens' Letter to the Class of 2018. (Forbes)
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AI, Investing v. Trading, Algorithms, and more at Camp Kotok.
Last month, I attended Camp Kotok, a private gathering of economists, fund managers, and other financial industry professionals.
The mood was cautiously optimistic to bullish about the markets – while the participants were feeling a bit uneasy due to changes in the financial industry due to advanced technologies.
Cumberland Advisors just released a video of me talking with Bob Eisenbeis – their Vice Chairman & Chief Monetary Economist.
Cumberland Advisors via YouTube
AI is removing the fear, greed, and discretionary mistakes from financial decision making and its power is in removing the human fully from that process.
We’re at the beginning of a cycle of progress that is hard to imagine … and easy to underestimate.
Ultimately, I think AI will transform the planet much like electricity did.
What about you?
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There’s No One “Right” Path to Success
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ~ Thomas Edison
I love that quote.
One of my core beliefs is that the game isn't over until I say it's over. For the most part, that means the game isn't over until I win.
That is an interesting belief to hold … and it has many consequences.
Here is another good one from Winston Churchill.
Many of the people we see as most successful have failed more times than they can count. Nonetheless, they kept going until they persevered.
Here are a few examples.
Jack Ma, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.
"Today is cruel. Tomorrow is crueller. And the day after tomorrow is beautiful."
Full Infographic via Quick BaseRichard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
“You’ve got to take risks if you’re going to succeed. I would much rather ask forgiveness than permission.”
Full Infographic via Quick BaseWalt Disney, Founder of The Walt Disney Company
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
Full Infographic via Quick BaseKeep on keeping on.
Onwards!
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – August 26th, 2018
My experience is that you tend to see the same people on the way up … as you do on the way down.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- Anonymous Bidder Pays $3.3 Million for Lunch with Warren Buffett. (New York Times)
- What If Your Business Was So Intelligent that Nothing Came as a Surprise. (Medium)
- Here's Why You Shouldn't Multitask, According to an MIT Neuroscientist. (Southernliving)
- Why No One Answers Their Phone Anymore. (The Atlantic)
- What is the 80/20 Rule? How the Pareto Principle Will Supercharge Your Productivity. (HubSpot)
- The Stock Market is on Pace to Hit Another, More Impactful Trillion-dollar Milestone. (Finance)
- Too Little Too Late': Bankruptcy Booms among Older Americans. (New York Times)
- THE MOST AMAZING STORY about BITCOIN YOU'VE EVER HEARD. (James Altucher)
- Why AI Isn't the Death of Jobs. (McKinsey)
- Los Angeles' Median Home Price Nears $1 Million as Fierce Bidding Wars Continue. (Forbes)
