Capitalogix

12 Ways to Get Smarter - In One Infographic

I just got back from Asia and have been jet-lagged.  Consequently, my mental clock-speed is not yet back to normal.

 

It got me thinking about productive output ... and how to increase it.

 

According to VisualCapitalist, the level of a person’s raw intelligence, as measured by aptitude tests such as IQ scores, is generally pretty stable for most adults.

 

While it’s true that there are things you can do to fine tune your natural capabilities (such as doing brain exercises, puzzle solving, and getting optimal sleep) – the amount of raw brainpower you have is difficult to increase in any meaningful or permanent way.

 

For those of us who constantly strive to be high-performers in our fields, this seems like bad news. If we can’t increase our processing power, then how can we solve life’s bigger problems as we move up the ladder?

 

The Key is Mental Models

 

The good news is that while raw cognitive abilities matter, it’s how you use and harness those abilities that really makes the difference.

 

 

via VisualCapitalist - Click the image to see a larger version.

 

The world’s most successful people, from Ray Dalio to Warren Buffett, are not necessarily leagues above the rest of us in raw intelligence – they have simply developed and applied better mental models of how the world works, and they use these principles to filter their thoughts, decisions, strategies, and execution.

 

Today’s infographic comes from best-selling author and entrepreneur Michael Simmons, who has collected over 650 mental models through his work. The infographic (in a similar style to one VisualCapitalist previously published on cognitive biases) synthesizes these models down to the most useful and universal mental models that people should learn to master first.

 

Concepts such as the 80/20 rule (Pareto’s Principle), compound interest, and network effects are summarized in the visualization, and their major components are broken down further within the circle.

 

If you want to be a top performer, it’s worth looking into mental models. They can help you better frame reality, so that you can harness your intelligence and effort in the most effective way possible – and it’ll allow you to deliver results along the way.

 

Otherwise, caffeine and modafinil help.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - February 25th, 2018

Sometimes it is nice to be reminded that  great works are often performed by perseverance rather than strength.

 

via BrainyQuote

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• 5 Ways Blockchain is Changing the Face of Innovation of 2018. (Forbes)

• Singularity's Top 50 Breakthrough Tech Predictions. (Diamandis)

• Don't Be Fooled: Russia Attacked U.S. Troops in Syria. (Bloomberg)

• Not the End of the World:  The Return of Dubai's Ultimate Folly. (TheGuardian)

• The Price Per Square Inch of Pizza at 8 Major US Pizza Chains. (Visual)

 

Trading Links:

• It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies. (Bloomberg)

• In Praise of Elon Musk. (NationalReview)

• It's Time to Make Every Road a Toll Road. (Wired)

• No End in Sight for Amazon's Wild Ride. (Wall Street Journal)

• Apple Sold More Watches Than Rolex, Swatch, and the Rest of the Swiss Watch Industry Combined. (Insider)

The Time Horizons of Start-Up Growth

Growing a company is in many ways similar to raising a child. 

In parenting, you watch your child crawl, walk, and then run.  You also watch them go through phases, tackle new problems, and come out the other side of their trials a changed (and hopefully) stronger person. 

In growing a company, you watch the idea take form (and evolve), and you watch a plan and path unfold.  You also watch your team grow and mature as they encounter problems and strategy pivots that (hopefully) result in a stronger company. 

 

via business2community

In my opinion, persistence despite discomfort is a master key to success.  In other words, learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Breakthroughs happen in response to challenge.

The only companies that don't have problems are the ones that no longer exist.  The goal is to hope for better quality problems.  

Below is a framework that explains the 7 Stages of Small Business Success.  For each of the seven stages, it identifies the critical success factor (problem to solve) that it takes to move the business forward to the next stage of success. 

 

 via Infusionsoft

I've found this model to be helpful.  Let me know what you think.

 

Onwards!

Making Peace With Massage Chairs and Robot Toilets

Even though my company specializes in automating things that people used to do, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when I found out Japan Airlines no longer offers massages in their First Class Lounge. Instead, they have replaced the people with massage chairs.

I fly through Japan several times a year – and I had come to look forward to the quick massage between flights.  I’d rush from the plane to the club to make sure that I got on the list (and would feel slighted if there wasn’t enough buffer time between flights to accommodate this indulgence).  So, I was somewhat skeptical about the switch to massage chairs.

The reason was history – I bought my first massage chair in the mid-1990s ... and it was not very good.  Things have come a long way.

Here is a picture of me overcoming my reservations about technology (yet again).

 

 

It presses, stretches, rolls … and (most importantly) works. I was relaxed, refreshed, and tempted to press the button to do it again.

Sure, I didn’t understand the remote.  But, I didn’t understand the massage attendant either.

On a related note, the club has robot toilets as well.  What I mean is that a “washlet” guidance and targeting system automatically cleans the mess you made.  Disconcerting the first time you use it … but, I want one.

Imagine the testing and QA process to get that right.  Glad all we have to do is engineer trading systems to make and keep money.

And The Winner Is...! Weekly Reading Links - February 16th, 2018

 

Here is a peek at what I've been reading lately. These are the links I saved this week. Hope you find some interesting and enjoyable tidbits. Let me know if you read something I'd like ... Or if there are other sources I should add to my weekly reading. Thanks.

Lighter Links:

Machines that Think' Predicts the Future of Artificial Intelligence.(ScienceNews) Evolutionary Algorithms are the Living, Breathing AI of the Future.(VentureBeat) Thanks, Boston Dynamics! We are Doomed. (Quartz) An Ancient Virus May Be Responsible for Human Consciousness.(LiveScience) New DNA Nanorobots Successfully Target and Kill off Cancerous Tumors. (TechCrunch) Will Big Data Solve the Innovation Gap? (InnovateOnPurpose) Strategy to Beat the Odds. (McKinsey) The Indispensable Document for the Modern Manager. (FirstRound) North and South Korean Athletes Unify on the Ice for Women's Hockey Team. (BR) The next Hot Trend in Japan is Super Low-rise Underwear. (Metro) 4 Data Analytics Trends that Will Dominate 2018. (CIO) More Efficient Machine Learning Could Upend the AI Paradigm. (TechReview) What is AI? Everything You Need to Know about Artificial Intelligence.(ZDNet) Why Google DeepMind is Putting AI on the Psychologist's Couch. (SingularityHub) Want to Win an Argument? Science Says Stop Doing this 1 Thing.(Inc) Inside One of America's Last Pencil Factories. (New York Times) Omega-3 Supplements Don't Protect against Heart Disease. (NYT) So Retro: Vintage Typewriters Reborn to Be More Human. (CNet) 26 Photos of Hong Kong's Chaotic Kowloon Walled City, Once the Most Crowded Place on Earth. (BusinessInsider) Footage from a U-2 Spy Plane, the Most Difficult Aircraft in the World to Fly, Will Take Your Breath Away. (Digg)

Market-Related Links

Vanguard's Chief Economist: Decent Probability' that Bitcoin Goes to Zero. (MarketWatch) Interoperability Might Be the Key to Ending Wall Street's Skepticism on Cryptocurrencies. (Insidermonkey) The Blockchain Era is Here but Big Biz, like Most Folk, Hasn't a Clue What to Do with It. (Moneyscience) How the Public is Being Deceived over GDP. (BigIssue) 10 Chinese Unicorns You Haven't Heard of Yet, but Will Soon Enough.(Wired) Amazon Just Got Serious about Groceries. (Fool) Jim Chanos Worse Than 99 or 07, the Craziest Juncture' in Finance.(ValueWalk) Greedy When Others are Fearful. (DailyReckoning) The Lessons of Black Monday. (Project-Syndicate) $160 Billion Hedge Fund Exec: 'We'll Probably Have a Much Bigger Shakeout Coming'. (BusinessInsider) How Can Actuarial Science Skills Be Applied in Investment Banking?(DataScienceCentral) U.S. GDP Growth is Not as Rosy as It Seems. (SeeItMarket) The 5 Biggest Losers from the 2018 Budget Deal Are. (Forbes) The Internet Rich List: Billionaires Who Made Their Money in Technology . (CNW) Why We Might Get an Infrastructure Deal. (Ritholtz) The Odds of Fixing U.S. Infrastructure Just Got Better. (Bloomberg) Multi-Alternative Funds: Alts for One and One for Alts. (AdvisorPerspectives) If the Fed is Right, Then Markets are in Trouble. (Bloomberg) Four Market-Based Indicators that May Help Investors Identify Stock Market Fragility. (AdvisorPerspectives) Billionaire Hedge Fund Legend Paul Tudor Jones Used a Quote from Shakespeare to Sound the Alarm on a Financial Bubble.(BusinessInsider)

Let me know what you think. Thanks. - Howard

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - February 11th, 2018

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• AI Could Win the next Cold War. (BusinessInsider)
• Fatal Battle between King Cobra and Giant Python Ends in Knots. (News)
• Gene Editing and What It Really Means to Rewrite the Code of Life. (TheGuardian)
• Sedate a Plant, and It Seems to Lose Consciousness. is It Conscious? (New York Times)
• A Minneapolis Agency Created a Snowball Vending Machine for Super Bowl Attendees. (AdWeek)

 

Trading Links:

• The Biggest Tech Takeaways from the 2018 World Economic Forum. (SingularityHub)
• Janet Yellen Disappointed She Didn't Get a 2nd Term as Fed Chair. (USAToday)
• Where SoftBank Has Invested Its $98 Billion Vision Fund. (Re/code)
• Government Set to Borrow Nearly $1 Trillion this Year, an 84 Percent Jump from Last Year. (ChicagoTribune)
• Hedge Funds are Making an Unprecedented Bet That's Signaling More Stock Market Pain. (BusinessInsider)

Crowdsourcing Your Next Innovation

Crowdsourcing is gaining momentum.

One of the first big crowdsourcing wins came through Peter Diamandis's X Prize platform.  Their stated mission is to bring about "radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity" through incentivized competition. 

In 2004, the Ansari X Prize for Suborbital Spaceflight was awarded, and the personal spaceflight industry began. 

Today, space exploration isn't just government funded. You've got players like Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk investing billions in it.

All because of a "little" competition.

HeroX is a clever offshoot of this idea, where complex problems are solved (and new innovations are created) by crowdsourcing competitions. 

Click here to see their current challenges.

I spent some time this week with Christian Cotichini, co-founder, and CEO of HeroX.  Watch this three-minute video to get an idea how crowdsourcing is becoming more mainstream and powerful.

 

Howard Getson via Youtube

 Crowdsourcing is a terrific way to supplement an innovation funnel.  

We are investigating how to best leverage platforms like this.

Let's talk if you have ideas.

Why Elon Musk's SpaceX Launch Is So Important

Last Tuesday, Musk launched his Tesla Roadster and it's passenger "Starman" into space on his Falcon Heavy rocket. 

Cool?  Clever Marketing?  Or Both?

 

Space via Twitter

This feat is exciting for a number of reasons.

1. Falcon Heavy is cheaper than other heavy lift rockets – yet, it is twice as powerful. 
2. This means we can ship payloads to Mars (or potentially farther). 
3. The boosters landed back on their platform to be reused.
4. And, ultimately, it's inspiring and momentum building to a new age of future space explorers.

When I was growing up, the space race caught the public's hearts and minds.  I was a kid, but I still remember watching the lunar landing.  It was a big deal! 

Likewise, I remember when astronauts were positioned as national heroes.  Now, we're more jaded.

In the past decade, rockets, space-stations, satellites, etc. were often just an afterthought or a small filler news item.  Meanwhile, A.I., Cloning, Voice Recognition, 3D Printing, Drones, and other technological advances were the sexy attention-getting topics. 

Recently, that has changed.  The space race is getting hot again.  Resources are pouring into this area, and SpaceX's launch is proof that we are making progress (and probably altering life's history). 

Take a look. 

 

 

This was supposed to be captivating.  Teachers can show their students a rocket launch where a man shot a car into space ... then they can watch the car float through space.  It's taking what we're used to only seeing in movies ... and making it real. 

Passion in the sciences is important, and successes like this can ignite passion in our future, in more than just space exploration. 

We live in exciting times. 

Onwards!

Will I Survive the AI Revolution?

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence by more industries, and it's subsequent advances, raise a lot of questions. 

For example, Saudi Arabia recently gave "Sophia the Robot" citizenship. That makes Saudi Arabia the first country to grant a robot citizenship.  This isn't the first time non-persons have been granted the rights of a citizen, but it does raise questions. 

Another question I hear more often is:

 

How long until the machines are better at my job than me? 

 

Automation used to mean big, bulky machines doing manual and repetitive work, but today, automation can land aircraft, diagnose cancer and trade. 

Kurzgesagt, a YouTube channel specializing in explaining things "in a nutshell" took on the new wave of automation. It's a little long at 11 minutes, but it's worth watching.

  

Kurzgesagt via Youtube

Kurzesegast asserts that in the past, innovation created new industries or allowed increased scale ... but the number of jobs the internet and Artificial Intelligence create aren't matching the number of jobs they're making obsolete. 

According to this study, approximately 50% of jobs will be automated by 2034.

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.  Nonetheless, look what it made possible.

To date, human progress has been based on the division of labor. As our society progressed, our jobs have become more and more specialized.  Now, machines will be able to break-down complex jobs into simple parts and complete them faster than we can.  

Machine Learning is being done faster and better.  And you can bet that will only become more true.  So, yes, the same technology that's  currently creating opportunities could eventually put you out of a job ... but it also creates an opportunity for something new.

Basic concepts (like what constitutes a person and which things are alive) are not so basic anymore.  And the implications are fascinating as well.  For example, people are discussing the taxation of robots, a Universal Basic Income, and even One-Child Policies. 

There's a lot of change coming, and that can be scary, but there's plenty of reason to be excited as well.

We live in a golden era of innovation, and we have longer life-expectancies than ever before. 

We truly live in interesting times!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - February 4th, 2018

Cloning primates ... What could go wrong?

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• U.S. Soldiers are Revealing Sensitive and Dangerous Information by Jogging. (WashPo)
• Billionaire Saudi Prince, Alwaleed Bin Talal, Freed from Detention. (New York Times)
• Science You Might Have Missed in 2017. (Bloomberg)
• Yale's Most Popular Class Ever: Happiness. (New York Times)
• Machiavelli's Advice for Nice Guys. (YouTube)

 

Trading Links:

• Apple Buying Tesla Doesn't Sound like a Crazy Idea Anymore Here's Why. (Insider)
• Every One of the World's Big Economies is Now Growing. (New York Times)
• We are on the Verge of a Consumer M&A Avalanche. (TechCrunch)
• Blockchain Will Transform and Reinvent Organizations, Ecosystems and Economies. (Forbes)
• One Brutal Chart from the Biggest Hedge Fund in the World Explains Everything. (BusinessInsider)