Capitalogix

Ikigai - A Japanese Concept About Finding Life's Purpose

I just read that they sell more adult diapers than baby diapers in Japan.

Getting old is tough, and it gets tougher the older you get.   As a result, finding your 'reasons for being' and joy in life becomes even more important. 

Many people (all over the world) struggle to get up in the morning. 

There's a Japanese concept called Ikigai that may help.

 

via InformationIsBeautiful

Finding your "reason to be" and living with purpose is a key to making the most of your time.

The graphic highlights something interesting (yet almost counter-intuitive) ... When two areas intersect, it creates a something positive (e.g., a passion or a mission).   However, where three areas intersect, it creates a pain point (for example it could be what you're good at, you love doing it, the world needs it ... but it doesn't make you any money – so now you're struggling).

Worth examining and thinking about for a bit.

On a related note, here is a TEDx talk about the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that help people live past 100.

 

TED-ED via YouTube

Live long and Prosper!

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)

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.

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)

Scientists Have Just Cloned Monkeys

Do you remember Dolly the Sheep?

She was the first mammal cloned "from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer."

Dolly was cloned from a mammary gland and was named after Dolly Parton ... for obvious reasons.

Since then, many other large mammals were cloned, including pigs and horses. 

 

TIME via Youtube

It was just announced that Chinese scientists have cloned two long-trailed macaques using the same technique that produced Dolly. 

Since humans are primates as well, this is an exciting, and mildly terrifying, step towards cloning humans. 

Pragmatically, this bolsters medical research by making it possible to study diseases on uniform subjects, but it also raises tough questions on human cloning. 

As A.I. and cloning advance, some tough bio-ethic issues will take front stage.  It is time to start thinking about what defines a person (or even a living creature) and what rights they have.

Innovation stops for no one ... and Nature finds a way.

Onwards!

 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - January 28th, 2018

 

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

Lighter Links:

• Trump Reportedly Uses an Indian Accent to Mimic Modi at Meetings. (Quartz)
• Statistician is One of the Fastest-growing Jobs for the Future. (Qz)
• Compare Your Fears against Reality. (FlowingData)
• Vladimir Putin Takes Dip in Freezing Water to Mark Epiphany. (CNN)
• China, Russia and the U.S. are Running Neck-and-neck in an AI Military Arms Race. (Latest)

Trading Links:

• How Blockchain Could Radically Alter Global Finance. (Insight)
• Davos: a Rough Guide to the World Economic Forum. (BBC)
• Are Google and Facebook Monopolies? (Review)
• 10 Charts that Will Change Your Perspective on Artificial Intelligence's Growth. (Forbes)
• Apple Rises to Become World's Fourth-Largest PC Maker with around 20M Macs Sold Last Year. (MacRumors)

What Does The Average NBA Player Look Like?

Each sport has a different ratio of ethnicities. You might expect more Pacific Islanders in Rugby or Caucasians in Golf. 

So what happens when you average the top players' faces in various sports?

As you might expect, you get very different results depending on the sport.  See what I mean?

  osmutiar via Reddit

Not particularly surprising.

What is worth noting, however,  is that while you may be thinking "this player must be unstoppable" ... statistically, he's average.

The "composite" NBA player would be the 112th best player in the league. He's the fourth best starter on an okay team. 

We found the same thing with our trading bots.  The ones that made it through the most filters weren't the star performers.  They were the average bots that did enough not to fail (but failed to make the list as top performers in any of the categories).  The survivors were generalists, not specialists.

The reminder is that you won't find exceptional specialists if your focus is on generalized safety.

Onwards.

Which Industries are Prime for Disruption?

Last year, I talked with the CEO of CB Insights about how Fintech was disrupting the value chain of financial services. 

Since then, it's become even easier to see how disruptors are changing every industry, and becoming leaders in their fields.

 

via McKinsey

 

Companies like Lyft, Tesla, and Netflix changed paradigms and are now leading the pack, but what industries are next?

Looking at a report by McKinsey&Company, we find that the 5 industries with the least digitization account for 34% of GDP and 42% of all employees. 

 

1. Agriculture and Hunting
2. Construction
3. Hospitality
4. Healthcare
5. Government

via Quora

But, being less digitized than competitors, alone, isn't enough to indicate it's ready for disruption: 

 

How Regulated Is The Industry?

Heavily regulated industries mean that any company that can find a way around current regulations and tax structures can become an effective competitor fast ... i.e Lyft and Tesla

Is There Too Much Competition Already?

How many competitors are in the space? Is there spare capacity, or does the current model waste resources? Think taxis waiting for customers or empty seats on airplanes. 

Can it Be Automated?

Lot's of industries and tasks are ready and waiting to be automated - and only haven't been due to the cost of switching to new technology. 

 

To put it another way - are you solving a customer headache while lowering costs for you and the customer? 

The only constant is change, and digitization and automation are only increasing the rate of change. The type, quality, and the number of jobs being offered are changing rapidly. 

As digitization increases so does adoption of AI-related technologies. 

McKinsey Institute via Vox

AI is coming, disruption is coming.

It's no longer possible, it's not even just probable, it's inevitable

This interactive graph tells you if your job is automation proof, and what percentage of your job can be automated.

What industry do you think is next?