Capitalogix

A Look Back at "The Crazy Ones"

I remember being mesmerized the first time I saw Apple Computers iconic "Crazy Ones" video as part of their Think Different campaign.

Steve Jobs originally recorded a version of "The Crazy Ones" himself, but chose to release the Richard Dreyfuss narrated version. 

 

via YouTube

Here is the text version of the script.

 

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them,
glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

They push the human race forward.

While some may see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

    –     © 1997 Apple Computer, Inc.

Click here for extra material about the video and campaign. 

I think it has held up pretty well, and I had this piece of art commissioned for my office. 

There's a lot to be said for carving your own path, for pushing past perceived limits and accomplishing something hard to ignore.  

 

How Long Does It Take To Get 50 Million Users?

Cool tech often gets adopted by porn and gambling before more mainstream uses.

Porn was the launchpad for video streaming, mobile-enabled sites, VR, and (unfortunately) pop-up ad technologies. 

With that said, the next chart surprised me.  It shows the number of years it took for various products to gain 50 million users.

 

 

Pornhub tracks data like its business depends on it.  Well, it is the number one site for pornography.  What does that mean? In 2018, over 5,517,700,000 hours of porn was watched on their site. That’s approximately 6,298 centuries of video.

Moreover, last year, it got  33.5 BILLION visits. That’s 1,064 people a second, or 92 million a day.  To put that in perspective, that's more people than live in the entire country of Germany.

Here are some additional factoids about its use.

• 4403 Petabytes of data transferred (574 MB of data for every person on earth)
• Consumed more bandwidth than the entire internet in 2002
• Stormy Daniels was the number 1 "trend" search in 2018  (followed by Fortnite ...)
• 4k ultra-hd overtook 1080p in search trends

 

via Pornhub

For the full list of stats click here. 

They are so popular, it is almost obscene.

A.I. in Film: A Retrospective

AI has been around in science fiction for over 1oo years. As it becomes reality, it's amusing to look at different depictions and attempt to connect the dots. 

AI first broke onto the film scene with Metropolis in 1927. "Maria" the evil robot disguising herself as a human played on many human fears; deception, lack of control, and perhaps most importantly being replaced.

Maria represented a future that was bleak and set the foundation for AI in cinema. Since then, there have been approximately 100 movies starring AI.

According to Enlighten Digital,  52% of movies portray AI positively, which means it's about 50/50, and there has been a 144% increase in AI movies since 2010 - so we're becoming more saturated with AI.

According to a study by Cambridge, seeing more films portraying robots (whether positive or negative) is associated with more positive attitudes toward robots. This is in line with the theory that the more exposure one has with "out-group" members (i.e. robots, or people of other races) the more positive one's attitude toward them. 

 

(Click to view Full Size) via NovaStor 

The depiction of AI has always been a reflection of its time ... as our values, ambitions, and technology has changed, so has on-screen AI. 

So what does today's AI look like?

On HBO, we have Westworld. In movies, iRobot, Chappie, and Blade Runner 2049 ... it's clear the promise and the peril of AI has continued to evolve.

These movies all have different tones but there's a trope that remains common from that initial film in 1927 to films in 2018. 

We're always imagining that next step. What's going to happen as AI becomes (in some ways) smarter than us? What's going to happen when our creations surpass our control? What's going to happen if the line between human and robot blurs?

There are a lot of advancements in real-life, in respect to AI. As such, there is a lot of movement on AI ethics, and how to best limit or best enable AI. 

In film, we gravitate toward two extremes - utopias and dystopias. In real life, we can recognize those extremes are unlikely ... but the effect of AI is still profound. 

We're expanding a technology with the ability to radically change our world - for better or worse - so it's important to keep a purpose-driven approach. We can't lose track of humanity in the pursuit of AI. 

Metropolis's final title card (that first AI movie from 1927)  still rings true ... "The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart"

 

Onwards!

A Look Back At The Future, Part 2

As the holiday season begins, I was thinking about my father.

I love him and miss him ... but, truth be told, I teased him mercilessly about being technologically challenged (especially around the holidays, when I'd buy him a new gadget –  only to roll on the floor laughing while watching him try to figure it out).

Karma is a bitch!  My Dad used to say "whatever you make fun of me for ... will happen to you." 

I didn't yet realize how fast the world was changing ... or how quickly I'd find it hard to keep up. 

In 2015 I wrote an article about this titled "A Look Back at The Future". 

It's only four years later ... and somehow my realizations seem out-dated.

It's not just me, it's everyone! 

Realize that human perception is linear, but technological growth isn't.

As technology progression evolves and quickens, it is going to get harder to keep up.

Check out this video from 1974 ... It shows Arthur C. Clarke making some impressive guesses about the future of technology.

 

 

Now that we're here, it may not seem like an impressive prediction ... but how cool was it that Arthur C. Clarke believed a computer would fit on a desk in 1974?   

Do you think that you can predict what a computer will look like in 2034? 

Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, augmented reality, neuro-interfaces, etc. are all going to change the face and nature of computing and perhaps life itself. 

We live in exciting times!

Onwards.

Real or Fake? Data Science Debunks Internet Rumors

A French team, Escalenta, put together a series of debunking videos called "DATA SCIENCE vs. FAKE". 

Here are five that are short, educational, and entertaining. 

• Is cancer the world's first cause of mortality?
• Would cockroaches be the only survivors in the event of a nuclear war?
• Will the world soon run out of oil?
• Will our planet be able to sustain its 9 billion inhabitants in 2050?
• Will China still be the world's most densely populated country in 2100?

These days, it's easy to be confused by fake news, misleading statistics, and hyperbole. 

Hope this serves as a reminder to check your sources and remain healthily skeptical of random factoids delivered through the intertubes. 

Entrepreneur Weekly Podcast - AI and the Futures Industry

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.  ~ Jim Rohn

 

Surrounding yourself with the right people, and joining peer groups like Strategic Coach, Genius Network, Vistage, or the Entrepreneurs' Organization is vital to your growth. They bring together brilliant minds and industry transformers together in forums focused on innovation, creative disruption, and possibility. 

Peer groups help you set (and raise) standards. They help bring new capabilities, but also new possibilities, new found energies and a reconnection to your purpose, mission, and values. 

If you're not ready for that commitment, listening to podcasts from those people that have done what you want to do and gone where you want to go is a great step towards reaching those same goals.

In that vein, I recently went to Alaska with some friends.  While there, I got to be on Entrepreneur Weekly with some of my close friends from Genius Network.

The following podcast features me and these guys:

• Nick Nanton of DNA Films - an Emmy award-winning director and powerful storyteller
• Mike Koenigs of You Everywhere Now - a serial entrepreneur and 13-time #1 bestselling author 
• and Randy Garn, CMO of Skipio

 

The entire episode is less than 39 minutes. My piece starts around the 11:30 mark and goes for about 5 minutes.  I open with a pretty big claim ... Check it out! 

 

Pursue Passionately 

 

If you understand what you really want and if you focus on that, rather than what you don’t want or all the things that are wrong; as long as you’re moving in that direction, and you don’t give up,  the result is inevitable.  ~ Howard Getson

 

When I was a kid, I couldn't imagine being where I am today ... nor could I imagine the path that took me here. 

Looking back, it all makes sense. I didn't always know where I was going ... but I was passionate about business, and I was driven towards a greater purpose.  From selling painted sand terrariums at the farmer's market to building an artificial intelligence powered hedge fund there's a common thread and a driving force. 

Don't be afraid to take the risks that may injure your present to make way for your future. 

 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

 

The advent of AI is going to be as dramatic for society as the invention of electricity.  ~ Howard Getson

 

Artificial intelligence will solve problems and create opportunities on a scope and scale that is beyond our current comprehension. 

I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to build this company and capitalize on this opportunity.  Realize, however, that I had to recognize the vision before there was an opportunity to capture. 

Life is about making your future bigger than your past.  There are plenty of opportunities out there if you know what you want.

Let me know what you are passionate about.  I'd love to help.

The Sound of Silence [The Disturbed Music Video Version]

I spent last week with almost no Internet or cell service.  On one hand, I suffered some withdrawal symptoms.  On the other hand, it was nice to hear the sound of silence.

50 years ago, Simon & Garfunkel become folk-rock stars with their song, ‘Sound of Silence’.  I don't think that's what they meant.

Recently, someone else made it a hit ... a heavy metal rock band, Disturbed.

Here is the video.  Believe it or not, totally worth watching.

 

 

 

 

YouTube.

Surprisingly good.

Mr. Kim Jong Un, Give Up Those Nukes!

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met last week in Singapore. At the meeting, Donald shared a four-minute movie trailer called "A Story of Opportunity for North Korea"

I was a little surprised by the video clip that Trump brought with him.  I don't normally think about diplomacy and videos.  But, it is a new world.

It depicts a brighter future for North Korea in the event of a nuclear deal.  It also presents a stark choice to Kim ... trade in your nuclear weapons for a peace deal with the U.S., or don't and you'll be decimated. 

Was it me, or does the video seem strangely reminiscent of a pitch you might receive for a real estate deal or a timeshare? 

It's worth a watch. 

 

Was the intended audience Kim Jong Un, American voters, or the World?

Did it remind you of  Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev?

It will be interesting to see the results of the movie ... and this meeting. 

What did you think?

Slaughterbots Assemble!

Technology can be scary - especially when it is used to move towards autonomous killing machines. 

Recently, a UC Berkeley computer science professor helped to create a video that imagined a world where nuclear weapons were replaced by swarms of autonomous tiny drones that could kill half a city and are virtually unstoppable.

Stuart Russell, the professor, said these drones are already a technological reality.

The video takes the viewer to an auditorium where a speaker showcases a drone roughly the size of a mockingbird. At one point the drone lands on his hand, the speaker quickly recalibrates it and then throws it out into the audience again. After a few seconds, the small drone turns back to the stage and crashes into the forehead of a dummy standing off to the left of the speaker.

 

 

The video was released earlier this month by the Future of Life Institute, which is backed by Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk. It was presented by Russell at a United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons in Geneva, according to The Mercury News.

“Trained as a team, [the drones] can penetrate buildings, cars, trains, all while having the capacity to evade any countermeasure. They cannot be stopped,” the speaker told the audience in the video.

Russell said that although A.I.’s “potential to benefit humanity is enormous, even in defense,” allowing the widespread use of machines that “choose to kill humans will be devastating to our security and freedom.”

Expect to hear a lot more about Swarm Intelligence (and some of the more positive things it can do).

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

 

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

Lighter Links:

• Google Teaches AI to Fool Humans So It Can Learn from Our Mistakes. (TheNextWeb)
• Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Explain a Simple Way to Build an Inner Circle that Helps You Be Great. (Inc)
• The Moon is Getting a Reliable 4G Connection before Certain Parts of the UK. (Alphr)
• Ce*sored! China Bans Letter N (Briefly) from Internet as Xi Jinping Extends Grip on Power. (TheGuardian)
• Here's the One Thing that Would Make Oprah Run for President. (Huffington Post)

 

Trading Links:

• Does Anne Hathaway News Drive Berkshire Hathaway's Stock? (The Atlantic)
• Billionaires Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio Agree on What to Do in a Volatile Market. (USAToday)
• Who is a Better Insider Trader, Gary Cohn, Carl Icahn, or the Folks at the SEC? (ComplianceX)
• Opening a Bank is a Genius Move for Amazon. (TheNextWeb)
• S&P Global Buys Startup in Artificial-Intelligence Push. (Wall Street Journal)