In 1977, the Voyager 1 launched into space. Just over a dozen years later, the Voyager 1 spacecraft had traveled farther than any spacecraft/probe/human-made anything had gone before. It was approximately 6 billion kilometers away from earth. At that point, the Voyager 1 was "told" by Carl Sagan to turn around and take one last photo of the Earth ... a pale blue dot.
The resulting photo is impressive precisely because it shows so little in so much.
"Every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." – Carl Sagan
Earth is in the far right sunbeam – a little below halfway down the image. This image (and the ability to send it back to earth) was the culmination of years of effort, the advancement of technology, and the dreams of mankind.
The resulting speech from Carl Sagan is still profound, moving, and worth a listen.
Carl Sagan via YouTube
Here's the transcript:
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
Today, we have people living in space, posting videos from the ISS, and high-resolution images of space and galaxies near and far.
We take for granted the immense phase shift in technology. You have more computing power in your pocket than we first used to go to the moon.
As humans, we're wired to think locally and linearly. We evolved to live our lives in small groups, to fear outsiders, and to stay in a general region until we die. We're not wired to think about the billions and billions of individuals on our planet, or the rate of technological growth - or the minuteness of that all in regard to the expanse of space.
However, today's reality necessitates we think about the world, our impact, and what's now possible for us.
We created better and faster ways to travel, we've created instantaneous communication networks across vast distances, and we've created megacities. Our tribes have gotten much bigger - and with that, our ability to enact massive change has grown as well.
Space was the first bastion of today's innovation, but today we can look toward A.I., medicine, epigenetics, and more.
It's hard to comprehend the scale of the universe and the scale of our potential ... but that's what makes it worth exploring!
Onwards!
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.
via Pornhub
For the full list of stats click here.
They are so popular, it is almost obscene.
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.
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 French team, Escalenta, put together a series of debunking videos called "DATA SCIENCE vs. FAKE".
Here are five that are short, educational, and entertaining.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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