Capitalogix

Are We Alone In The Universe?

Information Is Beautiful has an interactive data visualization to help you decide if we're alone in the universe. 

As usual, for them, it is well done, fun, and informative. 

For the slightly geeky amongst us, the model lets you adjust the estimate by playing with two equations: the Drake equation and the Seager equation.

The Drake equation estimates how many detectable extraterrestrial civilizations exist in our galaxy and then in the Universe based on factors like habitable planets, change of life, and then intelligent life, and then the amount of time a civilization sends signals into space. 

The Seager equation is a modern take on the equation focusing on bio-signatures of life that we can currently detect - for example, the number of observable stars/planets, what % have life, and then % chance of detectable bio-signature gas. 

 

via Information Is Beautiful

For both equations, Information Is Beautiful lets you look at various default options but also playing with your own numbers to do the math. 

For example, the skeptic default answer for Drake's equation shows 0.0000062 communicating civilizations in our galaxy and which is still 924,000 in the universe. The equivalent for Seager's equation shows 0.0009000 planets with detectable life in our "galactic neighborhood" and 135,000,000 planets in our universe. 

Even with the "lowest possible" selection chosen, Drake's equation still shows 42 communicating civilizations (Douglas Adams, anyone?) in the universe.

 

via Information Is Beautiful

One of the most interesting numbers (and potentially influential numbers for me) is the length of time a civilization sends signals into space. Conservative numbers are 420 years, but optimistic numbers are 10,000+. 

If any aliens are reading this ... don't worry, I won't tell.  But, we will find out if you voted in the last election.

Do Candles Smell Worse?

Covid-19 rates are still rising in many places, and there's an unexpected consequence ...

Candle companies are getting much more negative reviews. Angry people everywhere seem to be reporting that the candles have no smell!  With Covid, perhaps they need to check if they've lost their sense of smell or taste (and whether they have a mild fever). 

Katie Petrova, on Twitter, did some research to check if there was really a correlation. 

via Katie Petrova

And the results were as expected. In 2020, consumer ratings for scented candles declined much more than unscented candles, and there are spikes in reviews mentioning lack of scent during months with increased cases. 

Since the beginning of this year, the proportion of reviews mentioning lack of scent grew from < 2% in January to close to 6% in November.

That being said, unscented candle reviews are lowering too ... which makes you think about the confounding variables. Are sales simply increasing to the point where reviews (and thus negative reviews) are increasing? Is it a result of people being bored/frustrated at home?

I'd be curious to see how much candle (or other home scent improving products) purchases increased during 2020.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 29th, 2020

 

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

Lighter Links:

• The Hidden Habits of Genius. (LeadershipNow)
• The Best Inventions of 2020. (Time)
• Are We the Same Person Throughout Our Lives? In Essence, Yes. (NeuroScienceNews)
• For the Best Deals On Almost Anything, Check these 3 Sites First. (FastCompany)
• A Bot Made Frank Sinatra Cover Britney Spears. YouTube Removed It Over Copyright Claims. (Futurism)

 

Trading Links:

• Foot Traffic Drops By Half At US Stores On 'Grey' Friday. (FT)
• Why Institutions Suddenly Give a Damn About Bitcoin. (CoinTelegraph)
• The McKinsey State of AI In 2020 Report Finds AI Drives Revenue. (Forbes)
• 2020 Was a 'Once-in-a Lifetime Event In the Adoption of Modern Technology'. (BusinessInsider)
• Priced For More Than Perfection, Markets Have Dismissed Economic Reality. (Forbes)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 22nd, 2020

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

Lighter Links:

• Every Business is a Software Whose Success is Defined By Data. (YourStory)
• Future of AI: Here's How Machines Become Sentient. (TheNextWeb)
• How China Could Shape the Future of Technology. (BBC)
• Dr. Fauci On Public Trust In Science. (HastingsCenter)
• Costco Will Deliver a 12-Month Long Private Flight Membership To Your Email If You Pay $17,500. (BusinessInsider)

 

Trading Links:

• If You Aren't Using AI, You're Falling Behind According to the US Patent and Trademark Office. (Forbes)
• Boom Times Have Returned for Venture-Backed Start-Ups. (CNBC)
• Venture Returns. (Points & Figures)
• Nasdaq-100 Stumbles Near Dot-Com Era Record Versus Dow. (TheOneDave)
• Top 10 Richest People In the World (1990-2019) | Visualization From Forbes Richest People. (YouTube)

 

What Hacking Isn't

We've talked a lot about hyperbole in the news recently – and, unfortunately, it isn't limited to politics. 

People seek things that engage and entertain.  Consequently, other people's business is to provide things that engage and entertain ... even if those things aren't necessarily accurate or truthful.

For example, I've seen many "silly" artificial intelligence and cybersecurity references on tv shows or the news. These are obviously "hot topics."  But, shocking simplifications are used because most people aren't technical enough to understand real examples.

In AI, it's pretty easy to notice because you'll see killer robots or humans losing their jobs and being left with nothing to do. 

Cybersecurity is tough for "normies" to get as well.  For a laugh, check out this clip from NCIS. 

 

via YouTube

On top of the gibberish, and the unrealistic imagery on what a hacking attempt would look like, do you think two people typing on the same keyboard would be effective?  And, reminiscent of a "peek-a-boo" game you play with babies, unplugging the monitor won't stop a hacker (it will only hide the screen from you). 

Makes for good TV, though.

Sometimes you just have to turn your brain off. 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 15th, 2020

The  upcoming holiday season seems a little different this year.

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

Lighter Links:

• How Your Life Will Be Measured after You Die. (ThriveGlobal)
• Shapeshifting Materials Could Transform Our World inside Out. (Discover)
• Alexa Can Now Guess What You Want before You Even Ask for It. (ZDNet)
• Physics Can Solve Key Challenges Facing AI, Study Finds. (JPost)
• The Greatest Competitive Advantage May Not Be What You Think. (Entrepreneur)

 

Trading Links:

• Beyond Buffett – Does Value Investing Still Work? (Economist)
• Quant Shock that Never Could Happen' Hits Wall Street Models. (Bloomberg)
• The Overnight Business Boom that Took a Century. (Wall Street Journal)
• Biden's First 100 Days: Here's What to Expect. (NPR)
• The Pandemic is Revealing a New Form of National Power. (The Atlantic)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 8th, 2020

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

Lighter Links:

• Video: An Exclusive Look inside Microsoft's Election Security War Room'. (ABCNews)
• Forget Traditional Election Maps – This is What the US Vote Really Looks Like. (NYPost)
• Taught by Nature: New Technology Inspired by the Animal Kingdom. (Flipboard)
• Psychedelic Psilocybin 101: The Science of Magic Mushrooms. (Flipboard)
• Want to Calm Your Anxiety in Just 8 Minutes? Neuroscience Says Take a Deep Breath and Listen to This. (Inc)
  
  

Trading Links:

• Texas Becomes First State to Top One Million COVID-19 Cases. (24/7 Wall St)
• Fears of Transition 'Chaos'. (Barrons)
• FTC Likely to Sue Facebook on Antitrust Violations by End of November. (Politico)
• Here Comes the next IPO Wave. (TechCrunch)
• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Swings Back into Action, Spending a Net $4.8 Billion on Stocks and a Record $9 Billion on Buybacks in the 3Rd Quarter. (BusinessInsider)

How Normal Is Your Face?

Project SHERPA recently released an AI-powered tool that analyzes your face and reveals how average it is. 

It's called How Normal Am I?

via How Normal Am I?

It's an interactive video that uses your webcam to walk you through the various assessments on BMI, emotion, beauty, etc.  At the end, it'll give you your life expectancy, and then your "normal score".

It's not the most complex use of AI, but it provides interesting insights, and is becoming increasingly prevalent. 

Governments, police stations, retail stores, etc. all use this technology to track individuals, and if you remember one of my previous articles - there are plenty of cameras to go around. 

If you did the demo, were you surprised by the results?

Interesting stuff!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - October 10th, 2020

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

Lighter Links:

• The Quantum Internet Will Blow Your Mind. Here's What It Will Look Like. (Discover)
• The US Military is Trialing Augmented Reality Goggles for Dogs. (CNN)
• Modern Science Didn't Appear until the 17Th Century. What Took So Long? (NYT)
• Qantas Airways 'Flight to Nowhere' that Sold out in Minutes Takes Off. (FoxNews)
• What Really Happens When You Become an Overnight Millionaire? (Marker)

 

 

Trading Links:

• Tesla Plans to Offer Machine-learning Training as Web Service with Its New 'Dojo' Supercomputer. (Electrek)
• Analysis: We Read the Antitrust Case against Amazon, and these are the Key Takeaways.  (GeekWire)
• Father of VIX Warns Options Glitch is Costing Investors Millions. (Bloomberg)
• Economists are More like Storytellers Than Scientists Don't Let the Nobel for Economic Sciences' Fool You. (TheConversation)
• The Stock Market Won't See the Bullish Outcome It's Expecting from a Biden Win Unless There's a Full Blue Wave, a JPMorgan Stock Strategist Says. (BusinessInsider)

What It Was Like Buying a Computer in 1994

We take for granted a lot of the technology we have today. Computers and phones have evolved so fast that it's hard to remember that they haven't been around for many years. When my youngest son was born in 1993,  cassette tapes and the Sony Walkman were still popular, I had a wired phone in my car, and we had a Macintosh-II in the study. 

Everything in this photo now exists in the cheapest of smartphones. 

For a blast from the past and a look back at what used to be top-of-the-line ... here's a video of people buying a computer in 1994. 

 

via David Hoffman

Video transfer and playback. 160-megabyte hard drive. 32 megahertz. All for the low price of $2,000. 

Pretty cool to see how far we've come!  Still, someday soon, they will look back at the tech we have now as "primitive" and "quaint".

I can't wait!