Capitalogix

Photographing a Supermassive Black Hole: The Gravity of This Situation is Immeasurable

The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat's, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing. - Frodo seeing Sauron through the Mirror of Galadriel in The Fellowship of the Ring

The Event Horizon Telescope just released the first-ever image of a black hole ... specifically a supermassive black hole with a mass 6.5 billion times heavier than our sun. This behemoth of a black hole is over 50 million light-years away in a galaxy we call M87. The little blob (in the picture below) is 25 billion miles across, and the bright part is brighter than all of the billions of other stars in that galaxy combined.  To put it in context ... the black hole, shown below, is larger than our entire Solar System. 

Here's a link to the original RAW (183 mb) image. 

 

via National Science Foundation

The image shows a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around a black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun

In my opinion, the black hole image is even more amazing when you zoom out and see the entire m87 galaxy. The little black dot inside the orange is the black hole.

 

via NASA/CXC/VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY/J. NEILSEN 

To take a step back, a black hole is a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star.  It warps spacetime and superheats all surrounding materials. 

“In space no one can hear you scream; and in a black hole, no one can see you disappear.” 
― Stephen Hawking

Before today, black holes had only been observed indirectly. We had math that "proved it."  Now, we have direct, observable, and corroborated evidence for everyone to see.

Do you understand the gravity of that? 

In my lifetime, Black holes have gone from a fringe theory to a possibility, to a probability, and now, to reality.  

It is amazing to think about how right Einstein's theory of general relativity was ... especially considering that he did the math in 1915, before we had the technology and science to back it up.  The basic idea is that the relative velocity of light doesn't change, therefore it must be a constant in our universe. Using his math, we were able to predict how a black hole would "look", and it was supported by the Event Horizon Telescope's image. 

Veritasium puts understanding the image into better perspective. Check it out. 

 

via Veritasium 

For a side note, the first proposal of black holes actually goes back to John Michell in 1784

"If there should really exist in nature any bodies, whose density is not less than that of the sun, and whose diameters are more than 500 times the diameter of the sun, since their light could not arrive at us; or if there should exist any other bodies of a somewhat smaller size, which are not naturally luminous; of the existence of bodies under either of these circumstances, we could have no information from sight; yet, if any other luminous bodies should happen to revolve about them we might still perhaps from the motions of these revolving bodies infer the existence of the central ones with some degree of probability, as this might afford a clue to some of the apparent irregularities of the revolving bodies, which would not be easily explicable on any other hypothesis; but as the consequences of such a supposition are very obvious, and the consideration of them somewhat beside my present purpose, I shall not prosecute them any further." 

It took a massive amount of work to produce the photos of the black hole shown in this post. The ingredients: 200 researchers, 20 years, over 9 petabytes of data, 8 telescopes, and immense vision. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it also took the 104 years of research since Einstein's theory. 

Powerful stuff. 

For more:

• Here's a Reddit "Ask Us Anything" with the scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope 
• Here's a TED talk from Dr. Katie Bouman in 2017, about taking a photo of the black hole.  Katie went to MIT and led the creation of a new algorithm that helped produced today's image.
• Here are the six published papers by the EHT on today's achievement
• Here's another great video from the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics on today's image 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - April 7th, 2019

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

Lighter Links:

• Scientists Plead to Stop Creation of Killer Robots: We're at 'The Brink of a New Arms Race'. (FoxNews)
• Moratorium on Human Genome Editing: Time to Get It Right. (HastingsCenter)
• 'Those Who Obeyed the Rules Were Favored by Evolution'.(Spiegel)
• Meet the World's Oldest Confirmed Person, 116-Year-Old Kane Tanaka. (TwistedSifter)
• Why Democrats Want to Abolish the Electoral College and Republicans Want to Keep It. (Fortune)

Trading Links:

• Why Companies that Wait to Adopt AI May Never Catch Up.(HBR)
• Iranian Hackers Have Hit Hundreds of Companies in past Two Years. (Wall Street Journal)
• What is an Inverted Yield Curve and What Does It Really Mean? (TheStreet)
• S&P 500 Posts Best First Quarter in 21 Years. (FoxBusiness)
• Bill Gates is Back in the $100 Billion Club, and Not All Thanks to Microsoft. (CNW)

 

 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - March 31st, 2019

 

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

Lighter Links:

 

• 7 Odd Traits Geniuses, Masters and Entrepreneurs All Have in Common.(Forbes)
• Nest Founder: I Wake up in Cold Sweats Thinking, What Did We Bring to the World?. (FastCompany)
• Bill Gates: AI is like Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Energy in Danger and Promise. (Vox)
• Artificial Intelligence and Ethics. (HarvardMagazine)
• These are All the World's Major Religions in One Map. (WEForum)

 

Trading Links:

• Just Because You're Paranoid, Doesn't Mean the Algorithms Aren't out to Get You. (TimHarford)
• Here are the Top Risks on Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon's Radar.(Finance)
• UBS CEO Says this is One of the Worst First-quarter Environments in History. (CNBC)
• Apple Sold 35 Million AirPods in 2018, Currently Most Popular 'Hearable' Brand. (AppleInsider)
• Facebook, Google and Other Big Tech Giants are about to Face a Reckoning, State Attorneys General Warn. (Washington Post)

The Too True Story of "The Nail in a Fence"

In the course of business this week, I noticed that certain comments and interactions triggered hurt feelings.

Stress, high expectations, and a narrow focus often result in hurt feelings.

Of course, I understand that a little conflict is normal (or even beneficial).  Yet, I guess I'm getting a little softer as I get older.

It doesn't take "intent" to hurt someone's feelings (or to have your feelings hurt).  It can happen by a simple disagreement, a stubborn point of view, a dismissive comment, or even a judgmental look.

Sometimes, the catalyst can be part of effective strategies.  And normally, people just brush off these smaller-scale disturbances with the excuse with: "I was angry"; or “I’m only human”; or "There is no place for cry-babies in business."  Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that we should strive to be better.

To drive the point home further, here is the story of "The Nail in a Fence."  While you might have seen it before, it is worth reading again. 

 

Nail In The Fence:

 

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.

He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it; and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there."

A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

 

This story is a reminder to be mindful of cause and intent.  Hope it helps.

Causing pain to others is one problem.  Causing pain to ourselves is another.

Feeling and stoking anger is like taking poison and hoping the other person suffers.  It isn't efficient or practical.

So, what about "Forgiving"?

It doesn't have to be forgetting.  

Forgiving removes the valence (or charge) from a situation or memory.

It only takes a moment to create an emotional trigger (think about how you felt when you saw a high school bully in the hallway).  It is simple, evolution and natural selection favored species that remembered and avoided danger.  It is in our DNA.  But avoidance isn't always a great strategy ... especially when it is blocking the attainment of something beneficial.

Forgiveness is a way to disable or mute the emotional trigger (this is called "collapsing an anchor" in NLP). It's also a choice to move forward.

Forgiveness is also a release of "claim".  When we are wronged, we expect an apology, retribution, restitution, or recognition.  And until we get it, we are stuck, waiting for it.  In a sense, forgiveness releases the stuck energy and makes it available for something else (hopefully, something better).

Forgiveness changes the route and allows you to move forward.

And I've found that good things happen more often when you are in motion.

Who or what do you need to forgive?

Onwards.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - February 17th, 2019

NASA's Mars Opportunity Rover has officially lost contact with earth after a fierce dust storm. Its last message was "My battery is getting low and it's getting dark." The rover's original mission was scheduled for 90 days ... it lasted 14 years. 

 

via XKCD

 

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

 

Lighter Links

• A Quantum Future Awaits. (Science)
• Can We Make Artificial Intelligence Ethical? (Washington Post)
• Life's Secret Ingredient: A Radical Theory of What Makes Things Alive. (NewScientist)
• What Does "Dead" Mean? the Debate Continues Some 50 Years after Harvard Defined Death. (Forbes)
• Scientists Have Built a Real Star Trek 'Replicator' that Builds Objects with Light. (ScienceAlert)

 

Trading Links

• Warning: Stocks Have Only Been Stretched this Thin Once in the past 150 Years. (MarketWatch)
• From the Year When Nothing Worked in the Financial Markets to the Month When Everything Did. (CNBC)
• Mark Zuckerberg Adds $6.2 Billion in a Day, Vaulting to No. 5 Richest in World. (OCRegister)
• American Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Has Spent $700M on Personal Real Estate in Five Years. (CNW)
• There's a New Movie Coming out about High-speed Trading on Wall Street, and It Looks Bonkers. (BizInsider)

 

 

A Beautiful Rendition of Hallelujah

Sometimes the real thing is worth paying attention to ...

In a world of fake news and technologically enhanced music, this performance of Hallelujah should do the trick. 

Watch and listen to K.D. Lang sing Leonard Cohen.

 

 via Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen

Masterful!

Celebrating a Well Lived Life

I was in California this week to celebrate my Mother's 79th birthday.   

  

 

She is still very committed to living life to its fullest – and spreading joy and love to those around her. 

It made me think about how each of us is so different ... yet, we are also similar.

Over time, each of us is insignificant and yet each has altered the course of history. 

Individually, and collectively, I think it makes sense to leave things better than we found them.

One of our most important decisions is how we choose to matter. 

How do you intend to make your mark? 

What will be your legacy? 

The Pale Blue Dot: Life, Mankind, and the Universe

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!

A Little Hanukkah Fun

Tonight marks the first night of Chanukah - the Jewish festival of lights. 

We light the Menorah (Chanukah candles), eat latkas (potato pancakes), we exchange gifts, we spin the Dreidel (a gambling toy), and we enjoy a sense of family togetherness for 8 days and nights.

One of my friends sent me this funny video of a Chanukah parody of Bohemian Rhapsody ... it's better than you would expect.

 

 Six13Sings via YouTube

It's not too different from Christmas (though my kids were jealous Santa didn't come down our chimney). 

The cynic in me beleives the gift part of the holiday was invented by merchants.

In our office,  we have an "Elf on the shelf", the magical elf who reports who has been naughty and who has been nice to Santa, perching in a new spot each day. 

 

 

And, we also have "Mensch on a Bench", who watches your Menorah to make sure you don't run out of oil. 

 

 

Happy Chanukah ... or at least an early start to your holiday season!

Is Biohacking the New Key to Trading?

Last week, I was in Alaska at Steamboat Bay for a CEO retreat. 

One of the other attendees was Dave Asprey - CEO of Bulletproof, author of Headstrong, and a biohacking thought-leader.

Very few people understand what we do at Capitalogix; even fewer understand it well enough to paint a vivid picture ... yet, that's exactly what Dave did ... almost instantly.

I asked him to retell it on video - to try and capture his take.   To set your expectations,  his take is different than you might imagine ... It's got ancient bacteria, futuristic algorithms, and a little genius.

Kind of cool ... Check it out.  

"It takes a lot of computer power, and it takes a lot of algorithms, and it takes a lot of environmental sensors ... that's why we can walk around, breathe, and think." 
    ~    Dave Asprey

Markets are an environment just like the environment we live in. Our algorithms can learn and evolve based on markets in a similar way to how humans evolved and adapted to their environments.

To summarize:  In the beginning, there was an algorithm ... and it was good.  

And, it's just the beginning.

Onwards!