Artificial intelligence: Difference Engine: Luddite legacy | The Economist
In his analysis, Mr Ford noted how technology and innovation improve productivity exponentially, while human consumption increases in a more linear fashion. In his view, Luddism was, indeed, a fallacy when productivity improvements were still on the relatively flat, or slowly rising, part of the exponential curve. But after two centuries of technological improvements, productivity has “turned the corner” and is now moving rapidly up the more vertical part of the exponential curve. One implication is that productivity gains are now outstripping consumption by a large margin.Another implication is that technology is no longer creating new jobs at a rate that replaces old ones made obsolete elsewhere in the economy. All told, Mr Ford has identified over 50m jobs in America—nearly 40% of all employment—which, to a greater or lesser extent, could be performed by a piece of software running on a computer. Within a decade, many of them are likely to vanish. “The bar which technology needs to hurdle in order to displace many of us in the workplace,” the author notes, “is much lower than we really imagine.”OK, The Economist is now trying to discuss a fact that we futurists have been talking about for many years: technology will, as it once did to farmers and later industrial workers, replace even knowledge workers and dramatically change our world (again). Unemployment will therefore be relatively high until we redefine what we mean by employment or have gone through the structural and value changes that comes from reorganizing society around a different center of gravity than the traditional factory modelled institution.
As a futurist I am of course wondering: is it now time to leave these issues to the politicians and change our focus to things more far ahead into the future…?
A drastic reorganization of society when we agree that the purpose of life is not toil, but art?
Yes. Art.
Source: futuramb
Scientists discover most relaxing tune ever
Sound therapists and Manchester band Marconi Union compiled the song. Scientists played it to 40 women and found it to be more effective at helping them relax than songs by Enya, Mozart and Coldplay.
Weightless works by using specific rhythms, tones, frequencies and intervals to relax the listener. A continuous rhythm of 60 BPM causes the brainwaves and heart rate to synchronise with the rhythm: a process known as ‘entrainment’. Low underlying bass tones relax the listener and a low whooshing sound with a trance-like quality takes the listener into an even deeper state of calm.
Dr David Lewis, one of the UK’s leading stress specialists said: “‘Weightless’ induced the greatest relaxation – higher than any of the other music tested. Brain imaging studies have shown that music works at a very deep level within the brain, stimulating not only those regions responsible for processing sound but also ones associated with emotions.”
The study - commissioned by bubble bath and shower gel firm Radox Spa - found the song was even more relaxing than a massage, walk or cup of tea. So relaxing is the tune, apparently, that people are being Rex advised against listening to it while driving.
The top 10 most relaxing tunes were: 1. Marconi Union - Weightless 2. Airstream - Electra 3. DJ Shah - Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) 4. Enya - Watermark 5. Coldplay - Strawberry Swing 6. Barcelona - Please Don’t Go 7. All Saints - Pure Shores 8. AdelevSomeone Like You 9. Mozart - Canzonetta Sull’aria 10. Cafe Del Mar - We Can Fly
Source: shortlist.com
Technoccult: Nassim Nicholas Taleb: End Bonuses for Bankers
it’s time for a fundamental reform: Any person who works for a company that, regardless of its current financial health, would require a taxpayer-financed bailout if it failed should not get a bonus, ever. In fact, all pay at systemically important financial institutions — big banks, but also…
Hedge Fund wizard with a good idea
Source: technoccult
Ye olde sugar shack.
The suit in Washington was brought by the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson. It claimed that the insurance mandate is unconstitutional because it forces Americans to buy a product for the rest of their lives and that it violates the religious freedom of those who choose not to have insurance because they rely on God to protect them from harm.
omg
Source: The Huffington Post
Source: magicalnaturetour
Content.
Art
art
1 [ahrt] noun1.the quality, production, expression, or realm, according toaesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.Community
com·mu·ni·ty
[kuh-myoo-ni-tee] noun, plural -
ties.1.a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality,
share government, and often have a commoncultural and historical heritage.
2.a locality inhabited by such a group.
Catalyst
cat·a·lyst/ˈkatl-ist/
Noun:- A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.
- A person or thing that precipitates an event.
Wisdom
- The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.
- The soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of such experience, knowledge, and good judgment.
Picture of the Day. Al-Asad Airbase. Anbar province, Iraq. A servicemember in the US Air Force sleeps while waiting for his flight home.
Photo Credit: Mohammed Ameen/Reuters Via.
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Nice picture
Source: msnbc.com
In the Middle East, peace is made with the strong, not with the weak. The stronger Israel is, the closer peace will be.
PM Netanyahu’s Address to the Knesset - October 31, 2011 (via akio)
This bizarre adherence to Ben-Gurionism hasn’t worked to establish peace at all since Israel’s inception. Sit down.
(via mohandasgandhi)(via mohandasgandhi)
Source: houston.mfa.gov.il
