China's netizens analyze their leader's desk and speech, while foreign investors are growing more nervous due to the country's economic troubles.
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#ChinaEconomy #AnalysisOfLeadersDesk
It discusses the performance of bosses of large listed companies in the S&P 1200 index and ranks them by their returns relative to their sector's average. It mentions household names, dark horses, and buy-out firms, as well as a Dutch maker of chipmaking tools whose pay was rejected by shareholders.
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https://read.distractionfree.site/economist/business/2023/12/28/who-was-the-best-ceo-of-2023
#bossperformance #listedcompanies #S #shareholderpay
Elon Musk has founded a new AI company called xAI with the goal of understanding the true nature of the universe and believes that the safest way to build an AI is one that is maximally curious and truth-seeking. He also announced his new venture on July 12, 2023, which is significant because it represents the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything" according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Musk has also vowed not to let other companies define the future and instead wants to build an AI that is maximally curious and truth-seeking.
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#ElonMusk #AIcompany #spaceexploration #sciencefiction
Pablo Picasso, Marie-Laure de Noailles, and Dora Maar were dining together at a restaurant called Le Catalan on the Left Bank during the German occupation of France in 1943.
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#PabloPicasso #MarieNoailles #DoraMaar #LeCatalan #GermanOccupation #GermanOccupation
Israel was struck by a massacre during the war against Hamas in Gaza, and that the company Clarity's AI technology could have been useful to detect deepfakes in election campaigns. However, due to the chaos following the massacres and the humanitarian crisis, the technology had to wait for now. The text also discusses the use of information warfare during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, including images that were real or fake, raising questions about their authenticity.
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#IsraelWar #HamasConflict #DeepfakesElectionCampaigns #InformationWarfare
The baby-boomer generation is responsible for the current state of the housing market due to their large numbers and tendency to own homes outright, which has led to a shortage of available properties and high mortgage rates.
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#HousingMarket #BabyBoomerGeneration #HighMortgageRates #ShortageOfAvailableProperties #OwningHomesOutright #ResponsibleForCurrentState
Biohacker Bryan Johnson has been criticized by Elon Musk for spending $2 million a year on an age-reversing regimen, with Musk comparing the before and after pictures of Johnson. Some people have also criticized Johnson's research methods.
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https://read.distractionfree.site/fortune/2024/01/03/bryan-johnson-elon-musk-biohacking-feud/
#Biohacker #ElonMusk #AgeReversal #Regimen #Criticism #ResearchMethods
The mobile era began in New York City in 1973 when Motorola's Martin Cooper placed the first call from a handheld cellular phone and today, mobiles are a global necessity embedded in daily lives to an extent unimaginable a generation ago. They have extended human capabilities and increased convenience in countless ways but have also been implicated in societal ills ranging from teen depression to political polarization. Yet an important aspect of this global revolution is often overlooked, which is the enormous power of mobiles to boost productivity. In 1973 when the world's population was 4 billion, there were roughly 250 million landline phones mostly in rich countries with one in every 16 people on the planet enjoying access to immediate communication by phone. Today, in a world with twice as many people, nearly everyone has access to a mobile and I have seen this transformation first-hand during its first two decades when it was a bulky analog device but an even more exclusive privilege than landlines. When digital mobiles were introduced in Finland in 1991, however, I realized that this new technology could spread in a radically different way following Moore's Law. The cost of digital processing power had dropped dramatically since the 1960s and it was only a matter of time before even the poorest citizens in my native Bangladesh would be able to afford mobiles. I knew well that decreasing cost was one factor that would work in my favour but increased personal productivity as more people got mobiles was also an important aspect of this global revolution that was often overlooked.
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#MobileRevolution #MobilesAsAGlobalNecessity #PowerOfProductivity
Comparing the wealth of nations can be difficult due to differences in population, prices and work hours. It also discusses how some countries rank higher or lower on various measures of income per person, adjusted for local prices, and income per hour worked.
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#economics #comparingwealthnations #difficultiesincomparison #adjustingforpopulationpricesandworkhours
Many of this year's podcasts contained a dash of doom, with fears about the climate crisis and AI encroaching on the workforce intensifying. Podcasters reexamined the justice system, while women were protagonists, hosts, and subjects in various shows. The overturn of Roe v. Wade was also mentioned.
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https://read.distractionfree.site/theatlantic/culture/archive/2023/12/25-best-podcasts-2023/676935/
#Podcasts #ClimateCrisis
Intuit has been investing in artificial intelligence for a while and has a single capacity that spans the entire company for AI, data, and analytics. Additionally, it is estimated that 40% of companies will increase their investments in AI due to advancements in generative AI. The text also discusses who should be responsible for the adoption and deployment of AI technology.
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https://read.distractionfree.site/fortune/2023/11/08/ai-playbook-leadership/
#AI #DataAnalytics #GenerativeAI #AdoptionDeployment
There are several important themes to watch in the coming year, including elections all over the world, America's global choice, and Europe stepping up for Ukraine. The text also mentions the importance of democracy and the consequences of election-rigging in Russia.
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#ElectionYear2023 #GlobalChoice #UkraineStepsUp #DemocracyMatter #ElectionRiggingConsequences
2024 will be the first time in history where more than half of the world's population will live in countries holding nationwide elections, yet many of these elections will entrench illiberal rulers and cast a pall over global politics.
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#2024Elections #NationwideElections #IllliberalRulers #PallOnGlobalPolitics
The internet has changed significantly over time, with new technologies splintering it back to its wild mid-1990s roots. However, the iPhone has done more than any other invention since the printing press to encourage literacy by making words jump from our palms into our brains at unparalleled immediacy and frequency thanks to the digital media industry that employs the author of this text. The centrality of phone-based reading has allowed Fortune to grow by leaps and bounds, even if it is something of a 93-year-old startup.
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#InternetEvolution #MobileReadingTrend #FortuneGrowth
The U.S. Senate's AI Insight Forum hosted a series of sessions on AI policy between September and December 2023, focusing on innovation, high impact AI, workforce impacts, privacy, liability, open source, democracy and elections, transparency, explainability, intellectual property, copyright, doomsday scenarios, and national security. The forum concluded with a statement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that the committee would have next steps to share soon regarding drafting bipartisan legislation to tackle AI policy.
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#AIInsightForum #Senate #AIPolicy #Bipartisanship
The average number of cousins in American families is declining due to fewer children being born.
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#FamilyTrends #ChildbirthTrends
There are many important events and issues happening in the world that will impact global politics and society in 2024.
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#GlobalPolitics #SocietyImpact
The U.S. government can achieve great things quickly when it has to, as demonstrated by its success in developing and deploying COVID-19 vaccines within a few months through Operation Warp Speed.
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#COVID19VaccineDevelopment #OperationWarpSpeed
Joko Widodo's popularity is high due to his relentless focus on curating his public persona, coupled with the country's strong economic growth. His departure from office in 2024 will be pivotal in deciding who the next leader of Indonesia will be. The text also mentions that both candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Ganjar Pranowo, have said they will continue Jokowi's signature policies such as developing Indonesia's booming nickel industry and other ambitious infrastructure projects. However, the text also highlights that Mr Gibran Rakabuming was selected as Mr Prabowo's vice-presidential candidate by his father, who is a constitutional court judge. The ruling has been criticized for being undemocratic and nepotistic. The two front-runners are very different with Mr Prabowo being the leader of Gerindra party while Mr Ganjar Pranowo leads the National Awakening Party (PKB). Both candidates have their own supporters and the election is expected to be a close race.
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#IndonesiaElection2024 #JokowiLegacy #PrabowoSubiantoCampaign
Economists believe that something scarce should be priced based on what someone is willing to pay for it, and that there are various systems in place to price carbon dioxide accordingly. However, these prices do not match the perception of value by most people, who see no cost associated with emitting CO2. Economists argue that though the emitted carbon dioxide does harm to the environment, its negative effects must be taken into account when determining its true value, which they estimate through modelling. The use of these models in policy-making is also discussed as an example of how this information is used to inform decisions about fuel standards in America.
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#Economics #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalPolicy