š This is issue #102 of THE EXPONENTIAL VIEW. Sign-up for the newsletter here. Snapchat pops. Ride-sharing is here to stay, even if Uber implodes. How the focus on exponential company growth corrupts. Trade and protectionism. Predicting suicide early. A conversation with Jeff Sachs. Hope this sparks great conversations! š Do share it , , . Love this? via Twitter on LinkedIn by Facebook Dept of the nearĀ future š» ? (Also, .) Is Snapchat really worth $33bn The Economist explains Snapchat š Uber may yet implode. Transportation-as-a-service will still have a rosy , argues . (Note: this article is in Newsweek which .) After Uber. future Kevin Maney EXCELLENT READ three years ago āunmaskedā the creator of Bitcoin š„ argues . We need to āto offer realistic, ethical alternatives to the exponential growth logic. Ones thatāll benefit not just a gilded few, but all of us. The future literally depends on it.ā Exponential growth devours and corrupts David Heinemeier Hansson EXORCIATING š® Podcast: and I . Jeff Sachs had a really great conversation on artificial intelligence, automation, basic income, inequality and Aristotle MUST LISTEN. šš¼ . ($) Great discussion with Daniel Dennett on AI, robots and religion THOUGHT-PROVOKING READ Dept of ethics in technology We regularly cover ethics in . The rationale is reasonably straightforward. Increasingly our access to all services are mediated by technology. Technology has long outgrown its niche status but rather is our fundamental interface to the world. Exponential View The optimism of the technology industry (particularly with the rise of the Internet in the 1980s and 1990s) was that power would be decentralised and distributed. The Internet was the supposed to be a decentralised, open network. Built to survive nuclear destruction (if the failed), the Internetās first services were initiated, in many cases, by thoughtful netizens influenced by the counter-culture movement of the late 1960s. (See, for example, and .) line of defence afforded by MAD Jon Postel Stewart Brand In the past 30 years, the Internet has grown up. Far from being decentralised, favouring the edge and facilitating groups, the Internet is dominated by two Leviathans Facebook and Google. At the same time, a template, call it āzero-to-oneā, has emerged for building new monopolies, new Leviathans. And that template, , relentless optimisation in pursuit of extreme growth. At all costs. At any cost. as DHH describes above And the engineers-entrepreneurs leading these firms have found themselves in positions of power that call for more Socrates than slide rule, Mill & Marx than machine , Rawls than regression analysis, Aristotle than AI, Nussbaum than ninety-day-plansā¦ learning š± Greyball is The company āhas for years engaged in a worldwide program to deceive the authorities in markets where its low-cost ride-hailing service was resisted by law enforcement or, in some instances, had been banned.ā Uberās tool for avoiding regulatory authorities and law enforcement, reveals the New York Times . on Quincy Larson how Uber, Volkswagen and Zenefits used code in dubious ways to circumvent authorities. EV reader, Vivek Wadhwa: What students can learn from Uberās troubles. The breathtaking scale of sexism in Silicon Valley. : Facebook (FBās .) Adam Pasick on how it can sway elections. page on this š : Izabella Kaminska the true carbon cost of viral cat videos Dept of artificial intelligence What if algorithms can spot suicide risks before the people around you can? Or potentially before you already knew. In a soon to be published paper, a researcher claims . to be able to spot suicide risks with 80% accuracy up to two years in advance Similar peer-reviewed work has to improve early identification of suicide risk. This model achieved an AUC performance of 0.71, a significant improvement on clinician AUC of 0.56. (Perfect prediction would have an AUC of 1.0). applied machine learning to long-term observation of physical symptoms Even Facebook has developed based on your status updates. It seems likely the Google search data could do the same. an algorithm that can spot suicide risk This brings to mind on when algorithms know us better than we know ourselves. Whether Facebook from status updates or the pattern of our physical symptoms from regular public health monitoring, weāre better able to predict individual behaviour than ever before. my discussion with Yuval Harari Should ? āThe very different nature of the technological advances currently in progress, in terms of their much broader industrial and occupational applications and their speed of diffusionā means our previous models may not be applicable. š” EXCELLENT: economists worry more about artificial intelligence (tl;dr: Go fullstack) Bradford Cross: Five AI startup predictions SUPER : and its impact on products. Medha Agarwal Nice primer on machine learning What are the (and modern machine learning more broadly)? tensors in Tensorflow NICE INTRODUCTION How synthetic datasets are boosting AI development Netflix uses machine learning to enhance video quality on the fly Apple may have about to . 1,000 AR engineers working in Israel Podcast: Controlling computers with lucid dreaming Millenials love voice interfaces š Interesting profile of . JP Morganās success with machine learning to radically optimise loan assessment Exponential View Private Dinner: International Relations in the Age ofĀ Trump I am really excited about our next Exponential View dinner. Our discussion will be led by Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist. Bill is a world expert in global business and international political economy, who scarcely needs further introduction. Weāll touch on one of the most pressing issues facing us as citizens, entrepreneurs and investors. And of particular relevance of those of us in global industries (like tech, health, finance, education and others.) If you want to attend, please register your interest here. We would be . very happy to see you Small morsels to appear smart at dinnerĀ parties in Congo. Children working as cobalt miners 500 years ago, and turned against free trade. (Graph on how as one nation moves towards protectionism. .) China scuttled its āTreasure fleetā national trade tariffs evolve Source article ( .) London house prices are starting to fall. Fascinating anatomy of one luxury flat in freefall Using satellite images to predict company performance When factory jobs vanish, men become less desirable partners Terminal cancer patients in remission Also, gene therapy after one gene therapy treatment. eliminates sickle cell anaemia in a patient. . Youtube viewing is on pace to eclipse TV US consumers . (21% of all their time!!) now spend 5 hours per day on mobile devices Gorgeous interactive visualisations of probability and statistics . Fascinating. Microbiomes and eczema Why panpsychism might be the best explanation for consciousness End note Iām getting quite interested in the microbiome so I am up for some book recommendations on the topic. This might lead up to a podcast or event at some point. Do let me know your recommendations. Azeem P.S. Take time to find us on Twitter if you havenāt already.
