NEXT is applying data science and machine learning technology to solving the hourly labor staffing problem prevalent in restaurants, retail and hospitality

Next Force Technology

As the years have progressed, there has been a big boost for technology and its capabilities. For many people, in one lifespan, they have seen significant changes in technology such as camera technology and the introduction of the internet. It is hard to imagine a world without technology now that most of our lives depend on it. Technology has allowed us to develop newer ways of working and interacting with one another. It has also birthed new online platforms, such as using mobile applications and social-communicative platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. The main highlight of the coronavirus lockdown and the star of the show has most definitely been the role of technology. Business and people have increased their use of platforms such as Zoom to do video calls and meetings and Netflix to pass the time, creating a sense of . digital dependence However, tech use goes far beyond just this and is playing a vital role in fighting the virus as it is being used in conjunction with science to create a vaccine. Tech usage has gone through the roof creating an era of digital transformation changing the way we operate and thanks to the global pandemic; it will force technology to change not just for today but for the future too. The pandemic is affecting all the main cogs that determine and influence the pace at which digital technology is adopted. These groups are governmental regulations, consumer behavior, which has drastically changed over the past two months and the business process, which has taken a step back as more people work from home. Consumer behavior Consumer behavior changes slowly and takes many years to happen, which helps businesses spot trends as well as getting them to adapt to a new way of working, which is what takes time. Getting consumers to change their habits and . However, the new behaviors that consumers have to learn during the course of the pandemic are ones that big tech organizations would never have imagined. adopt technology can be challenging As new behaviors such as social distancing become second nature, new forced behaviors will need to be considered by tech developers. Corporate companies Concerning businesses, adapting to new business processes to accommodate new technologies can be challenging and as complicated as changing consumer behavior. For this reason, tech revolutions are hard to gauge the evidence of tach revolutions on productivity figures in the workplace. To implement revolutionary technology across an entire economy can take years as it learns to adjust. As technological capabilities increase, organizations are being forced to move at a rapid pace to keep their business afloat. Simultaneously they need to be able to cut costs and redesign to aid their survival in a cut-throat economy. However, automation technologies will benefit as they are well suited to be in a world where humans are not able to get close to one another. One of the biggest challenges for business will be the next phase in learning how to separate their populated offices by catering and distributing the workforce. Technology implemented here will become the new rails that business will run on, such as to aid distancing. smartwatches Governmental technologies As we have seen, many regulatory requirements have had to change over the pandemic and one of the most prominent relaxation regulations has been around medication. Technology which enables remote which has been available for many years now, but as distancing has been enforced, telemedicine has been brought into action. The ease of using it and the uncertainty of the pandemic means many patients don't want to go back to an ooer way of working. telemedicine Distance learning is also another aspect that governments have had to deal with. Google has seen an increase in its Google Classroom technology increase over the past two months, which could become the new normal. Many countries are also looking at developing contact-tracing applications which will help even the spread of the virus. However, as these testing times continue, there is a chance of falling out using distancing technology once things begin to return to normal. As restrictions around the globe slowly ease, the question of whether these new ways of working are just temporary due to the situation are lingering on the minds of all, especially business. The pandemic has brought on much change and has forced remote home working but will this remain normal in years to come? The chance of slipping back is massive as for many, that the normal way of life but as we continue to progress in and out of danger of the pandemic only time will indeed show us the truth.

Will The Impact Of The Lockdown On Technological Advancement Be Positive Or Negative?

Every Intelligence researcher has probably a vision of how intelligent machines will reshape the world. My idealistic view is one in which automation maximizes people’s freedom by giving us more time to concentrate on the things we enjoy the most. Research in all areas is astonishing: we live better and longer, and our planet has started to heal. Robots lead to superlative boosts in productivity, and an unprecedented abundance reduces tensions amongst people. We have more time to learn and inform us, and machines enable us to manage much more knowledge, so we take better decisions. Artificial This romantic picture may be regarded as overly naive as, some would say, it disregards the immediate social implications of AI achievements. As AI becomes more pervasive, a debate around a scenario in which machines scrap people jobs- high and low skilled- is gaining steam. The discussion centers on the social disruptions generated by robots taking a prevalent role in the production system. So far, economists have assumed that human effort will always be required. Technological change just shifts low productivity workers (more likely to be replaced by ) into more productive tasks, increasing everyone’s well-being. Technology augments human capabilities and creates more skilled jobs. Even though specific positions disappear, people can continue working alongside machines in new roles. In this perspective, the debate around technology focuses on the education and training of the labor force. technology However, critics (from left and right) are questioning whether this assumption still holds true. They believe to be supported by raw statistics. , as for today, around 45% of human jobs could be automated in the service sector. , 50% of the work time is spent on processing and collecting data, activities that AI systems can do quite well. , the perspective is even more dramatic: Automation accounts for almost 90% of the job losses in the US between 2000 and 2010. Experts agree that as AI gets more sophisticated more skilled jobs across all sectors will be eliminated. The consultancy McKinsey estimates that In the financial sector only In manufacturing Fear of machines is certainly not new. At the wake of the first industrial revolution destroyed machines to preserve jobs. Nowadays, those worried about robots making humans dispensable are proposing (fortunately) more sophisticated approaches. Even high executives of billion-dollar tech giants- unlikely guests of the -, are talking about socialist-friendly policies such as a universal basic income to limit the effects of automation. Luddites Fourth International The idea behind this thinking is that if we reach such a developed state of AI with little or no need for human labor, then society will divide itself between few machine owners and the rest. Most of the people without owning a robot will lack any income to buy what robots produce. At least at the surface level, this idea appears to have some commonalities with Marx’s view of the evolution of capitalism. Marx idea of socialism as the next stage of capitalism could be (with apologies to experts) oversimplified in the following way: Capitalism leads to a natural concentration of wealth (mostly via technological change), where few capitalist get increasingly more, and a majority of workers increasingly less. The later will eventually rebel and establish a socialist system. However, things did not happen exactly like that. Even though income inequality might be increasing, technological change led to sharp boosts in productivity, allowing everyone to be better. Marx’s workers might be relatively worst (they take a smaller share), but they also enjoy higher life standards with more goods and services available. No worth the effort of rebelling. But what would happen if instead of making a worker produce more, machines completely replace that worker? Depriving him of any income could make the option of rebelling more appealing. Ironically, this situation might also be the end of Marxism since human labor will not be generating value anymore (apologies with experts, again!). If machines do all the work, there is no theory exploitation, and Marxism might cease to exist (it seems that even Marxist theoreticians may lose their jobs). Marxist or not, the prospect of unhappy masses with no means of subsistence might be enough to generate a general outcry to establish some sort of direct wealth redistribution. The proposal of a basic universal income is gaining support among businesspeople and politicians. Benoît Hamon, the French presidential candidate of the, currently in power, socialist party . If he succeeds, every French citizen will perceive 750 euros every month no matter what, which will be, in principle, funded by robot owners. has proposed to finance the initiative by taxing robots Also from the not so socialist side, top executives from multi-billion dollar tech companies are considering the idea. They agree that the impact of automation is beyond anticipated and its consequences are getting difficult to measure. that “there is not one more important [topic] for all of us” than technology creating inequality and concentrating massive wealth in just a few people. She even called for an ethical rule book for AI. In Silicon Valley, the idea of “universal basic income” does not seem to be marginal. Vishal Sikka CEO from Infosys said that “a fraction of the cash that the top 10 or top 50 tech companies have could solve a big part of the basic income problem”. Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, said in Davos A fear response or not, neo-Luddism or not, there seems to be, at the moment, a consensus that the path lead by AI won’t be that smooth and that some collective action is required. Either by direct wealth distribution, or more traditionally, via a broader and inclusive education system. Fortunately, there seems to be also a consensus that AI is a good thing and no one proposed so far to break machines (or AI researchers as in Terminator) but to alleviate the undesired consequences that technological advancements might cause. Varied views on the topic: — The Economist Rise of the machines — The Economist Automation and anxiety — Bloomberg Artificial intelligence: Disruption era begins — Bloomberg A Robot Tax Is a Bad Idea —FT How robots are making humans indispensable — Socialist World Will robots end capitalism? — Conservative Home How the rise of the robots could give socialism a second chance? is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Is AI driving humanity towards socialism?

Let's learn about via these 46 free stories. They are ordered by most time reading created on HackerNoon. Visit the to find the most read stories about any technology. Self Driving Cars /Learn Repo Everything to know about self-driving cars: the good and the bad. 1. All You Need to Know About the Tesla Dojo Supercomputer All about the Dojo Supercomputer, what it is, why it was created, how it works and what it will be used for 2. Examples of AI Implementation in Transport AI is disrupting many industries, and its impact could be felt across the transport sector. The automotive industry has begun applying artificial intelligence in critical tasks such as self-driving cars, traffic management, etc. where safety and reliability is a major concern. Even though the technology is not being implemented on a wide scale, but it feels like the future of transportation is here. From Tesla’s Autonomous Semi Truck to self-organizing fleets, AI has shown promising results in this domain. 3. Can You React Faster than a Self-Driving Car on 5G Networks? This article is about how self-driving cars and 5G will make roads safer for everyone. 4. Top 5 Technology Innovations in 2020 You Have to Be Ready For The current year is replete with technological innovations that are capable of plotting a vector for the development of the entire industry for 2020 and subsequent years. The AI-operated robotic hand Dactyl that solves Rubik’s cube with one hand, the BERT, an advanced voice assistant, that launched a rocket into natural language understanding, smart watches with electrocardiogram sensors embedded – all these 2019 innovations allow us to suggest that the era of digital dystopia is just around the corner. With the tech industry becoming more advanced, cyber threats are expected to be complex and far-reaching. Fortunately, the cyber defence industry is not rest on its laurels, even now there are lots of methods to protect yourself from threats (you can read about it on Cooltechzone). 5. Using FPGA in the Near Future: Trends and Predictions The FPGA market continues to boom. According to the global forecast, over the next few years, its CAGR will be at an average of 8.6%. But the most interesting are new appliances of the tech, which are sometimes more akin to science fiction than to real life. 6. How to Hack Self-Driving Cars: Vulnerabilities in Autonomous Vehicles Self driving cars use artificial intelligence to allow vehicles like Tesla to drive without human interaction. This feature makes these cars vulnerable to hack. 7. The Top Ten Hottest Trends in Automobile Technology The transformative force of technology can be felt in all types of businesses, including the automobile industry. Technology has helped to transform the various aspects of the automotive sector include the buying process and the driving experience. 8. 5 Companies Developing Computer Vision Technology in 2020 Computer vision technology is the poster child of artificial intelligence. It is the sector of the industry that gets the most media attention because of the tools and benefits the technology can provide. From autonomous vehicles and drones to cancer detection and augmented reality, technologies that once only existed in science fiction are now at our doorstep. 9. Reinforcement Learning: 10 Real Reward & Punishment Applications In Reinforcement Learning (RL), agents are trained on a reward and punishment mechanism. The agent is rewarded for correct moves and punished for the wrong ones. In doing so, the agent tries to minimize wrong moves and maximize the right ones. 10. What is the Future of Autonomous Trucking? As technology improves, many people wonder if autonomous trucks could meet some of the world’s supply chain needs. 11. Connecting Autonomous Vehicles to Mapping Systems via the Cloud Autonomous vehicles are here. 12. Insights From Waymo: Self-Driving Taxis Are The Future of Ride-Hailing In the on-demand market, ride-hailing is one of the key services that account for a higher percentage of total revenue. Uber is the first ride-hailing app that entered the market and following that many taxi services launched their business in the market. Many taxi apps became successful and are still sustaining in the market. There is so much competition in the taxi service industry. Many small scale taxi services are competing with each other to become the key players in the market. 13. Self-Driving Cars: What Will Happen in 2020 Image Source: Pexels As we take our first steps into the new decade, it’s an interesting time to take a look at just how far technology has progressed. While we are at the ubiquitous robot workers stage, we certainly benefit from advances that define our current digital landscape. One area of futuristic technology that is gaining ground is autonomous vehicles (AV). 14. The Inevitable Symbiosis of Cybersecurity and AI While improvements in AI and Deep Learning move forward at an ever increasingly rapid rate, people have started to ask questions. Questions about jobs being made obsolete, questions about the inherent biases programmed into the neural networks, questions about whether or not AI will eventually consider humans as dead-weight and unnecessary to achieve the goals they've been tasked programmed with. 15. Mass Transit In a Post COVID-19 World As I write this on April 18, 2020, there are over 156,000 global deaths due to COVID-19, which is actually a tiny percent, however, this disease is incredibly communicable and is still not well understood. 16. 4 Overlooked Challenges to Our Shiny Self-Driving Future According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, transportation alone contributes 29 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions and according to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.35 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes, but self-driving cars are coming to fix this, with multi-billion dollar tech and motor companies like Google, Uber, Ford, and General Motors betting on the future of transportation to be one with electric, autonomous and shared vehicles. 17. Uber CEO Interview, and the Advent of Self Driving Car Technology 18. General Motor's Claims To Commercialise the Most Innovative Battery Technology GM has made the much-overlooked claim that by mid-decade, it expects to commercialize the most exotic of the stretch futuristic batteries currently on electric vehicle drawing boards. 19. Everything You Need to Know About 5G 5G is the latest network connectivity experience that you can get. It comes along with a variety of benefits and possibilities. In fact, you can use 5G to achieve things that you couldn’t do with the help of 4G. Therefore, it is worthy to take a look at 5G and get a better overall understanding about all the possibilities that it can offer. 20. The Future Self-Driving Cars and Their Societal Impact What societal changes might we see from the advent of self-driving cars? Self-driving cars may one day eliminate traffic laws, DUIs, and major accidents 21. Addressing Four Myths About the AI Industry: Reasons Not to Fear Artificial Intelligence Many people are worried about artificial intelligence taking over the world. A recent study found that 60% of the people in the UK fear AI. Tesla founder Elon Musk says that AI is humanity’s “biggest existential threat,” and that it poses a “fundamental risk to the existence of civilization.” 22. Why WFH Could Spell The End of Motoring as We Know it Covid-19 has thrown us into an era of great uncertainty. Every industry has been impacted by the devastating pandemic in some way or another, and there’s no sign of a return to normal life in the pipeline any time soon. 23. How Pandemic Problem Motivates AI Developers To Help Manufacturing Industries The global pandemic has persuaded a number of manufacturers to pursue an AI-driven transformation of their operations, according to studies by Cap Gemini and the Boston Consulting Group. What has been noticed is the way in which they are combining human experience and insight with AI tools to find ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors, as well as drive down costs and protect their profit margin. So, what are the most popular ways of using AI in manufacturing industries? 24. Tesla Stock Wears A Double Halo (Illustration: Mike Bloom) 25. How Self-Driving Cars Will Change the Auto Insurance Industry Welcome to the dawn of the self-driving car era, and a subsequent emerging challenge: how to insure them. 26. [Interview] How Technology Is Reshaping Transportation: Trends and Challenges Why will more people switch to cars as their choice of transportation? When will all vehicles become self-driving? I had the opportunity to sit down and talk about these issues in greater detail with Alexander Sapov, the CEO of GetTransfer.com, one of the biggest airport-to-city transfer providers. 27. AI Technologies that are Reshaping Social Infrastructure Together with the rise of the Internet, access to large repositories of data has helped machine learning technology grow exponentially. The incredibly quick pace of growth was unprecedented. As a result, it is obvious that AI will make a significant impact on the world in the years to come. However, with the numerous established and emerging fields of AI around today, such a blanket statement doesn’t provide much concrete meaning. 28. How AI Is Transforming Your Smartphone The tech industry and the world are relying on artificial intelligence to solve big problems such as cybersecurity, healthcare and sustainability. 29. How to Annotate 100 LIDAR Scans in 1 Hour: A Step-by-Step Guide A guide to efficient annotation of 3D point clouds for use in self-driving vehicles. Fast semantic segmentation of the drivable areag 30. Why the Rise of Active Assistance and Safety Systems Must Not Distract Drivers While the introduction of assistance and safety technologies intends to reduce vehicle accidents, improper use endangers the driver and other road users. 31. Car Safety Technology Is A Must-Have To Save Pedestrians' Lives When we talk about pedestrian traffic, safety must be the top concern. But sadly, transportation infrastructure worldwide pays more attention to the vehicle's safety, not people. 32. How Can Smartphone Tech Elevate Car Technology To Help Assess The Roads Better? Many cars nowadays have a navigation system with a display inside the car of where you are going. 33. When Will Self-Driving Cars Become Safe Enough? UK's government is still preparing for the widespread arrival of self-driving cars, but how safe are self-driving vehicles right now? 34. How We Built A Cross-Region Hybrid Cloud Storage Gateway for ML & AI at WeRide In this blog, guest writer Derek Tan, Executive Director of Infra & Simulation at WeRide, describes how engineers leverage Alluxio as a hybrid cloud data gateway for applications on-premises to access public cloud storage like AWS S3. 35. SpaceX Technology May Have The Potential To Revolutionise The Future of Cars As the years have gone by, entrepreneur Elon Musk has undoubtedly become a household name. His broader visions, and not to mention wealth, has helped him to carve out a legendary mark in outer space and the automotive industry alike. [36. Edge Computing Is So Fun - Part 2: The Future  Begins with The Road Side Unit](https://hackernoon.com/edge-computing-is-so-fun-part-2-the-future-begins-with-the-road-side-unit-4ls3wrp) This is the second in a series of articles on edge computing, delving into the infrastructure of outdoor edge computing, the emergence of the Roadside Unit as a common building block, a real-life example of the Roadside Unit, and the way forward. 37. 10 Stocks to Consider When Looking to Invest in Connected Cars Space The rollout of 5G is making even more connections possible, and one of the revolutionary  trends in the connected world is connected cars. Vehicles are getting smarter than ever before, and they’ll be using up a lot of data as more and more get connected to the Internet of Things. 38. Driving Change: 5 Automotive Trends and Innovations During the Coronavirus pandemic, people’s attitudes towards public transportation and carsharing have changed. They are not safe enough. Precisely because of that, most users are now finding comfort in owning a private vehicle. 39. Time Travel Through 2010s Technology: Part 2 In the first part of the series “Time travel through 2010s technology” we looked at how operating systems, phones, tablets, smartwatches and smartglasses changed through the last decade. The 2010s changed how we interact with technology, but more importantly, how we think about the impact it has in our lives. 40. How to Train Self-Parking Car Using Genetic Algorithm (<500 Lines of Code) Learn how to train the car to do self-parking using a genetic algorithm. 41. Survey on Acoustic Sensors in Self-Driving Cars Sound has been used in numerous applications as a tool for object localization. Audio technology can enhance object detection and may improve self driving cars. 42. Another Self-Driving Car Accident: New AI Development Lesson To Learn From (Source: https://blogs.nvidia.com) 43. Automotive Companies only Access 5% of their Vehicle Data Only 5% of autonomous driving sensor data is used for product development today. Better data infrastructure holds the keys to progress. 44. Driverless Vehicles: There's No Such Thing As Too Much Safety State and local governments are starting to permit the testing of driverless cars. This will likely result in accidents and traffic jams. 45. Tesla AI Day: How Does Tesla's Autopilot Work An overview of Andrej Karpathy's talk at Tesla AI Day on how Tesla's autopilot works in 10 minutes. 46. 22 Predictions for the Tech Landscape in 2022 From the Metaverse to Space Wars, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Thank you for checking out the 46 most read stories about Self Driving Cars on HackerNoon. to find the most read stories about any technology. Visit the /Learn Repo

46 Stories To Learn About Self Driving Cars

The transformative force of technology can be felt in all types of businesses, including the automobile industry. Technology has helped to transform the various aspects of the automotive sector include the buying process and the driving experience. Here are some of the hottest technology trends in the car industry right now: 1. VR and AR Showrooms VR and AR technologies have begun to make their way into the automotive industry. While they have been around for years, their impact in the car industry is expected to be quite huge in 2020. It is expected that the size of the VR and AR industry in 2020 will be around $20 billion, which is nearly double the figure of 2018. In the car industry, VR and AR technology is being used to create virtual showrooms. As a result, a carmaker does not need to have all the cars on site. Customers can put on their VR headset from the comfort of their home and view a car. For instance, you could even take a car for a ride on some around the world using VR. epic driving routes 2. Electric Car Charging Technology With current technology, the fastest you can hope to charge a Tesla at a specialized charging station is around one and a half hours. While this is fast, it is still much slower than it takes to fuel an ordinary car. However, there are technological innovations taking place that could reduce charging times to full battery capacity to just 20 minutes. 3. The internet of Things The Internet of Things has taken off in a big way in the car industry. It is because of people’s desire for inter-connectivity. Carmakers are simply unable to ignore this need. One reason why 2020 will be a huge year for IoT is due to the mass rollout of 5G technology. It ensures faster speeds, which makes vehicle inter-connectivity flawless. It is expected that by 2020, the number of interconnected cars will hit 250 million. The interconnectedness could help to reduce accidents and traffic jams. Consequently, car insurance firms such as could offer lower premiums for people who drive vehicles with such technology. Verti Insurance 4. Voice Control Driving cars requires that you ignore all other aspects and focus on the road. However, that is not possible in the modern interconnected world. Consequently, carmakers are introducing voice control into modern vehicles. It allows a driver to maintain control of their car using just their voice. 5. Enhanced Safety Due to AI There are already solutions in the market. One good example is the Automotive AI platform created by Affectiva. The platform was released about a year ago and it has the role of monitoring the behavior of drivers as well as their emotions. For instance, the AI can help to decide if a driver is sleepy or using their phone while driving. The driver gets a notification, which will help to reduce the risk of an accident. While it is already in use by some carmakers, it could soon become an industry standard. 6. Fully Autonomous Cars Current technology allows cars to make autonomous decisions in brief and controlled situations. However, that could change in the future as self-driving car technology evolves. One day, cars could be fully autonomous and not require a driver in the driver’s seat to ply public roads. 7. 3D Printed Cars 3D printing has been around for several years. It has slowly found its way into the automotive car industry. Some of the leading manufacturers are using the technology to create some of their parts. However, most of the cars have been experimental and they have not been mass-produced. It looks like things will change in 2020. XEV, an Italian startup, was the first to create a mass-produced 3D printed car. To create the car, they worked with Polymaker, which is a Chinese company that has invested heavily in the 3D printing industry. Almost all components of the car are 3D printed. The car is known as LSEV and it will be released in Asia and Europe sometime later this year. 8. Fully Active Suspension While current suspension systems are quite advanced, compared to just a few years ago, there is room for improvement. In the future, active suspension systems could help eliminate any carsickness caused by motion within the cabin. Cars achieve active using technology that predicts the layout of the road and makes the necessary adjustments. 9. Personalized Car Experience Many people spend a lot of time in their car and carmakers are catching on. Consequently, they are spending more on making cars as comfortable and personalized as possible. The personalization includes a full suite of various technologies such as the AC and the entertainment system. One benefit of this personalization is that cars can perform many tasks without human intervention. As a result, customers can be able to spend their time more productively when on the roads. 10. Use of the Blockchain in the Supply Chain Keeping full control of the car supply chain can be quite complex due to the many parts that are used in a single car. One technology that is helping to deal with the issue is blockchain technology. The technology helps to track down all car parts from the point of manufacture, which helps to eliminate counterfeit parts from the supply chain. Summary Above are the hottest trends in the automobile industry. These trends could one day become the industry standard. However, some may take longer to hit mass-market adoption than others. Some of them are still in the early stages of development. Consequently, they still require a lot of investment by players in the car industry. However, it is important to know which technologies to keep a close eye on. It can be quite useful when shopping for your next car.

The Top Ten Hottest Trends in Automobile Technology

(NB this is part 2 of my series. Feel free to read , although this piece can also stand alone) Machine Economics Part 1 (Chicago Board of Trade, 1999 - Andreas Gursky) internet technology continues it’s unstoppable march from the relatively benign world of information sharing and socialising, and into our more sacred and serious financial matters, the blurring lines between traditional finance and newer financial technology force us to reimagine centuries-old economic concepts in new ways. As One of these unchallenged concepts goes something like this: We humans, as rational investors and economic decision-makers, will remain in the driving seat as shapers of the global economy. Even if the tools we use continue to get more sophisticated, ultimately they are only tools, and machine automation will stay confined to small pockets of economic activity in the same way that industrial robots are confined to very specific and controlled areas of manufacturing. In the economy, as in manufacturing, bots will be our slaves, but not our masters. But I don’t think this is the case. Time and time again we have shown that we are perfectly happy to cede some control and decision making to technology, in the name of convenience. Weighing up and making decisions is hard work, and as long as we are happy with the outcome, who cares if the decision is optimal or not? That’s why we let algorithms recommend our restaurants, our reading, even our relationships. Many people to be in the driving seat, both figuratively and now even , with self-driving cars on our streets only a few years away. don’t want literally Widespread automation of our economy is coming. And I’m not talking about job automation here, I’m talking about the whole global economic and financial system, and how it works. It may seem hard to believe because economics has changed so little in the last century, but we are poised for rapid and profound change similar to what the internet or smartphone did for commerce, triggered by the watershed innovation of Blockchain and Decentralised Ledger Technology. Thanks to Blockchain’s compatibility with machine automation, tomorrow’s financial decisions will increasingly be performed by algorithms, and as a result, the future economy will be unrecognisable to humans. In other words, . Blockchain is the trigger for a Machine Economy explosion To try and unpack this, I have devised a new representation of the current economic system. I call it the ‘ and I will use it to help explain this vision of the future. Economic Tech Stack’ The Economic Tech Stack Economies are large, complicated things. Fundamentally though, if your goal is to accumulate capital (as is the case in capitalist systems) then economies centre around . If you really boil things down to first principles, then substantially all economic decision making comes down to three things: What am I buying? Who am I buying from? and When/Why/How do I buy it? That’s it. These are the first principles of economic activity. resource allocation (Fundamentally, Economies = Resource Allocation) We can take these first principles, written in human form, and restate them as principle layers on a stack. At the bottom, the (i.e. the ‘What am I buying?’). On top of this, the (i.e. the ‘Who am I buying from?’), and then finally the (i.e. the ‘When/Why/How do I buy it?’). Production Layer Ownership Layer Investment Layer We will break these down further, but in principle, these 3 layers or combinations therein can represent any economic activity. We know that activities often don’t interface directly with the means of , but instead with some intermediate or indirect claim on this production via an structure (stock markets being a good example). Investment Production Ownership (Human concepts of resource allocation can be considered as our ‘Economic Stack’) The consists of two sub-layers; the layer and the layer. The is the part that ; be it a company, a contractor, a building, a government project, and so on. Something you might consider investing in. The layer ensures that this economic agent has effective controls and proper oversight, and is not taking on too much risk or breaking the law in its own interests. Production Layer economic agent governance economic agent actually creates value governance (The Production Layer consists of the actual value creation, and a governance component.) Once you have Production, now you need to have a notion of Ownership. In other words who benefits from the value that is created in the Production layer? That’s why the sits on top of the Ownership Layer Production Layer. The consists of two sub-layers; the layer and the layer. It is of course a problem if there are ambiguities who should benefit from the value created in the Production Layer, and so that’s where contract law comes in. are drawn up to make sure that owners clearly have a paper claim to the means of production, and contracts are also used to transfer ownership from one entity to another. Ownership Layer contracts ledger Contracts Then you also must have a means of actually knowing , so we have to keep track of this; shareholder registers to track company ownership, or land registries to track real-estate ownership, for example. who owns what ledgers (The Ownership Layer facilitates the distribution of value to certain entities, enforced by contracts and tracked by ledgers.) Now things start to get even more interesting as we move up to the . This is where a vast amount of economic activity happens. Quite often, the investment layer doesn’t consider the fundamentals or specifics of the Production layer at all, even though this is where the value creation happens. Investment layer original Instead, complex financial machinations thrive, poring over prices and other signals in the aggressive pursuit of profit. Modest real-world economic activities are magnified into layer upon layer of synthetic speculation. This is where proprietary mechanisms, macro-economic forces, and behavioural aspects dominate. (The Investment Layer is where the vast amount of economic activity happens) The consists of several sub-layers; The layer, the layer, the layer, the layer, and the layer. Investment Layer securitisation exchange orders strategy data The layer, a huge space and hard to summarise in one sentence, effectively engages in activities that take an existing thing that you can own, and repackages it in a way that’s compatible and useful to trade and interface with open markets. securitisation Once you have these packaged you need somewhere to trade and exchange it with other economic actors, and so infrastructure is the next layer, for example stock exchanges, estate agents, capital markets and so forth. securities exchange And once you have the infrastructure in place to securities, now you need to be able to place the to do so (“I want to buy X” or “I want to sell Y”), so the layer comes next and represents the layer through which instructions are sent to the exchanges. These instructions are devised as part of an overall strategy, here shown as the next layer, where decisions like “when do I buy?”, “how much do I want to buy?”, or “do I buy or do I sell?”. exchange orders orders strategy And finally, these are usually built on some form of implicit or real-word data, data being the ultimate external input, making the layer the most extraneous part of this model and the top of the . strategies data Investment Layer So that’s the full ‘ model; three principle layers (Production, Ownership, Investment) with nine sub-layers in total (economic agent, governance, contracts, ledger, securitisation, exchange, orders, strategy, and data). Economic Tech Stack’ I will use this framework as a scaffold to hang my remaining claims on to, as I return to the point of how Blockchain technology will be the trigger for a Machine Economy explosion. (My complete “Economic Tech Stack” model) Towards a Machine-dominated Economy To imagine what the transition to an economy with widespread machine automation looks like, it helps to first consider where we are starting from. Using the Economic Tech Stack to define what type of agents occupy each layer of the stack, it’s clear that the traditional economy is a very human affair: (The Traditional Economy sees humans occupy all layers of the Economic Tech Stack) You have human actually doing the work and creating value (the ), who are and making sure things run properly, drawing up to facilitate ownership and transfers, maintaining the and public records, who these interests to be market-compatible, that facilitate of securities, that give instructions to the brokers, who’s inform the traders, and finally who provide and research to the investment advisors. At every layer a human actor. workers economic agent directors governing lawyers contracts registrars ledgers bankers securitise brokers exchange traders order investment advisors (or fund managers) strategies analysts data So, while the “human” economy seems pretty recognisable, we can sense that in recent years the above no longer fully represents today’s reality. The incursion of machine-automated systems into our economic fabric has already begun, and today our global economy lives in a state. traditional hybrid While it is true that in many layers of the stack, not much has changed in the last century and humans still dominate, in some layers we increasingly see a move towards sophisticated, man-machine processes and technologies, particularly towards the upper parts of the Economic Tech Stack: (Today’s Hybrid Economy sees the incursion of man-machine processes into the otherwise traditional stack) In the Investment Layer of this economy, the white-collar shirt is fast being replaced by lines of code. Who still picks up the phone to ‘call their broker’? Instead, as we see above, exchange orders are routed through , as instructed by sophisticated technical , which are partly self-taught (aka machine learning) and partly designed by , in collaboration by numerical geniuses commonly known as ‘ ’. hybrid APIs algorithms software engineers quants This human-machine paradigm underpins the growth of today’s hybrid economy, and when we arrange these on the Economic Tech Stack it seems that the transition towards a machine-dominated economy is clearly underway, with the Investment Layer as the foothold. Resistance to progress And yet, while some progress can be observed in this economy, the speed of this progress thus far hasn’t exactly been sensational. If a banker living 100 years ago travelled in time to today, they would still be familiar with this economic system in general, except to find that trading floors had been replaced largely by machines which traded at higher volumes and speeds. hybrid Things have changed, but progress of automation in the last century, especially compared to other industries like manufacturing, has been slow. The reason for this slow progress comes down to the inherent compartmentalisation of the Economic Tech Stack in today’s economy. There is simply too much friction and fragmentation to allow efficient innovation and development. Anybody who has worked in a dysfunctional company where departments or teams don’t communicate well will understand this; the . The barriers or silos that exist within an organisation are always counterproductive, and likewise, the barriers that exist within or in-between the layers of the Economic Tech Stack impede development and confine automation to small pockets. interfaces are important Unfortunately, whenever humans are involved, these barriers to progress tend to be self-perpetuated through a mechanism resembling the below: (Human involvement inherently tends to impede machine automation across industries) As a result, the current hybrid economy is riddled with systemic barriers throughout the stack. Things like national borders, financial intermediation, creaking legacy infrastructure, protectionist technology mindsets, lack of standardisation, back office costs, company silos etc. all act to inhibit system automation and productivity gains. Whether through deliberate rent-seeking, organisational inertia, or simple incompetence to change, innovation is held back by the incumbents of the system causing these systemic barriers to exist. Given this situation then, and the slow progress to date, how can I support my claim that “widespread automation of our economy is coming” any time soon? Blockchain is merging the Economic Tech Stack Blockchain is a barrier-removing technology. It removes barriers by virtue of its fantastic properties, namely for being distributed, open, and secure. It’s property overcomes barriers of reach, allowing it to cross national borders and disintermediate centralised gatekeepers.  It’s property overcomes barriers of innovation; the open source nature allowing anyone to experiment at the fringes while still forcing standardisation through shared protocols. Distributed Open It’s property overcomes barriers of cost, because as a public good it doesn’t need to make profit, or have a substantial back-office to be secure, or rest on creaky ageing infrastructure that’s difficult to maintain. Secure Thanks to these properties, the use of Blockchain , because by overcoming these various barriers we can escape the forces that are preventing the automation of today’s economic machinery. The negative feedback loop that removes incentives for industries to integrate, collaborate and standardise will be replaced by the positive feedback loop of efficiency gains, aligned incentives, and rapid global diffusion. has huge implications for the Economic Tech Stack Furthermore, by opening up and improving the interface between the various layers of the Economic Tech Stack, we can finally provide and vertical integration opportunities which until now have been severely limited. mobility between layers As these interfaces and connections develop and digitise, removal of human-induced barriers will cause an ever-greater share of the stack to be traversable  by software, dramatically increasing the capabilities of algorithms to automate the economic machine. In other words, Blockchain will merge the Economic Tech Stack, shifting it from a world of human barriers, walled gardens, and protected business models to an open economic space that is fully compatible with machine automation. (Blockchain facilitates vertical integration capabilities to autonomous agents, by merging the layers of the stack) As the layers increasingly merge into an open economic space, the machine agents, endowed with ever-greater cyber-mobility, will see little advantage in specialising or restricting their activities. Instead they will become increasingly general; why would a software algorithm only function as a broker when it could also be the analyst, the investor, the trader, the banker, the registrar, and more? With such vast economic cyber-territory up for grabs, the benefits of vertical and horizontal integration will be irresistible. Any economic structures from the old paradigm, which still have some arbitrary human involvement in some layers of the Economic Tech Stack, will increasingly and rapidly face a decisive disadvantage. This will force the Traditional (human) economic entities to pivot to the decentralised (machine) economy, in the same way that internet forced traditional high street retailers to pivot to e-commerce, just to survive. Already, the decentralised equivalents of every layer of the Economic Tech Stack are in various stages of development: (The future economy will be a fully decentralised stack, powered by blockchains and native to programmable machine agents) In a later blog post I will dive deeper into these concepts, explaining further the function of such decentralised blockchain crypto-networks and giving examples of how I see machine agents operating across them. Important to note here is how I’ve populated every single layer of the Economic Tech Stack without involving any intermediaries whatsoever, using decentralised blockchain concepts which aren’t theoretical, but are right now under development. Once in a while, an invention comes along that does not just incrementally improve the status quo but completely shifts gear and ignites a whole new phase where the of improvements ramps up and sets us on a whole new trajectory. Since the new trajectory of development is often orders of magnitude faster than to the previous status quo, these innovations are often coined as ‘revolutions’. speed Replacing bronze with iron is one example. Replacing muscle power with steam power is another. Manuscripts vs. the printing press, analogue vs. digital electronics, closed communication networks vs. the Internet: all very different inventions but all with strikingly similar characteristics: These revolutions and by doing so unleashed unimaginable, exponential technological change. all solved some decisive limitation of the status quo, I’m convinced that today we face a similar shift. The invention of Blockchain solves a decisive limitation of the economic infrastructure as we know it, and the potential it offers for rapid automation of the Economic Tech Stack is hard to fully grasp. By facilitating an open economic space that’s fully digital and conducive to software automation, the rise of blockchain crypto-networks will mean machine agents will be free to roam the entire digital economy, and this freedom will bring unbounded and accelerating development of future economic infrastructure. It’s a machine economy explosion, and it’s already underway. Andy November 2019 Thanks to Akram Hussein and Richard Craib for comments on the draft. Originally published at https://www.andybryant.me on November 12, 2019.

Machine Economics [Part II]: Blockchain will Trigger a Machine-Economy Explosion

Reusable rockets have revolutionized access to space, reducing both the costs of access and the CO2 footprint of launches. Major entrepreneurial developments are to be expected in the coming years, including those from familiar frontrunners SpaceX and Blue Origin as well as new innovations from Virgin Galactic, ISRO, and Arianespace. Understanding the technology, its financial and environmental impacts, and their promising applications for space tourism, power generation, communications, and materials development, all hint at what’s to come. December 2015, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 makes its successful return, the first-ever reusable rocket. Since then, recovering SpaceX rockets has become routine, but this hadn’t been the case during the early decades of spaceflight. All rockets, satellites, and space probes until that day had been single-use items. The only objects that returned to our planet were human-carrying space capsules or sample canisters like Stardust (1999–2006) or Hayabusa (2005–2010), with the exception of the US Space Shuttle (1970s-2011) and the Soviet Union Buran (1980–1988), which had envisioned fully reusable yet too expensive and complex to operate spaceplanes. Since 2012, several companies have been working on projects and prototypes for orbital and suborbital reusable spacecraft. SpaceX began developing what would become the Falcon9 and Falcon Heavy that same year. Blue Origin created the first VTVL rocket, New Shepard, in 2015 and managed to reach space by passing the Kármán line (62 mi) and returning for a propulsive landing. Both companies are working on the next generation of vehicles (Starship and New Glenn, respectively), while Virgin Galactic, ISRO, and Arianespace also have suborbital projects in development. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that reusable rockets can reduce the cost of access to space by a factor of a hundred. We’re already reaping the benefits of this technology, with satellites ridesharing into orbit cheaper and faster than ever. And still, space flight is at its infancy — and the best is yet to come. Biggest Players SpaceX SpaceX is definitely making (regular) strides in reusable spacecraft. Following their Falcon9 success, the company is now involved in several missions. These include Starlink, a network that will offer high-speed internet access across the globe (completed October 8), and Saocom 1B (completed September 20), the first polar launch ever from the East Coast and the first from Florida in decades. The Falcon 9 reusable two-stage rocket completed 93 launches and 54 landings. The Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket by a factor of two, has executed seven landings and four re-flies. With its 64 metric tons capacity, the rocket uses nine nine-engine cores (27 Merlin engines) to produce more than 5 million pounds of thrust. One of SpaceX’s most expected vehicles is, however, the Starship. This spacecraft and super-heavy rocket is a fully reusable transportation system that can carry both cargo and crew to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Blue Origin Blue Origin is the venture of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. The company has developed a suborbital rocket called New Shepard (named after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space), designed to take astronauts and research payloads past 62 miles altitude. The journey takes only 11 minutes, and the rocket uses fins, drag breaks, and a BE-3 liquid rocket engine to land. Blue Origin is also working on Blue Glenn (named after astronaut John Glenn), a big reusable launch vehicle capable of carrying people and payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. Its first stage is built for a minimum of 25 missions, making it competitive for a variety of launch markets. The company is also developing Blue Moon, a flexible lander that can deliver astronauts, large rovers, habitats, and ascent stages to the lunar surface in order to enable a sustained human presence on the satellite. The company leads the Human Landing System (HLS) National Team alongside Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper. The team has recently completed its first System Requirements Review (SRR) and is ready to move forward working with partners, independent experts, and NASA to return Americans to the Moon. Other Companies Virgin Galactic’s reusable spaceflight system is called SpaceShipTwo. The company is developing a new generation of space vehicles that will focus on private passenger-carrying commercial services. Its operational hub at New Mexico’s Spaceport America is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport and will run a regular schedule of spaceflights for private individuals and researchers. ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organisation, is also working on reusable launch vehicle technology. Their RLV-TD completed its first successful atmospheric test flight in May 2016, and their latest model is to land on the ground in November or December 2020. Somewhat similar to the USA’s space shuttle, the vehicle will be able to put satellites into orbit and return for the next mission. expected The European Arianespace is also planning on making its future rockets more competitive. Their new “acceleration platform” will develop reusable launchers and an engine called Prometheus, which uses oxygen and methane as a propellant. The products of this type of fuel are more environmentally friendly than many other alternatives, making the rocket particularly attractive. The Future of Reusable Rockets As Musk stated, reusable rockets can significantly reduce the cost of launches. The CEO had promised that a Falcon 9 launch would cost just $62 million — and yet Space Force’s two next launches had a price tag of only combined. This is perhaps the main reason why the rocket propulsion market is one with increasing government support and growing investment. Its revenues are projected to surpass by 2027 at an 8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the period 2020 to 2027. $52.7 million $6 million Reusable rockets are, in general, safer, more cost-effective, and allow for quick deployment of much-needed satellite infrastructure. They might accumulate wear, but they don’t get new manufacturing defects between flights. In terms of environmental impact, these spacecraft can produce many different emissions (CO2, water vapor, carbon soot, chlorine, etc.), which generally means a hefty footprint. A lot of conventional rockets are propelled by liquid hydrogen fuel that produces clean water vapor exhaust (Blue Origin plans to use this type of fuel). Although the production of hydrogen itself can cause significant carbon emissions, rocket launches are nonetheless relatively infrequent. However, SpaceX’s Falcon uses kerosene. This could become a problem if launches are as frequent as promised — one every two weeks. There are currently no regulations on rocket emissions as, so far, the most important criteria have been cost and performance. Hopefully, companies will follow the example of ArianeGroup, which is developing a completely carbon-neutral rocket that runs on methane produced from biomass. With the advent of frequent rocket launches by many different companies, we hope reducing costs will mean that we can address the environmental impact. This article was also published here .

Reusable Rockets Are Democratizing Access to Space

May 2019 #Block2 “Women in Blockchain” is a collective Series of well-respected Women in the Blockchain World. All the women taking part in this series have one common ground; to further Blockchain Technology through Education. Disclaimer: This is not Financial advice by myself or any of the participants in the Series. Full Disclaimer Here Why Education? One of my questions in this article is “If you had to be critical about yourself what would you change?” I think for me it would be to stand in front of a group of people with the self-confidence to share my passion, my train of thought, why, how, where and at the end come out unscathed. But with no mistakes, how would I learn. We need to make some mistakes to improve our confidence and learn from the experience. Having the confidence to say something, make a statement, put your reputation on the line is not easy unless you know what you are saying or doing. Let’s, however, be clear to differentiate between a loudmouth approach and or arrogance to hide one's inabilities. I certainly wouldn’t be writing this article if I thought I didn’t know enough about the subject. I embarked on my Blockchain Cryptocurrency research 2 years ago and my writing skills followed suite only because I am confident enough to share what I had learned, tried and tested. That to me with my children is the missing link, how do our children find the connection between what is handed out at school, what they see their parents are doing and of course what the YouTube world is telling them is possible? This series is about just that, uncovering ways to help our children see opportunities in one of the fastest-growing Job Categories in the world, Blockchain. You can Google “what is the fastest-growing Technology in the world” or go to . Deloitte to see Without further ado then First up is Evelina Lavrova | CMO Waves World 2017 Evelina works for Waves World, Expert CV Labs, Top 10 Females in Crypto Q & A Q #1 Give us a summary of your background and how you got into Blockchain & Digital Currency / Cryptocurrency? A #1 I started work when I was 17 years old and spent around 15 years in Business Development and Marketing in Tech, Media, FMCG, and Real Estate companies. In 2016 I worked at Pay-Me — an mPOS service that is the equivalent of Square in Russia and the CIS. Sometimes we had fraudulent transactions so we decided to use KYC, making a video interview with clients and recording it on the blockchain. That was my introduction to blockchain. Later that year I joined Waves Platform — a blockchain and web3 ecosystem. Q #2 Tell us about your current position, responsibilities and some day to day activities that you look forward to? A #2 I’m Founder and CEO of DeCrypto PR, CMO at the US-based Waves World mining pool and crypto marketplace, and Expert at CV Labs — a blockchain incubator in Zug, Switzerland. I’m also a part of the Global Women in Blockchain community. Every month or second month I attend or participate as a speaker at conferences. I’m always interested to meet new partners, clients, journalists, etc. I also work on my own or my clients’ interviews. Usually, I have some calls or meetings during the day. Q #3 If you had to be critical about yourself, which part of your career would you like to improve on? A #3 First, I would have started to learn English earlier! I moved to new cities and changed schools a few times, and after my graduation, I realized I didn’t know English well. I was rejected by a few international companies because of that. So I started to learn it again at the age of 25. Secondly, I wish I hadn’t had a 5-year gap in working in technology. I gained great experience in FMCG and real estate companies, but it wasn’t so dynamic and interesting as working in tech startups. Q #4 What advice do you have for children/youth (10–18 years) today especially young women about the Blockchain world? How do we nurture interest in this new Technology? A #4 I’m a little bit envious of modern teenagers because they have much more opportunity than my generation (I’m a millennial). I would advise they start discovering and learning about different technologies as early as they can, though I’m against kids using smartphones or tablets the whole time. Technologies are not the future, they’re our present. I also recommend learning languages, including English and Chinese, if they’re not your native languages. Q #5 What kind of skill set would you be looking at in job applicants? A #5 As important as specific disciplines like IT, programming, etc, is your character: curiosity, ambition, and responsibility. Q #6 Blockchain to me is a forward-thinking force of snowballing Technology, but where I’m from a lot of people still see Bitcoin as a scam. How do we bridge the gap between Technology and people that are skeptical about it? A #6 The period of ICO hype in 2017 casts a long shadow since a lot of people joined the blockchain industry just to get rich quickly or fundraise investment. Something like 90–95% of startups were scams. Very often we read stories about founders who fundraised large amounts of money and then disappeared with it. I recommend the skeptics try using it, to buy, sell and to pay people in crypto. For example, I pay for my air tickets using BTC (one of the airlines fly with very often accepts payments in bitcoin). Q #7 Can you please provide the details of an educational facility that is in your area or country if anyone reading this article decides to find out more about Blockchain? A #7 I like studying, but the practice is more important than education now. Here is an example. I participated in a competition for a scholarship for gaining a Masters degree at UK universities but failed twice. Six years later I got an invitation to speak to students from the blockchain community at Manchester University. Or here’s another example. In the last two years, top universities such as MIT, Berkeley, and Stanford have launched their own blockchain courses. I discussed and prepared a new course for blockchain developers for Coursera because such knowledge was in high demand from companies and developers. Q #8 What is your current opinion on the Digital Assets (cryptocurrency) market and share with us your opinion on where you think this Technology will take us? A #8 It’s not too late to join it, it’s still just beginning. We are in the process of early and possibly early majority adoption. We need more time for mass adoption, when huge financial organizations, corporations, and small and medium businesses will use it for data storage or will accept payments in cryptocurrencies. We also need more use cases, so financial institutions and banks should not fight with blockchain startups, they should work together because blockchain is a technology that brings much-needed transparency. Q #9 What new exciting projects are you currently working on or planning? A #9 At the beginning of the year, I was honored to join CV Labs — a blockchain incubator in Zug, Switzerland. I’m currently preparing my workshop: ‘How to promote a blockchain startup on the international market.’ I’m also in the process of negotiating with AI, energy and cryptocurrency payments solution startups. Recently I joined a team working on blockchain for social impact research at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Q #10 What is your favorite Blockchain project and why? A #10 I like companies that want not simply to make money, but try to build products that change the existing paradigm. This is why the story of Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum is so inspiring. Inspiring Evelina, I remember the first time I read your Biography about a year ago when I was researching (one of the largest and true Decentralized Blockchains) I decided then that I had to be a part of this Ecosystem. Today I am proud to own WAVES and Waves World (WW) Tokens. Morne Olivier WAVES Platform I liked when you differentiated between Technology and the future: “Technologies are not the future, they’re our present.” and I think this is part of many peoples/parents frustrations, a topic I will leave for the book to come. Thank you, Evelina, good luck with your upcoming workshop: ‘“How to promote a blockchain startup on the international market.” It is these initiatives that will set the standard for Blockchain integration, real Pioneers work. *************************************************************** For our next participant, I have asked Anu Bhardwaj | 2019 Blockchain For Impact Summit Co-Chair to join us. | Serial entrepreneur & investor doing what I love and LOVING what I do. Deep Tech Adviser & EIR @ Marc Bell Capital | Anu Bhardwaj "Women Investing in Women Digital" Q&A A #1 I’ve had a super diverse and international academic career where I won over $500,000 to live, work, and travel to over 60 countries (primarily across Asia and Europe and North America). In 2008, I was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to attend the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai where I did a deep-dive into the private equity industry, which began a decade exploration into what is now labeled as “gender lens investing.” Q #1 Give us a summary of your background and how you got into Blockchain & Digital Currency / Cryptocurrency? I spent the next 7 years working very closely with close to 40 US private equity funds with various fundraising initiatives accessing institutional capital across the Nordics, the Middle East and other strategic markets in partnership with the US Department of Commerce and the US State Department, which of course, is now “classified.” My final Private Equity Trade Mission ended in Fall 2014 after which I started Women INVESTING in Women Digital, a leading global media platform which now has a news feed with over 1,000,000 FB followers. We have a highly active and curated sub-community within Women INVESTING in Women DIGITAL called Crypto Queens, a podcast series on iTunes, ACAST, and Voice America Kids called Women INVESTING in Women and Girls, which can also be found on our website: . http://www.thestateofwomen We just released our first global documentary on The State of Women earlier this year which had showing during Sundance Film Fest, London Blockchain Week, India Conclave, the MindChain Conference in Romania, and private showings in Stockholm and Austin during SXSW. I dove into blockchain & digital currency back in 2017 after some trial and error investing into an experimental crypto-fund and several Blockchain related tech companies. I was invited to moderate 6 panels during the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2018 which led to a 24-month roadshow Keynoting, Moderating, and MCing across Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Australia. Q #2 Tell us about your current position, responsibilities and some day to day activities that you look forward to? A #2 I am the Founder of , Crypto Queens, Krypto 4 Kids, and developing SHEQ, a multi-asset, multifunctional crypto wallet by women for women. Blockchain “world” is a super fast-moving space. I love having my own media platform since I’m in the heart of everything at all times. We have a bi-weekly newsletter for , curated by millennial women geared towards getting more women & millennials introduced to crypto in a simple and easy to understand content strategy. Women INVESTING in Women DIGITAL Crypto Queens I’m looking forward to starting various TV programs and shows in the near future, which we are currently discussing now with various producers. We launched Blockchain on The Beach, last November, at the Montage Laguna Beach Resort in Laguna Beach, California which we will be expanding to Miami Beach this Fall and globally in 2020. SHEQ will hopefully be LIVE by the end of this year — we’re almost finished with our back-end. This is my second technology product in the past year and I’m learning constantly as we design and develop our “dream project” for banking the unbanked at unprecedented levels. Q #3 If you had to be critical about yourself, which part of your career would you like to improve on? A #3 I’d love to be less ambitious but I don’t think that will ever be possible. I would like to be less detail-oriented, I don’t think that will happen either, unfortunately. Going forward, I’m going to work on getting more sleep, finding ways to be in 10 places at once without getting on a plane, and spending more time with my darling daughter and Co-Founder of Krypto 4 Kids, Arya Sitara Bhardwaj. I would love to see her speaking at more conferences and helping her build her various business ideas targeting young women and girls. Q #4 What advice do you have for children/youth (10–18 years ) today especially young woman about the Blockchain world? How do we nurture interest in this new Technology? A #4 The simpler you make this industry, the easier it will become for women and girls to participate. This is exactly what we are focusing on at Women INVESTING in Women DIGITAL, Crypto Queens, Krypto 4 Kids, and our new SHEQ Wallet, by women for women and our K4K apps which are already available on Google Play and iOS. My advice is to learn as much as you can and if it's not clear, make your own content to simplify what you learn for others. We are ALL on this journey together. No one knows everything! Q #5 What kind of skill set would you be looking at in job applicants? A #5 Hunger, Integrity, Passion, and Creativity. Q #6 Blockchain to me is a forward-thinking force of snowballing Technology, but where I’m from a lot of people still see Bitcoin as a scam. How do we bridge the gap between Technology and people that are skeptical about it? A #6 There is a tremendous amount of misinformation and noise in the cryptocurrency space which is why there will be skepticism about Bitcoin. We as an industry need to start a serious conversation around “digital assets” as the global financial industry, collectively. This will reduce fear and increase confidence which will solve many adoption issues that were a result of numerous scams in 2018. Q #7 Can you please provide the details of an educational facility that is in your area or country if anyone reading this article decides to find out more about Blockchain? A #7 Crypto Queens has partnered with recently during Consensus 2019 and we highly endorse Robert and his team! You will need to check out when his course is offered next. DLT Education Q #8 What is your current opinion on the Digital Assets (Cryptocurrency) market and share with us your opinion on where you think this Technology will take us? A #8 I am a huge fan of digital assets. I’ve invested in real estate, heavy metals like Gold & Silver, stocks & bonds, and early-stage technology deals, as an accredited investor. I had the highest gains in the shortest amount of time with digital assets not only because I entered the market at the right time but also because I was excited at the right time. Q #9 What new exciting projects are you currently working on or planning? A #9 I’m focused on launching my SHEQ Wallet and hosting Blockchain on the Beach in MIAMI, this Fall. I would love to start my own TV show sometime this year or possibly in 2020. We have a number of new partners helping us with Krypto 4 Kids — it’s awesome to have so many synergies with all of our various activities. Almost like we have our own unique crypto ecosystem designed for women & kids, made with love and powered by committed male counterparts who not only support but endorse our VISION! Q #10 What is your favorite Blockchain project and why? A #10 SHEQ WALLET and Krypto 4 KIDS. These two initiatives have the power and potential to bring so many new users into our global blockchain ecosystem, which is critical for our collective success! | | | | GLOBAL DIALOGUE PODCASTS VIDEOS TWEETS BIO Whoooh, I’ve just Interviewed my first Serial Entrepreneur. Thank you Anu, I think any woman out there that will read this will take away so much inspiration from your energy and drive. Your purpose in educating is a goal I share too and the common ground our children and how we can help them. Its been an honor getting to know you through your busy schedule and I am sure this is not the last time! I am really privileged to have come to know Woman in Blockchain like this, it has started to give me a whole new purpose of being involved in the Blockchain world. We will do this again next week and remember after the fifth article I will be launching my first book on Women in Blockchain with some surprises. Regards Morne #morneolivier #womeninblockchain #blockchainpci #pci Woman in Blockchain #Block1 In case you missed it my last Article Digital Currency exchanges | Volume / Liquidity Important Links to know about me: UPDATED 11/04/19 About Morne Olivier #Disclaimer #PassiveCryptoIncome Medium Twitter Telegram for Passive Income LinkedIn Telegram Steemit ONO MurMur

WOMEN IN BLOCKCHAIN | EDUCATION BREEDS CONFIDENCE

Back in 1993, the introduction of the touched off a revolution in the way the public experienced and used the growing internet. Ever since, web designers the world over have worked continuously to establish and refine what solid UX design means online. Some of the evolutions have been the result of advancing technology, such as the rise of broadband internet enabling multimedia content, or the development of the HTML5 standard. Others have come from data-driven studies of what works and what doesn’t and an iterative process to reach perfection. Mosaic graphical web browser Any way you look at it, however, the field of web design has spent the last 25 years growing and changing our collective vision of what the internet can and should look like. Now, there’s a new technology revolution — the rise of artificial intelligence — that is already poised to upend the web design industry much faster than anyone could have anticipated only a few short years ago. Here’s a look at the ways that AI is already changing the web design industry, including its current strengths, weaknesses, and where it may be heading next. AI as a UX Element Photo: Chaosamran_Studio / Adobe Stock The first and most obvious way that AI is changing the face of modern web design is in the myriad AI tools that are becoming standard parts of modern design. The most obvious example of it is in the explosion of chatbots that became a fixture on almost every web property in the past few years. In theory, they’re meant to bridge the gap into a whole new kind of web interface, one powered by conversation rather than touch or click. In the beginning, chatbots relied on little more than simple, pre-programmed conversational pathways that determined the extent of their usefulness. That lead to some pretty disappointing results, but the latest chatbots now use sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) systems to create with visitors that don’t follow a scripted path. Now that these new AI chatbots are reaching maturity, they are all but certain to enjoy a resurgence in the very near future. meaningful conversations AI as the Designer A much bigger and more consequential way that AI is changing web design is by beginning to supplant the designers themselves. A growing field of artificial design intelligence (ADI) tools is doing just that and powering a fundamental shift in the way websites are built. Once again, however, the earliest examples of ADI systems have been underwhelming, much like the early chatbots. The most well-known example is The Grid, which aimed to be the first one-stop-shop in AI web design with its automated web builder named Molly. After making a splashy debut, their technology to the initial hype. Since then, however, several ADI systems have evolved into what could turn out to be transformative tools. Offerings from and now do a credible job of creating websites in mere moments, with plenty of options for further customization afterwards. Within a few years, it’s easy to see them grabbing an ever-larger share of the overall web design market. didn’t live up Wix Bookmark AI Informing Results AI isn’t only being used to create elements and designs; it’s also being leveraged in the all-important process of figuring out what designs work best and how to refine them. To that end, a variety of tools have appeared to help web developers gain real insights into how their designs are working in real time. Those insights are enabling companies like to deliver data-focused CRO services that help web properties maximize their impact with consumers. In the process, AI is supplanting long-standing iterative design practices , which used to be the primary method of improving site design to drive results. It’s also important to realize that this is an area that’s a natural fit for AI since it’s all about data and pure analysis. That should mean that it’s also an area where we can expect to see more developments and bigger breakthroughs in the very near term. AI-powered analytics Convincely like A/B testing The Future of AI in Web Design Judging by the applications of AI that have already had an effect on modern web design, and the speed at which they are still developing, it’s clear that we’ve only seen the beginnings of the disruptive force that the technology will exert in the industry. Going forward, it’s a virtual certainty that AI will take a primary role in every facet of web design and development, and will enable and drive new shifts in what is considered the state of the art in web design. For example, as NLP becomes more powerful, it is likely that voice interfaces will become the new normal on the web. In addition, AI also seems primed to power the next generation in website personalization, which could change the nature of the internet forever. Imagine encountering websites that will adapt themselves to provide a perfect experience on a user-by-user basis, rather than continuing the one-size-fits-most approach that’s common today. That may well be possible through an evolution of the AI tools that power today’s ADI platforms and analytics systems. Once that happens, the internet will become a fluid, user-centric place that takes on a life of its own — and who would have ever predicted that only 25 short years ago?

NEXT FORCE TECHNOLOGY

nextforcetechnology.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

NEXT FORCE TECHNOLOGY

EVERGREEN INDEX #8084

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Next Force Technology WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!

NEXT FORCE TECHNOLOGY

nextforcetechnology.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

NEXT FORCE TECHNOLOGY

EVERGREEN INDEX #8084

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT NEXT FORCE TECHNOLOGY

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Next Force Technology WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!