Mentatul

Month: February 2016

  • How the Stock Market Drives Companies Insane

    How the Stock Market Drives Companies Insane

    In the past decade, we’ve witnessed countless cases of companies breaking the law and harming the environment in their frenetic quest for profits. The most recent high profile case is Volkswagen’s cheating in the emissions scandal^. Or was the toxic spill from a mine in Brazil^ worse? In case we’re undecided, perhaps the disastrous explosion in China^ can take the prize? All of these happened in the space of four months in 2015.

    Now, just think about how many companies get away with extremely dangerous practices just because we haven’t caught them or because disaster hasn’t struck yet. I believe there is an explanation for these behaviors. And, as it is often the case, understanding the causes of an undesired behavior can give us clues about how we can change it.

    A life-form analogy

    Profit is the motivating force behind a company’s decisions. Following a natural tendency, the individuals that have teamed up to form a commercial entity share the desire for prosperity. This collaboration between individuals is similar to the association of more cells that constitute a multi-cellular organism. Companies can therefore be seen as a sort of life-form. The environment where many of the larger life-forms exist is called the stock market.

    One of the most important changes that the stock market has seen in the past decades is the worrying drop in stock ownership time. Actually, this has outright plummeted in recent years. What this means is that companies have less time to prove themselves to investors and, often, this negatively impacts their long-term strategies.

    The stock market is forcing corporations to make a profit as large and as soon as possible, lest investors simply pull the plug and move on to the next “growth opportunity”. This childish attitude on the part of the investing public forces many economic entities into a ruthless quest for profit. The alternative is death and, like any life-form, a company will do everything in its power to survive.

    As with all ecosystems, there is a relationship of interdependence between companies and the stock market. While companies adapt to their environment, they also have the power to change that environment. The problem is that, for the time being, there’s a lot of greed and paranoia swirling inside this ecosystem.

    The rules of the game

    If the stock market influences the companies’ behavior, it stands to reason that skillful changes in the market could help companies to become friendlier. The main issue in the investment game is that most of the players are, to put it mildly, uneducated. Fewer investors than ever hold a company’s stock for more than a year. Like hyper-active children, most of them stumble into speculation, fattening the paychecks of brokers and stressing out everybody in the market.

    With or without the stock market, companies are bound to sometimes play dirty due to their desire for profit. Unfortunately, the lack of proper investment principles on the part of the public becomes yet another reason to adopt bad policies and take massive risks.

    A ruthless stock market may mean better profits for a while, but it’s us breathing in Volkswagen’s fumes; losing our planet under mountains of sludge; having our life blown to bits due to the fact that some manager decided to improve his bottom line by neglecting the security of a warehouse that contains 900 tons of ammonium nitrate. I’m referring, of course, to the three articles that are linked in the first paragraph.

    We’ve built a jungle-like environment for these corporate life-forms, and we’re reaping the rewards. As companies are becoming more and more disconnected from humanity, our values and ideals become secondary – all bow in front of the throne of the quarterly financial statements. It’s survival of the fittest.

    Solutions

    The most obvious way to break this vicious circle we’re in is, of course, education; not only financial education, but also psychological education. Financially, investors need to understand the concept of long-term investments. Psychologically, they need to be prepared to weather the ups and downs of the stock market and to hold onto their assets (provided that those assets are of a company that the investor truly cares about, has vetted and has faith in its long-term vision).

    Certain changes of policy must be applied on the companies’ end as well. We should take back our governments from the greedy claws of lobbyists. Through the increased independence thus gained, we can facilitate the creation of a strict code of conduct for corporations, enforceable through larger fines and increased regulation.

    Some will cry that this will stifle innovation. Perhaps it will, to a certain degree, which is why any such measures must be taken together with the companies and the people that brought their success. Let us not forget that these entities are comprised of our brothers and sisters.

    Too many times have we, as a species, decided that we know best when we intervene in an ecosystem. We must heed the delicate balance of the stock market and the companies that inhabit it. Now is the time for dialogue, for finding a harmonious way to co-exist with these corporations, before they decide that they don’t have any need for humans. Even if we don’t manage to create true artificial intelligence, automated processes will continue to make humans obsolete.

    Note 1: For those interested in the stock market, I can recommend one of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject of financial and psychological education in investment: Benjamin Graham’s “The Intelligent Investor”. Warren Buffett is one of the author’s students.

    Note 2: I’ve entered the stock market roughly 8 months ago and so far, never sold a single stock. I’ve invested in two established, dividend-paying North-American semiconductor companies, one major software company and a promising (but high-risk) computer games studio in Sweden.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/00350-StockMarketDrivesCompaniesInsane-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/00350-StockMarketDrivesCompaniesInsane-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’How the Stock Market Drives Companies Insane’ desc=’In the past decade, we've witnessed countless cases of companies breaking the law or harming the environment in their frenetic quest for profits.’]

  • Polish Magazine Is Worried About “The Islamic Rape of Europe”

    Polish Magazine Is Worried About “The Islamic Rape of Europe”

    How did right-wing Polish magazine “The Network” manage to jump onto the international stage last week? By slapping an ominous warning, on top of an image featuring a white woman groped by brown hands. It’s a clever composition, combining the terrifying specter of rape with the prototype of the blonde angel attacked by the dark forces.

    The image insidiously connects to the collective consciousness of the European Christianity, to which it gives dire warnings about our “values” being under imminent threat. It’s also an obvious reference to the New Year’s Eve sexual assaults in Germany^. Well played editors, well played!

    The Washington Post has a good story about this (let’s ignore the fact that the USA is the last country in the world that should lecture Europe when it comes to racism):

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/18/the-so-called-islamic-rape-of-europe-is-part-of-a-long-and-racist-history/^

    To say that the immigration problem in Europe is complex is an understatement. It goes beyond “not black and white”. It’s “multicolored”. The Poles, like any other European, do have some legitimate reasons to be worried. Not all of these refugees have good intentions, but this can be said of any social group.

    Diversity means that there is at least one person for every possible opinion. But more often than not, extreme opinions – left or right – lead to “quick and dirty” solutions. These solutions appear when some people are faced with challenges that are apparently beyond their capabilities.

    2016 vs 1943 - Far Right Propaganda
    2016 vs 1943 – Far Right Propaganda

    Indeed, Europe has been a victim of its own insecurity for a long time now. Why are we not able to break the historical pattern yet? This continent has been a melting pot of cultures for millennia. We’ve gotten far when it comes to human rights, but apparently not far enough regarding those values that are supposed to give us the strength of will and discipline required to weather this crisis.

    Refugees - European Union vs Lebanon.
    Refugees – European Union vs Lebanon.

    This image is as perfect as they come. I’d like to add that the per capita income in the European Union is 35 thousand dollars. Lebanon’s is half of that, at 18 thousands. GDP for the EU is 18 trillion, Lebanon’s is 81 billion. That’s 222 times lower than the EU. I’m painfully aware that this is a complicated matter and there’s more to it than these statistics. For example, there are fewer cultural differences between Lebanon and Syria.

    Even so, I think that given our economy, we Europeans can do much more for our brothers and sisters in need. I will not say that we should open our doors and hearts to people with bad intentions. But we should also not succumb to fear and the sort of psychological manipulation that “The Network” is guilty of.

     

    Describe this in one word.
    Describe this in one word.

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  • Infected Mushroom – Pink Froid

    Infected Mushroom – Pink Froid

    Sit back and enjoy the brain massage. From the very first listen, this masterpiece blew my mind and tears welled up in my eyes. If Infected Mushroom and Pink Floyd would have ever collaborated, this is how the result would have sounded. Perhaps my amazement was even greater because I am very familiar with the art of the two bands. This sounds like a genuine Pink Floyd song, with a few pretty mushrooms grown on it. Indeed, these wonderful Israelis successfully infected Pink Floyd with their trippy DNA.

    Even the lyrics are perfect. There are just a few words to be heard, but these are important, meaningful words. I’m referring in particular to the notion that “you are me”. There is a deep existential truth buried in this statement, at least as far as certain life philosophies are concerned.

    This song has a lot to offer, whatever your taste in music might be. It’s one of those rare gems for which I can truly recommend you to relax, close your eyes and allow yourself to be transported to another place.

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of77qpCdGTg^

    From SoundCloud (free streaming, good quality):

    https://soundcloud.com/infectedmushroom/06-pink-froid^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/0sUfo2YdcqkDk4P6o9R95w^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    http://www.deezer.com/track/107137784^

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  • Ravens Might Have a Theory of Mind

    Ravens Might Have a Theory of Mind

    Another month, another revelation about the intelligence of other beings sharing the ride here with us, on Earth. Especially during the past couple of decades, our understanding of the various creatures inhabiting this planet has advanced formidably, not only as a result of technological progress but also due to our maturing as a species. We’re starting to awaken to the fact that we should perhaps take more care of our ecosystem and the beautiful planet we live on. With this step forward, comes a perpetually-renewing interest in other forms of life.

    This recent discovery is about the Theory of Mind^, which is the ability to attribute mental states – beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc. – to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own. It’s one of the building blocks of consciousness. And ravens appear to have it.

    Here’s the article where you can read more about the discovery:

    http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0202/Ravens-might-possess-a-Theory-of-Mind-say-scientists^

    After reading about various such discoveries in the past decade, I can’t say I’m surprised. We’re slowly waking up to the fact that intelligence cannot be defined or constrained by our anthropomorphic boundaries. Life is an incredibly diverse and complex process. Rather than dominating and abusing it, I hope we will continue on our path towards respect, knowledge and awareness.

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/00304-RavensTheoryOfMind-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Ravens Might Have a Theory of Mind’ desc=’Another month, another revelation about the intelligence of other beings sharing the ride here with us, on Earth.’]

  • Enigma – Age Of Loneliness (Carly’s Song)

    Enigma – Age Of Loneliness (Carly’s Song)

    This is what happens when an artist mixes electronic dance music together with powerful, evocative Mongolian chants, Gregorian choirs, and a mysterious voice delivering a deep, meaningful message. It’s one of the most moving melodies I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. It’s also quite an easy listen, which is why I flag such a song as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

    Enigma has always been one of my favorite musical projects. Michael Cretu is the man behind the name. Back in the when of this song, the early 90s, Michael was married with German pop singer Sandra and it is her voice you will hear. Inside the intricate cathedral of sound, her words speak of change, of courage, of hope.

    “Carly don’t be sad,
    Life is crazy
    Life is mad.
    Don’t be afraid.

    Carly don’t be sad,
    That’s your destiny
    The only chance
    Take it, take it in your hands.”

    If you choose to listen to the melody through one of the high-quality streaming options below, make sure you also see the video. It’s quite beautiful. I think it’s the perfect imagery for this song.

    YouTube version (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRsb-4JsHR4

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRsb-4JsHR4^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    http://open.spotify.com/track/7x97HGHJQwvgDkYOLbpsVF^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    http://www.deezer.com/track/3132756^

    This Weekly Song entry has been brought from the FaceBook archive of Weekly Song^. This project was originally started through a FaceBook page, about 13 months prior to launching Mentatul. Slowly but surely, the entire FaceBook archive will be brought here.

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  • This Maori War Cry is Beyond Amazing

    This Maori War Cry is Beyond Amazing

    The Haka^ is a traditional ancestral war cry from the Maori people of New Zealand. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing this video, which features the Haka ritual performed at a wedding. It may seem a bit… strange, at first. But watch it all the way and check how you feel afterwards:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUbx-AcDgXo^

    The energy that these people are able to project is off the chart. What chart? I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. Words pale in comparison with the raw life erupting from these Maori. With their every breath, they go beyond concepts and patterns. This is pure existence, with the volume turned to eleven.

    And of course, there’s the dress code. Seeing such an intensely organic manifestation dressed up in suits, in the setting of a 21st century wedding makes for fantastic contrast. Therein lays the pattern, the duality. Yes, we humans have a bloody past, but all is forgiven and now we can drink and love each other like brothers and sisters.

    This video says all this, and much, much more, without the need for words. So I’m going to stop typing and, while watching the recording again, be thankful that somebody uploaded this window into a different culture.

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  • Don’t Forget Tesla Motors

    Don’t Forget Tesla Motors

    What is the word “forget” doing in the same sentence as the name of this rising star in the world of automobiles? It all starts with an article I read on Wired a couple of weeks ago. The author is busy praising General Motors for beating Tesla in creating the “first true mass-market electric car”:

    http://www.wired.com/2016/01/gm-electric-car-chevy-bolt-mary-barra^

    The article is far from being objective. It reads like a standing ovation for GM and its CEO, with very little regard for the full picture. There are two glaring mistakes. I’ll perform a little experiment and demonstrate how easily the author of the article could have improved upon the objectivity of his work, just by adding the following two paragraphs.

    We should not forget, however, Tesla’s galvanizing effect upon the entire automobile industry. Not only did the company spend hundreds of millions of dollars in research, but its designs and success have also been an inspiration for drivers everywhere. Tesla popularized the electric vehicle like no company before. It is through Tesla’s ground-breaking work that many companies can today even consider working on an electric vehicle.

    The elephant in the room (pun intended), is the very size of General Motors. We’re talking here about a company that produces close to 10 million vehicles per year, and has a yearly net income of 10 billion dollars. Tesla’s output isn’t even close to a million and it has a net loss of almost 300 million dollars. So does anybody still wonder why GM can afford to beat its chest claiming they’re manufacturing the first “true mass-market electric car”?

    That wasn’t so hard, was it?

    To GM’s credit, the company was actually one of the first to have even attempted mass producing an electric vehicle back in the 90s (and kudos to them). Unfortunately, the EV1^ was unceremoniously dumped in a set of rather dubious circumstances that some people saw as outright sabotage by the oil industry – with GM’s cooperation.

    I personally believe that the lack of public interest, a fair bit of managerial incompetence and a lack of vision were the main culprits. There’s even a documentary about all this. Here’s its Wikipedia entry, draw your own conclusions:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F^

    However, a long time has passed since then and Tesla’s approach is radically different from that of Big Motor. It’s a reboot of the entire scene, and that’s what’s pissing off a lot of large companies. Tesla wants to alter the supply chain, interfering with the fat paychecks and bonuses of a lot of people. And those people won’t sit quietly while this happens. They’ll buy press, invest millions into sneaky marketing and do everything in their power to see Tesla fail.

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  • Parov Stelar – Shine (feat. Lilja Bloom)

    Parov Stelar – Shine (feat. Lilja Bloom)

    Parov Stelar is known as one of the pioneers of electro swing. This musical genre, as its name implies, is a mixture of electronica, jazz and swing. Parov sometimes collaborates with various singers and today we’ll be listening to one of these collaborations, namely with Lilja Bloom.

    Not only is this melody a body-mover, but it’s also a mood-lifter. Witty lyrics, beautiful voice and groovy music, all the ingredients of a good listen. It takes skill and talent to mix the old and the new with such success. If you like what you hear, your next challenge is to check out a few of the other songs where Parov and Lilja have worked together.

    “Out of hell, out of darkness
    Finally we’re able to see
    See the beauty not the beasts
    One step further up at least
    But one day
    We will shine, we will shine
    We will fly so high”

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xikPDt6rAfs^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/288aixH79jpawtNhGr7Mi8^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):
    http://www.deezer.com/track/30147381^

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  • North Korea’s Most Dangerous Weapon: Incompetence

    North Korea’s Most Dangerous Weapon: Incompetence

    As you might know, on the 7th of February 2016, North Korea launched an “Earth observation satellite”. Governments across the world were probably right in condemning the operation. The same type of rocket can also be used for nuclear warfare.

    What about the satellite? Well, apparently it’s tumbling in orbit, useless:

    http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/news/a19365/north-korean-satellite-is-tumbling-in-orbit/^

    Fun fact: there are about 2000 satellites orbiting our planet and an estimated 300.000 pieces of space junk. On average, we’re losing one satellite per year. A collision between two satellites could have dire consequences.

    One of those consequences has a name. It’s called the Kessler syndrome: a cascade of collisions that would exponentially increase the amount of orbital junk. It would ultimately mean the swift destruction of most of our fleet of satellites:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome^

    North Korea can be all sorts of dangerous, especially since it couldn’t care less about any advice coming from the international community. Dictator Kim Jong-un is therefore free to play “launch the satellite” and “detonate nuclear bombs underground”.

    Unfortunately for all of us, disasters don’t care much about the grandiose desires of totalitarian leaders. North Korea’s most recent failure casts an ominous shadow over all of its scientific and military programs. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being in the same boat with a drunken madman armed with explosives. For the sake of all of us, I hope the intoxication wears off, and soon.

    Note: the drunken man analogy is not directed at North Korea or at Kim Jong-un. Rather, it’s an analogy of the entire socio-political situation over there. I believe that we, as a society, should work together to help educate the future political class and those that vote people in power. Kim Jong-un is a son of Earth just like all of us. The reasons of his behavior can be found in his upbringing and surrounding social climate. The same can be said of all of us. If we change the social environment, we change our civilization.

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  • The Virtual Reality Revolution

    The Virtual Reality Revolution

    Every single person that I’ve witnessed give virtual reality a try has been floored by the experience – especially the ones that didn’t see it coming. Even those who knew what it’s all about came back with amazed expressions once they took off the HMD (head mounted display) for the first time. I placed my bets on the fact that virtual reality is going to skyrocket faster than most people expect it to.

    The rather expensive hardware required will definitely make some customers think twice. However, there already are plenty of gamers out there who own powerful hardware. They will be joined by early adopters who will make sure that they can properly run most of the VR experiences. They will show these programs to relatives and friends, which will feed the wave of excitement. And so, a new technological revolution will begin.

    The next step in the evolution of entertainment

    Virtual reality is more than most people expect it to be. This is why, when referring to VR content, I write about “experiences” or “programs”. Whoever thinks that this about games or movies couldn’t be further from the truth.

    What we have here is a whole new dimension for experiencing art, one which wraps a world around us rather than showing it to us through a small rectangular window. Indeed, for now, the field of view of most HMDs is quite narrow (110 degrees), but 2nd generation devices such as StarVR^, with its 210 degrees of coverage, will bring large improvements in that regard.

    Expect the 2nd generation to show up in 2017, probably along with the 1st generation HoloLens – Microsoft’s augmented reality HMD. When exactly in 2017? That, remains to be determined by the level of hysteria to be reached during the 2016 holiday season once people realize the amount of fun they can have with these things.

    The first generation of HMDs faces other limitations too. One of the worst is the requirement to be plugged into the PC – with the exception of smartphone-powered HMDs, which are not nearly as convincing in terms of graphical quality as their PC-powered cousins. I expect plenty inventive solutions to address such problems in the next couple of years.

    Despite any limitations, I continue to believe that VR and AR will take off faster than expected. Almost everybody that I’ve discussed with is perfectly happy to tolerate a few temporary problems, given what they’ll be getting in return. It’s hard to understand the potential of VR without experiencing it, but let’s just say that it’s a step forward at least as big as from paper to radio or from radio to TV.

    Impressive potential for innovation

    Today, there’s a very important difference compared to when the newspaper, radio or TV appeared. That difference is called “technology proficiency”. In this age, there are millions of people able to create digital art. And then there’s this thing called “the Internet”, which means that we are all but a few clicks away from enjoying the work of some talented young team toiling away in a garage across the ocean.

    The reason why VR & AR will spread faster than expected is that the emergence of a new medium for expressing our creativity will usher in a staggering amount of innovation and original art. The transition from 2D to 3D graphics will seem like a baby step in comparison. There’s an army of engineers and content creators out there, the likes of which this Earth has never seen before.

    They’ve made gloves^ that can not only allow the precise tracking of hand movements in VR, but also showcase our first try at feeling objects in the imaginary world. There’s even a suit^ with temperature controls! There’s eye tracking^. There’s spatial awareness^. There’s mobility^. And all this happened in less than three years. Such a density of innovation completely dwarfs anything we’ve seen during previous technological leaps.

    By now, a lot of companies have realized what’s at stake. They are investing a lot of money into making this technological revolution happen, because if it does, it will fuel demand for entertainment and the hardware to power it. Manufacturers of video cards are especially ecstatic about this area, but pretty much all companies involved in producing PC components should probably get their champagnes ready.

    Should we line ourselves up for pre-orders?

    Despite my obvious enthusiasm towards this technology, the answer to this question is a definite NO. I’ve found an article that does an excellent job of explaining why. There is only one matter that the author hasn’t emphasized enough: the amount of high quality VR content is still quite low. I would recommend waiting at least until the 2016 holiday season before jumping in. By then, a lot of bugs will be worked out and more content will be available.

    Don’t pre-order any HMD:

    http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/222843-why-you-shouldnt-pre-order-an-oculus-rift^

    We’re less than two months away before tens of thousands of customers will receive their Oculus Rifts, the HMD most likely to reach retail availability first. Very soon after, the Vive Pre will follow. These first representatives of the high-end VR experience will open the door for many others. Personally, I’m probably going to order my HMD after November 2016. I haven’t made up my mind regarding the brand. I’ll be patient and read a few dozens of reviews before parting with my money.

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