Category Archives: Recommendations

Recommendations from around the web.

Today I Rise

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Although I do not consider myself a feminist, I have advocated women’s rights for as long as I can remember. This is one of the most inspirational and moving works of art created for the purpose of empowering women:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/today-i-rise/^

Most societies on Earth are still a long way from treating women fairly. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can reach peak efficiency as a species. It’s not about tapping into the full range of human talent, although a solid business case could be made. It’s about making the gender symbiosis work as it should: from the procreation of the species to the procreation of ideas that will lead to the next evolutionary step.

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About Them Crazy Conspiracy Theories

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Finally, somebody was able to explain why certain beliefs or theories manage to propagate through society with amazing success. Here’s an excellent short essay called “Crony Beliefs”:

http://www.meltingasphalt.com/crony-beliefs/^

Using a clever analogy that compares beliefs in the brain with employees at a company, the author explains how utter falsehoods are able to infiltrate the collective intellect, devouring minds with viral voracity. The essay goes through several solutions that seem reasonable, explaining why they are not sufficient. But worry not, a solid – although difficult – solution is proposed as well. Read the essay and get ready for the intellectual struggle of elevating our society’s resistance to lies and toxic reasoning.

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Happy Consumerist New Year! Featuring, Bottled Water

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Fresh on the heels of my Christmas & Consumerism article^, here’s something else to whet your thirst (pun intended):

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/06/liquid-assets-how–business-bottled-water-went-mad^

I’ve always been amazed by the bottled water industry – and not in a good way. This wonderful article sums up pretty much everything I ever wanted to know or say about bottled water. Very well written, documented and presented.

For me, it would be hard to maintain objectivity when it comes to this topic, but the author managed to pull it off quite well, kudos for that. There are very few things that can highlight the abuse of consumers as well as bottled water.

Like I highlighted in my article about consumerism, our misshapen implementation of capitalism is built upon keeping customers in the dark. Articles such as the one I just recommended have the potential to bring meaningful change in consumers. So what if just a few people read it? What’s important is that the word is out there.

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Big Data Is People!

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I really liked the way the author of this excellent article about Big Data used the Soylent Green^ reference. Indeed, Big Data is people:

https://aeon.co/essays/why-big-data-is-actually-small-personal-and-very-human^

This has been a very good read. The subject of Big Data is treated quite exhaustively. What is currently a popular buzz-word is carefully disassembled and explained in proper-sized bits. There is some historical information about the field of statistics in there too, both interesting and, at times, amusing.

Big Data is here to stay, that much is certain. But while the rewards this paradigm can offer are great, we should also be aware of the risks to our privacy and the threat it carries regarding how it can and will affect our society.

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Super-Sized Agriculture

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On the topic of “we are what we eat”, here’s a fascinating photographic essay:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/09/magazine/big-food-photo-essay.html^

Regardless of what you think about “in balance with nature”, the images are quite staggering. This is one of those situations when a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Industrialized agriculture has definitely reached some impressive heights (or lows, depending on who you ask).

There are a lot of humans to feed on this Earth, that’s a given. However, my personal opinion is that such pictures speak at length about the way we’re abusing the ecosystem. I don’t think our agriculture is particularly impressive on the engineering side. My amazement stems from the sheer size of it all and the way it’s been optimized through the centuries. The problem is that we’re still being cruel towards creatures of all kinds.

I choose to remain optimistic though. I put my trust in the fact that ecosystems are self-balancing things. There are many signs that we’ve started on our way to find a healthier relationship with nature. In many regions, people are having fewer children than they had hundreds of years ago when there were all sorts of risks waiting to decimate a community. Hopefully, in time, these horrendous industrial farms will disappear and we’ll see something like permaculture^ becoming widespread. Until then, at least we can try to buy organic foods^.

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Lars Vilks’ Amazing Answer to Vandalism

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Controversial artist Lars Vilks worked for decades to maintain and champion a work of art^. Then, someone burned half of it to the ground. Regardless of the controversy surrounding the artist, his reply is the stuff of genius:

“I have my motto ‘everything is an advantage’. You always have to find something optimistic and art that’s subjected to violence always benefits from it, you have to comfort yourself with that.

“It gets interesting when things are happening. When you attack artworks it gets interesting. A work of art that nobody cares about disappears. This is tough action and a rather brutal form of art critique.”

If I were the person that set that fire, I’d be fuming over this reply. Not only is it true, but it also reveals a higher form of respect towards the intricate workings of human society. Checkmate!

http://www.thelocal.se/20161125/famous-lars-vilks-artwork-burns-to-the-ground^

Now I just wish people won’t start vandalizing art just to make it “interesting”.

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China Builds World’s Largest Radio Telescope

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Guess who was in the science & technology news lately? Yes, it’s China again. Back in September they were putting the finishing touches towards finalizing the construction of a mammoth radio telescope that has easily become the world’s largest single-dish such device:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/world-s-largest-radio-telescope-will-search-dark-matter-listen-aliens^

It sure seems like China is on a roll lately. This is the fourth technology-related article I write about the country in the past few months. And I’m not even trying. Now let’s see what the Chinese will spy with their little dish.

References & further reading:

The Elevated Bus That Rides above the Traffic^

China Invests in Quantum Cryptography and Not a Moment Too Late^

China’s Awesome Robotics Challenge^

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Kazakhstan vs North Korea

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Some time ago, I came about this interesting article, which compares the two countries. It’s an interesting point of view that shows how Kazakhstan managed to prosper after giving up its nuclear arsenal whereas North Korea is in economic ruin:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/22/north-korea-and-kazakhstan-a-study-in-nuclear-cont/^

But for all their differences, unfortunately, there are many parallels that can be drawn between the two countries. I’d congratulate Kazakhstan if I didn’t know that the country is ruled by an authoritarian government that has a rather poor human rights record. It’s a far cry from North Korea but still…

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Carpooling Becoming More Effective with Every Passing Day

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An interesting phenomenon is happening in Los Angeles. People are starting to realize that owning a car is not only stressful, but economically damaging. Thanks to companies like Uber, Lyft and others, the costs of movement have decreased drastically. An increasing amount of people is waking up to the fact that ridesharing has more advantages than disadvantages.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/priya/people-in-los-angeles-are-getting-rid-of-their-cars^

This is only the beginning. The self-driving vehicle revolution will increase the efficiency of transportation even further. We often hear that one cannot stand in the way of progress. With the help of software and the Internet, seems like progress is hitting the pavement of most major cities on the globe and will slowly but surely spread everywhere.

Even if the costs of movement are already quite low in some countries, even there, the benefits of ridesharing and carpooling will undoubtedly make themselves felt sooner or later. There are interesting times ahead. Although professional drivers might not be so keen regarding the upcoming changes, the planet will become cleaner and we’ll have less pollution from our streets. And think of all the freed car parking space!

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India Makes Efforts towards Gender Equality… Through Censorship

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In India, many families are taking their gender preferences a bit too far. Because of the perceived material benefit of having boys, women tend to terminate girl pregnancies more often. This has resulted in the country having one of the worst gender balances in the world.

Various Indian governments have tried to tackle the problem in different ways. The latest such maneuver is asking Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to censor advertisements for services that determine the sex of unborn children:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/20/12986206/google-microsoft-yahoo-india-sex-selection-ad-block^

It’s good that at least they’re trying to do something about the problem. However, throwing the dead cat in the search engine’s yard is a cheap and cowardly solution. And like all such solutions, it won’t do much. The adverts only help certain companies get customers from other companies who don’t advertise. Without the commercials, people will simply turn to whatever word of mouth is available. And in the third millennium, word travels fast, censorship or not.

If India really wants change when it comes to gender equality, then the only option is, of course, education. Children, along with their families, have to carefully and respectfully be given the teachings that will make them realize the importance of gender balance. Pragmatically speaking, the digital age has annihilated pretty much any economic advantage men had over women. In a healthy society women can now contribute as the equals they always should have been. It’s jolly time to get healthy, India.

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