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With the decline of both libraries and bookstores. It makes sense to consider that:
1. Lifelong learning and retraining of skills is more important than ever
2. Bookstores often are burdened by bricks and mortar (ie. rent) for an otherwise favorable public good
3. Libraries suffer from low user bases and are becoming obsolete in the age of the internet.
Enter the LifelongLearning Center (LLLC).
Something like an YMCA with a bookstore attached. A place where you can go take classes, borrow books (both free and premium) or if you like the ones that you are reading buy them. You can browse and reserve everything online, like in modern libraries too.
Super highspeed internet and workstations, as well as break out rooms for people to study.
Some form of this could potentially bring back the need for space, book economy and relearning. Just an idea.
It was my first time at CES this year (2017) and was thrilled to see so many products and innovative ideas under one roof. I guess under any other year, things may be highly seasonal like fashion, but because we are changing as a society so quickly technologically, it really was a display of the next generation ahead to some extents, not just cyclical.
I have been reading the press – which just covered things according to flash/cool factor – but stepping back one, there seemed to be some inarguable themes as competition between two standards eventually leans a certain way. I’ll focus on VR because it is so much of a personal interest area.
This is forward-looking and may not play out in one-year but believe the long term advantages prove that one way of doing things is much better than the others.
Also cool but unrelated to VR was that so many smart objects were on view. Smart hairbrush, smart toothbrush, smart suitcase etc. It likely will be an option for those who can afford it. The predictions people made years ago will likely J-curve change into tangible change for the societies who are exposed to these new products.
Hi – just kind of throwing this out there. One of those what if ideas…Would be kind of cool to DIY bookscan. Calling it FlipperOCR. If you think you can make this, please do!
initial sketch of a method to autoscan books, back-to-front.
This is an extremely ‘meta’ post about life and happiness. But with that said, perhaps a hard won truth.
Without being too ‘abstract’ about it: Above the basics needed, the expression of courage is what brings happiness to life. It is why having kids, or giving to charity, climbing everest or making something beautiful is a worthwhile endeavor.
Without any positive engagement (and by engagement I mean Willful Acts times Risk – ie. the expression of courage in some way shape or form) these things are meaningless. I had said it earlier – resistance is what gives all meaning to life, and believe it (metaphysically-speaking) to be a related concept.
Perhaps an analogy is as simple as mass applied to vector. In this case resistance is applied to (directional) will. The interaction of the two brings the world closer to the way you wish it to be.
Certainly not there yet, but it perhaps a personal breakthrough. Trying to understand all this.
Either way, I feel now that the expression of courage in some way shape or form is the most meaningful thing that you can do to find contentment within yourself.
Between 2001-2005, It was common for a technista to be carrying around a palm pilot, an iPod and a cell phone. 3 devices in the same form factor. It was obvious to those who saw it then that these functionalities would merge eventually to create the smart phone as we know it today (given enough speed+miniaturization). First by Blackberry and then later taken over by iOS and Android.
Fast Forward to today, it becomes possible to send an audio stream over the net, convert it to text, deduce the natural language meaning and action upon (ie. Siri and its competitors).
Today, we also have wi-fi enabled nest devices, Hue (Color LED lights by Philips) and household smart-network products like Sonos speakers.
It will only be a matter of time before the 3 converge to create a ‘talk to HAL@Home’ experience likely placing mics and speakers in every room, or using a phone (or smart pin if you’re concerned about privacy).
Need to check if the stove is on? (ask HAL). Need to put the lights out after you fall asleep or tell the dog you’re coming home (ask HAL). You’ll be able to ask for a music station in any room or to change the lights or start the bath.
Today’s @home offerings seems pretty nascent but the separate technologies exist already. Seems like It is likely just a matter of time before they converge into the next killer application.
It seems very clear to me that the origins of human intelligence was selective pressure, especially at the group level. That unwritten history is likely bloodier than written history seems almost certain.
Inter-species warfare created the ever larger brain, much like deer’s antlers or any other tool in a virtuous feedback loop. That is what our big brains were used to doing…
Paradigm shifts, Creative destruction, call it what you will.
The end of store in America, how can an employee hourly model compete with an online no-rent/no-brick model. Commercial landlords in malls must be scratching their heads as my beloved Barnes & Noble is. What survives will likely be a hybrid -> commission sales based / consumer’s distributing model (here’s a link). A pick up shop and delivery joint, closer to seamless and the restaurant business.
…
The problem of life is that it is not linear. Momentary enjoyment is about the flow state.
Currently reading AntiFraglie by Nicolas Nassim Taleb.
Finance ‘storming’ here…
Is living on the top of a 10 story building exactly as safe as the 2nd floor? Can you say that 100 oranges are equal to 200 christmas cards. Is paramount pictures worth as much as a mining company? Is there true fungibility. Is one slightly riskier than the other and is there a missing ‘gap’ there when comparing companies.
Take a paper rolling company like domtar and software company like electronic arts. Similar valuations right?
They may carry similar capitalizations, but how misleading such a number would be without factoring what i’m calling asset beta, a ‘scaffolding’ risk of assets – or simply book beta.
When we think about beta in finance, it is tethered to the underlying valuation of the company (their stock price). BUT there seems to be a hidden difference between different types of book assets people are adding up (for eg. intellectual property or perishables like food versus non-perishables) Can you easily compare the cost of stock for a fruit stand with a stationery store and say at face value that one is equal to the other, for that matter a software company?
I’m sure it is already baked in subjectively to people’s subjective judgements of worth. I am curious to see if it is systematically included in any valuation models.
thought to mention.
-A
Definitions:
Beta, being the number measuring price volatility of a stock against a group. For instance, during a trial the company’s stock will have high beta, as wins/losses change according to the court case.
Book Value, being the price that your real assets can fetch in the market. For an apt, it would be what the bed, chairs, tv and other things are worth in a sale.
This was an interesting article, there is a certain meritocracy in people using information more adeptly and cleverly than others, likely in this case the others being gulf banks, with laggard security systems and high networth Emirati accounts. Brainstorm time:: Reading about quantum computing stuff right now ::: we are close but still far away::: BUTT. whatif.
Imagine that quantum computing / qubits are actually successfully put into practice and that the first people to discover it are organized crime syndicates instead of the NSF or Google etc. It goes into private interest groups first (not inconceivable, highest bidder wins usually). What a fiasco that would create. Bank Accounts will be dropping to 0 in the time it take to churn a few megahertz.
I hope this never happens, but within the planetary explosion, colossal disaster, thriller genre (think mission impossible or impact) this would make quite an awesome thriller scenario imho. (Hollywood, call up?!) There is just enough science to make it plausible but also palpable and exciting. The use of prime number based encryption algos + dan brown + soundtrack by Psy+Deadmau5. Weinstein Bros, I’ll be waiting for your call :)
Luckily the world is mostly full of ‘white hats’ as the term is used.
In a day to day / data form driven world. The sweet spot of rigorous authentication while allowing people to forget passwords doesn’t really take into account the ‘systemic’ risk of standardizing authentication questions and other unique ways to identify you it seems. It is a bit like talking to dad before asking mom for candy.
Some form of Multipoint authentication using an RSA Code Keychain + Phone has to be a better way. Just using SIN for example. it is a number that is floated about in many of your applications, yet it is supposed to be private data as well… A paradox.
There are clearly a bunch of ways to poach data in this world. I do hope we find a great way to solve for this before a big data tsunami ‘event’ hits.
:)