Category: Uncategorized

Economic analysis

this a a super wordy, but still interesting, overview of the changes around on demand services.

Instant, pervasive access to goods and services, tailored to individual needs, often without the burden of long-term ownership or commitment Combining the best of the village economy with the best of modern commerce

GRBs extinguish life in the Universe

There is a 50% chance that a GRB took place during the last 500 Myr causing one of the major mass extinction events. The probability of a lethal GRB is much larger in the inner Milky Way, making it inhospitable to life. The safest environments for life are the lowest density regions in the outskirts of large galaxies and life can exist in only ~10% of galaxies.

the most plausible explanation of the fermi paradox yet.

Neighborhood appraisal

a new algorithm consistently outperformed humans at a variation of the task in which users are shown 2 photos and asked which scene is closer to a McDonald’s. To create the algorithm, the team trained a computer on a set of 8m Google images from 8 major US cities that were embedded with GPS data on crime rates and McDonald’s locations. They then used deep-learning techniques to help the program teach itself how different qualities of the photos correlate. For example, the algorithm independently discovered that some things you often find near McDonald’s franchises include taxis, police vans, and prisons.