Big Problems – Page 17

42 percent of startups fail for this one simple reason (It’s not what you think)

May 2, 2018

Close to half of the over 100 startups analyzed made this mistake — and never recovered.

CBI Insights recently analyzed 101 startup post-mortems (reports they wrote after they failed). The researchers extracted the top reasons startups fail, including things like a pivot going wrong; legal challenges; disharmony within the team or with investors; poor marketing; and of course the one frequently cited: running out of cash money.

But the number one reason was none of those.

It was far simpler: the startup didn’t solve a big enough problem.

Continue reading… “42 percent of startups fail for this one simple reason (It’s not what you think)”

Big Problems, Future, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The next great workplace challenge: 100-year careers

April 30, 2018

Scientists expect people to live routinely to 100 in the coming decades, and as long as 150. Which also suggests a much longer working life lasting well into the 70s, 80s, and even 100, according to researchers with Pearson and Oxford University.

Quick take: Thinkers of various types are absorbed in navigating the age of automation and flat wages, but their challenge will be complicated by something few have considered — a much-extended bulge of older workers.

Continue reading… “The next great workplace challenge: 100-year careers”

Big Problems, Ecological Products, Environment, Transportation

One of the world’s filthiest industries just agreed to clean up its act

April 20, 2018

The shipping industry sets sail toward a carbon-free future.

Cargo-shipping regulators have struck a historic deal to set their dirty fuel-burning industry on a low-carbon course.

On Friday, the International Maritime Organization agreed for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions from global shipping. The nonbinding deal marks a critical shift for the sector—which, until last week, was the only major industry without a comprehensive climate plan.

Continue reading… “One of the world’s filthiest industries just agreed to clean up its act”

Big Problems, China, Environment

More than 95% of world’s population breathe dangerous air, major study finds

April 19, 2018

Children walking to school wearing smog pollution masks in Britain. Residents in many developing countries are exposed to toxic air both outdoors and inside their homes.

More than 95% of the world’s population breathe unsafe air and the burden is falling hardest on the poorest communities, with the gap between the most polluted and least polluted countries rising rapidly, a comprehensive study of global air pollution has found.

Continue reading… “More than 95% of world’s population breathe dangerous air, major study finds”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Big Problems, facebook, Human Behavior, Social Media

Face-swapping videos could lead to more ‘fake news’

April 15, 2018

Fake news has been a problem swamping the internet. Now there is a way to make fake videos with nothing more than your laptop. FakeApp can be used to make fake videos of people using images or other videos of them. Several social media platforms are filled with these deepfakes. While the technology still needs works, it’s been used to put celebrities into pornographic films. What would happen if world leaders became digital puppets? Following is a full transcript of the video.

Continue reading… “Face-swapping videos could lead to more ‘fake news’”

Analysis, Big Problems, Cancer, Health & Fitness

28 of the most dangerous things science has strongly linked to cancer

April 12, 2018

Cancer is the No. 2 cause of death in the US, second only to heart disease.

It fundamentally affects the way our cells grow and divide, changing them in perverse ways. All cancer is a result of damage or genetic mutations in our DNA. The nasty, debilitating class of diseases spreads through a body like an invading army, as toxic cells grow relentlessly into unruly tumors.

Continue reading… “28 of the most dangerous things science has strongly linked to cancer”

Analysis, Big Problems, Future, Latest Trend

We’re on the Brink of a New Era of Innovation. Will You Survive It?

April 9, 2018

It’s better to prepare than adapt because, by the time you see the need to adapt, it may already be too late

One of the most interesting things I discuss in my book Mapping Innovation is what I call the new era of innovation, which will create profoundly new technologies, classes of data and business models. It is likely to be the most important shift we’ve seen in at least 50 years and perhaps in a century.

Continue reading… “We’re on the Brink of a New Era of Innovation. Will You Survive It?”

Big Problems, Crime, Human Behavior, Law Enforcement

Japan’s prisons area haven for elderly women

April 8, 2018

Lonely seniors are shoplifting in search of the community and stability of jail.

Every aging society faces distinct challenges. But Japan, with the world’s oldest population (27.3 percent of its citizens are 65 or older, almost twice the share in the U.S.), has been dealing with one it didn’t foresee: senior crime. Complaints and arrests involving elderly people, and women in particular, are taking place at rates above those of any other demographic group. Almost 1 in 5 women in Japanese prisons is a senior. Their crimes are usually minor—9 in 10 senior women who’ve been convicted were found guilty of shoplifting.

Continue reading… “Japan’s prisons area haven for elderly women”

Big Problems, Human Behavior, Intelligence, Life Skills

A third of Millennials aren’t sure the earth is round, survey finds

April 8, 2018

CBS Local — A new survey has found that a third of young millennials in the U.S. aren’t convinced the Earth is actually round. The national poll reveals that 18 to 24-year-olds are the largest group in the country who refuse to accept the scientific facts of the world’s shape.

Continue reading… “A third of Millennials aren’t sure the earth is round, survey finds”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Big Problems, Technological Unemployment

Automation, New Morality and a ‘Global Useless Class’

March 22, 2018

LONDON — What will our future look like — not in a century but in a mere two decades?

Terrifying, if you’re to believe Yuval Noah Harari, the Israeli historian and author of “Sapiens” and “Homo Deus,” a pair of audacious books that offer a sweeping history of humankind and a forecast of what lies ahead: an age of algorithms and technology that could see us transformed into “super-humans” with godlike qualities.

Continue reading… “Automation, New Morality and a ‘Global Useless Class’”

Analysis, Big Problems, communication, Crazy Stuff

How Did Astronaut DNA Become ‘Fake News’?

March 18, 2018

For a brief moment, NASA found itself at the center of a digital misinformation campaign.

“After year in space, astronaut Scott Kelly no longer has same DNA as identical twin,” the headline of a story on the Today show’s website, published Thursday, declared. Seven percent of his DNA, the story says, “has not returned to normal since he returned from space.”

Continue reading… “How Did Astronaut DNA Become ‘Fake News’?”

Big Problems, Famous Inventor, Google, Internet

Platform power is crushing the web, warns Berners-Lee

March 17, 2018

On the 29th birthday of the world wide web, its inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has sounded a fresh warning about threats to the web as a force for good, adding his voice to growing concerns about big tech’s impact on competition and society.

The web’s creator argues that the “powerful weight of a few dominant” tech platforms is having a deleterious impact by concentrating power in the hands of gatekeepers that gain “control over which ideas and opinions are seen and shared”.

Continue reading… “Platform power is crushing the web, warns Berners-Lee”