April 21, 2020
Three Stories
black and white
These three stories provide context to the People First Newsletter that was published on Tuesday April 21st.
Day and Night - M.C. Escher, 1938
“A masterful demonstration of symmetrical opposites.”
Mining Coin Through Your Bodies Activity
Microsoft Files Patent For New Cryptocurrency and Mining System
“Body activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user. A cryptocurrency system communicatively coupled to the device of the user may verify whether or not the body activity data satisfies one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.”
and
“a brain wave or body heat emitted from the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing an advertisement or using certain internet services, can be used in the mining process.”
What could possibly go wrong? The answer - as always - it depends.
Investing In The Student Body
Back in 2015 Purdue announced that it was going to invest in its students. I mean really invest.
“Through its research foundation, the school plans to create ISA funds that its students can tap to pay for tuition, room and board. In return, students would pay a percentage of their earnings after graduation for a set number of years, replenishing the fund for future investments.”
… WaPo (source)
There was a lot of huh hah in the media at the time about people selling themselves into servitude. Education is a right and and and …
.. and yet 5 years later …
One Man Voluntarily Enters ‘Indentured Servitude’
It’s just that this isn’t how he sees it. (The story of the man who sold fractional shares in himself.)
It’s not the same, but it reminded me a little of this idea from 2005 - essentially fractional advertising on a single page to fund Alex Tew’s education. (I am going to say it worked. Ever heard of Calm? Alex co-founded the company and he is now co-CEO. Calm is rocking!
Anyway - back to Alex (the other one) - and isn’t it odd that they are both called Alex?
- $ALEX holders are promised a share of any money he makes in the next three years! (He’ll pay out up to a total of $100,000 over three years—the rest is (his) to keep).
- $ALEX holders can vote on some of his life decisions!
That second one smacks a little of Luke Rheinhart’s Diceman - but essentially what Alex is doing is convincing people with money to give it to him - and in return, he will give them more back within 3 years. Why is that any different to those same people buying stock in a company?
The world has been dallying with these ideas for a long time. There is push back from some quarters that caution needs to be applied because this could return us to millions of people working in ‘indentured servitude’ - and certainly by Investopedia’s definition that is exactly what Alex has just signed up for.
I think they are wrong. Sure, we need to tread carefully and not blindly sell all our rights (Lessons learned from musicians of the 60s?) - but surely none of it can be worse than the alternative?
Newsletter
archive.pf.business
April 15, 2020
Crony Capitalism
Daring Fireball: ‘Capitalists or Cronyists?’
”The thing to remember is that if allowed to fail, the cruise ships won’t sink to the bottom of the ocean. The jobs won’t disappear. The companies will go into bankruptcy, existing shareholder equity will get wiped out, and new ownership will take over. A bailout won’t rescue the industry or the jobs — it will rescue the shareholders.
John Gruber
💬
observations
April 14, 2020
Nobody Should Adopt Social Distancing.
physical-distancing
Nobody Should Adopt Social Distancing.
Now ‘Physical Distancing’, That’s Different. Definitely Do That.
I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘Social Distancing’. It’s wrong. We should not be Social Distancing. You know I am right. You aren’t doing it either. Nobody is doing it. Now ‘physical distancing’, that’s very different. Definitely do that.
Read The Whole Article.
“ The financial markets are rallying because they can ‘feel that companies are soon going to be back at work’. They should really be asking when will the buyers go back to buying. ”
John Philpin
Commerce
Newsletter
social distancing
archive.pf.business
April 12, 2020
Interoperability SHOULD Mean Exactly What It Says
Spotted this article:
Interoperability is the solution to the Zoom fiasco
If by interoperability he means that I can use any of;
- Zoom
- Facetime
- Facebook Messenger
- Whats App
- Skype
- GoTo Meeting
- WebEx
- and and and …
To video call one or more people on any of;
- Zoom
- Facetime
- Facebook Messenger
- Whats App
- Skype
- GoTo Meeting
- WebEx
- and and and …
… then I agree.
But I don’t think that IS what he meant.
🔍
business.of.tech
April 10, 2020
On The Frontline.
https-bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-public-images-224f54ff-a688-4d08-b17c-8c1042b75ca5_1280x496
The Frontline Might Be Different.
But It Is Still A Frontline.
Words of wisdom from a captain on the frontlines. His role when I met him was very different to what I expect he’s doing now, but his skills and talents will have transferred to the new reality just fine.
Read The Whole Article.
“Maybe that’s something else those big companies could learn from us. If they did, we wouldn’t charge. That’s another thing - we don’t charge to learn - learning makes us all better.”
Sylvester
Commerce
Language
Learning
Newsletter
Value
Work
archive.pf.business
April 6, 2020
🎵 What Might Have Been
”The group that might have “done a Radiohead” if they’d had a single like Creep. And if they’d been younger when they started making proper headway. And if they looked different. And if the industry was wired differently.”
Time Flies: The Story Of Porcupine Tree by Rich Wilson
The Full Story
🎵
💬
observations
April 6, 2020
Surveillance Capitalism
Scared Yet?
“Surveillance capitalism is no longer confined to the competitive dramas of the large internet companies, where behavioral futures markets were first aimed at online advertising. Its mechanisms and economic imperatives have become the default model for most internet-based businesses. Eventually, competitive pressure drove expansion into the offline world, where the same foundational mechanisms that expropriate your online browsing, likes, and clicks are trained on your run in the park, breakfast conversation, or hunt for a parking space. Today’s prediction products are traded in behavioral futures markets that extend beyond targeted online ads to many other sectors, including insurance, retail, finance, and an ever-widening range of goods and services companies determined to participate”
💬
📚
people.first
April 6, 2020
Sur-veil-lance Cap-i-tal-ism, n.
“A new economic order that claims human experience as free raw material for hidden commercial practices of extraction, prediction, and sales.”
💬
📚
🗂
people.first
April 6, 2020
Surveillance Capitalism
The Devil Is In The Detail
“Each thermostat comes with a “privacy policy,” a “terms-of-service agreement,” and an “end-user licensing agreement.”
And that’s just the start … (My bold)
“A detailed analysis of Nest’s policies by two University of London scholars concluded that were one to enter into the Nest ecosystem of connected devices and apps, each with their own equally burdensome and audacious terms, the purchase of a single home thermostat would entail the need to review nearly a thousand so-called contracts.”
💬
📚
people.first
Archives