A world without work or a better economy? Obama on artificial intelligence. A thousand true fans. The future of transportation. Solving the trolley problem (badly). Pokemon Go’s health benefits. The scale of the gig economy. Causes of Trump.

Savour this for the week ahead ;)

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Dept of the near future

👷 Welcome to a world with work.  Ryan Avent: “automation, globalisation and the rising productivity of a highly skilled few – are combining to generate an abundance of labour: a wealth of humans.” POWERFUL (We have an event with Ryan in November, details below.)

🍮 Jeffrey Sachs with an optimistic view on how to make the most of the economy in an age of smart machines.

🌟 1000 true fans, Kevin Kelly updates his insightful essay on creators. **EXCELLENT **“To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a [creator], entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.”

🇺🇸 President Obama in conversation with Joi Ito on artificial intelligence. MUST READ. #presidential (See also this write-up on what Obama’s successor will contend with.)

🤖 Shenzhen is to hardware what Silicon Valley is to software Here is what $50 buys you at its famous Huaqiangbei market. INTRIGUING

Dept of future transport

Three key trends are driving the radical shift in our transport modalities: electrification, autonomous vehicles and post-ownership models. An excellent BNEF and McKinsey report argues that “a radically different future based around three models of advanced urban mobility that are achievable by 2030.” These modes are clean-and-shared, private autonomy and seamless mobility.

In the FT, Izabelle Kaminska excoriates the ride-hailing industry for creating and inefficient and unfair transit system.

🚎 The trolley problem is morphing from philosophical exercise to real code: Mercedes-Benz has suggested that its autonomous vehicles will protect passengers ahead of pedestrians. ““If all you know for sure is that one death can be prevented, then that’s your first priority.” GOOD READ

Germany’s Federal Highway Research Institute found that the autopilot feature of the Tesla Model S constitutes a “considerable traffic hazard.”

A tipping point for electric vehicles? EV sales have passed 1% of the global market, approaching 2m this year. German lawmakers have suggested ending sales of ICE vehicles by 2030.

New data from Tesla shows Model S is stealing the luxury segment in the US. Last quarter  more Model Ss were sold the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series combined. Growth is 59% YonY.

A broad-based investor group representing $24trn in assets is pushing car companies on climate change. 

Dept of artificial intelligence

🗑 AI research needs to get to grips with the garbage-in/garbage-out problem. We need a new social-systems approach to ensure that AI systems “are beneficial, before they are built further into the infrastructure of every­day life.” MUST READ

DeepMind’s new paper of differential neural computers explained simply.

Using the videogame Doom to train machine vision systems

Baidu launches a medical chatbot. Huge opportunity. In the US, more than 50% of Kaiser Permanente’s medical consults are done virtually.

Illustrating Bayes theorem with lego (old but good)

At a time where there is growing demand for creative, critical and cultural skills, especially in AI development, the Art History A'Level is killed off for British teens.

Exponential View Dinner Salon: Wealth of Humans

😋 We are very excited to be hosting an intimate dinner salon with Ryan Avent, author of The Wealth of Humans. Exponential View events are small and intimate, designed to foster interaction, connection and participation.

Ryan will be in conversation with me as we discuss automation, globalisation and the future of work. This event will feature a fireside chat, audience participation and lovely food.

November 1st, 6.30pm in Central London. The price is £65.

BGF Ventures have been kind enough to host us at their fab new offices and will ensure all participants have enough to drink. 🍷

This event will be very popular, so apply for your ticket immediately. 

Short morsels to appear smart at dinner parties

Pokemon Go might add 2.8m years to players’ lives.

Photography marketplace, Eye Em, highlights the visual trends from 18m photographers.

DHA supplements can raise IQ by 10% (in the elderly)

🐕 Chaser, a border collie, has learnt 1000 words. Here is how.

Technology might end factory farming.

💰 The gig economy is larger than we think and growing rapidly according to the Brookings Institute, potentially accounting for a sixth of all American employment. The fastest growth is in the largest cities.

A matrix to help understand models of open innovation

1nm transistor gates developed in the lab.

Japanese forest bathing does improve health.

🏈 How half of America lost its mind. Profane, insightful analysis from Cracked.com of the urban/rural divide and its part in the rise of Trump. (See also, Matt Taibbi on Trump’s fury.)

The rise of Brexit regret

The Apple Watch 2 isn’t a watch. Super deep-dive review

End note

I’m really interested in learning more about companies working in generalised artificial intelligence. So far DeepMind and Vicarious seem to be the names coming up most frequently, but please do introduce me to any others (or research groups) you think are making good strides in this area.

Cheers.