Azeem's Exponential View issue 4
Robot personalities, China’s new cyberweapon, the exponential growth in camera sales, types of machine intelligence, & views on how the Unicorn phenomenon.
Thanks to @ajitjaokar and @umairh for contributions
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The not-so-far future
Google patents robots with personalities in first step towards the singularity
(via @ajitjaokar) Google has been awarded a patent for the ‘methods and systems for robot personality development’, a glimpse at a future where robots react based on data they mine from us and hopefully don’t unite and march on city hall.
Philosopher Nick Bostrom says major tech companies (like Google and Facebook) are listening to his warnings about investing in “AI safety” research (while obviously also getting patents on robot personalities).
The exponential explosion in camera sales
Yes, sales of stand-alone cameras have collapsed. But sales of cameras have exploded, thanks to the smart phone. In fact, 10x in the last ten years. A great exponential graph for any presentation you give.
China's great cannon - New war
China has a new cyber-weapon - the Great Cannon. Capable of debilitating internet infrastructure with high volume DDos attacks. An interesting tear down.
A survey of more than 2,700 machine intelligence startups reveals some interesting patterns.
Deep Learning vs probabilistic graphical models vs logic
Short, complex but helpful introduction to explain various generations of AI systems.
A chimpanzee attacks a drone - this is the future
Just a fun video with shades of Space Odyssey 2001, Planet of the Apes and Terminator in one weird dystopian set-piece. A chimpanzee uses a stick as a weapon to down a drone.
Department of future business
The end of asymmetric information
Asymmetric information in the form of adverse selection and moral hazard can break markets - and it’s resulted in legislation good & bad. Does the boom in sensors and rating systems but an end to asymmetric information? And is that good for us?
Women-led companies perform three times better than the S&P 500
More and more data is coming out to support the hypothesis that women make better leaders than men.
Builders notes (special Unicorn edition)
Here are the secrets of Unicorn companies
A great piece of research on what drives companies to rapid outsized success: Great teams. A platform. A community. And a mission. Not so secret right now, but common patterns have definitely emerged.
What did billion dollar companies look like at series A?
Five key traits of unicorns at the Series A. Some may surprise you.
Some Unicorns might be overvalued, but all dinosaurs gonna die
Dave McClure in a characteristically spirited argument for the strength of exponential businesses (and a strong argument for why our focus should be on the non-innovating incumbents on their way to a slow death.)
What I wrote
Think big, start small, act fast
How do you build something that matters?
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