Digitising AI - the future is here - mixed Reality - AI, VR, MI

Looking forward to experimenting with this technology at #raceparty 

Demo: The magic of AI neural TTS and holograms at Microsoft Inspire 2019 (Source: Microsoft)

Breaking the cycle of poverty and inter-generational abuse

We had an amazing BBG Innovation session with Anne Marie Elias on “innovation - disrupt or be disrupted “ on Thursday.

Anne Marie’s passion is “social justice” and over the years helped  developed a social enterprise incubator at “New Horizons” called “unboxd”

New Horizons specialise in supporting people with disability, mental health concerns, those who are aged, people at risk of homelessness, humanitarian entrants, youth, and Indigenous Australians with advice connections and services. 

The discussion led to the pain of many indigenous communities around Australia and how we can help “break the cycle” of poverty and generational abuse.

A little bit of digging and research on linked in brought me to a post by Gayatri Agnew who shares the 5 qualities that make the world a “more high opportunity place” 

1. good schools, 
2. greater levels of social cohesion, 
3. many two-parent families, 
4. low levels of income inequality, 
5. and little residential segregation, by either class or race. 

The list is suggestive, but hard to interpret he says. 

The post took me to a link by a fascinating fellow called Raj Chetty who has found that opportunity does not correlate with many traditional economic measures, such as employment or wage growth. 

It’s about “social capital” he says . 

“#socialcapital is about the set of connections that ease a person’s way through the world, providing support and inspiration and opening doors."

So who is this Raj Chetty ?

A fascinating story of how the “poverty cycle was broken” which has guided Cherry to his life’s work.

A man whose mum Anbu, came from a family of 5 siblings in the southern tip of India - Tamil Nadu, constrained by her poverty ridden community, where men would travel to earn a living for their stay at home mums and families. 

As she was finishing high school - a local tycoon in the village decided to open up a college in his house, to educate his children . 

Anbu attended, learned English , excelled, travelled to a nearby college every day by bus to learn Chemistry - starting her trajectory to medicine and become a Doctor.

“Why do you send her there? What use would a medical degree be to a stay-at-home mother?” Said her father 

In 1962, Anbu married Veerappa Chetty, a brilliant man from Tamil Nadu whose mother and grandmother had sometimes eaten less food so there would be more for him. 

Anbu became a doctor and supported her husband while he earned a doctorate in economics. By 1979, when Raj was born in New Delhi, his mother was a pediatrics professor and his father was an economics professor who had served as an adviser to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Raj (the 9) and his family moved to the USA, topped his class, moved to Harvard, earned a doctorate in economics and at 28 was offered tenure. 

In 2012, he was awarded the MacArthur genius grant and a year later the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded to the most promising economist under 40. (He was 33 at the time.) 

In 2015, he launched  his own research and policy institute at Harvard “opportunity Insights” , with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Chetty now  40 is considered to be the most  influential social scientists of his generation. “The question with Raj,” says Harvard’s Edward Glaeser, one of the country’s leading urban economists, “is not if he will win a Nobel Prize, but when.”

Chetty’s work on breaking the poverty cycle 

Chetty’s work using big data and millions of data points - is about how one can break the cycle of poverty and “generational abuse” in America. 

Some insights (or “Chetty bombs” ) from his studies include 

• Children born in 1940 had a 90 percent chance of earning more than their parents, but for children born four decades later, that chance had fallen to 50 percent - why? 

• Chetty created a map of the USA  showing the people’s financial prospects depend on where they happen to grow up. 

• In Salt Lake City, a person born to a family in the bottom fifth of household income had a 10.8% chance of reaching the top fifth. In Milwaukee, the odds were 5% 

• Dozens of the nation’s elite colleges have more children of the 1 percent than from families in the bottom 60 percent of family income. 

• A black boy born to a wealthy family is more than twice as likely to end up poor as a white boy from a wealthy family. 

The objective of the Institute is to break the “poverty cycle” - (and hopefully Australia and Africa can learn and benefit from this research).

Despite the  dismal  track record, Chetty is optimistic that social scientists can fix the problems they articulate in journals. 

“If a phenomenon like upward mobility can be measured with enough precision, then it can be understood; if it can be understood, then it can be manipulated. 

Chetty’s big-picture goal is to revive the American dream. 

I believe that this research will be far more pervasive than the USA - and be valuable to the planet Earth. 

Here’s the link that inspired this article https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6557629557644546048

Solar Energy Plant replacing gas, fossils and nuclear

The cheapest solar + battery-storage project in the world is being built on over 2500 acres at The Eland Solar Site in  the Barren Ridge renewables corridor in Kern County, USA 

Price of energy to be supplied at a fraction of gas and nuclear 

The plant is being built at half the estimated cost of power from a new natural gas plant, with the first megawatt planned to be released in April 2023 (being eligible for the 30pc tax credit) 

The LA Board of Water and Power Commissioners is expected to approve a 25-year contract that will serve 7 percent of the city's electricity demand at 1.997¢/kwh for solar energy and 1.3¢ for power from batteries.

The price is a fraction of the  4c/kWh of natural gas and 12c/kWh of Nuclear

This is expected to be the lowest solar-photovoltaic price in the United States and the largest and lowest-cost solar and high-capacity battery-storage project in the U.S. 

What the pundits say

Mark Z. Jacobson, the Stanford professor who developed roadmaps for transitioning 139 countries to 100 percent renewables, hailed the development on Twitter Friday, saying, "Goodnight #naturalgas, goodnight #coal, goodnight #nuclear."

The anti-nuclear activist Arnie Gunderson, who predicted storage prices under 2¢/kwh four years ago on the night Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Powerpack, noted Saturday that his 2015 prediction was too high. He too said, "Goodbye coal, nukes, gas!"

Source - to read more https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/07/01/new-solar--battery-price-crushes-fossil-fuels-buries-nuclear/

The 5G race seems to have been won by Huawei

International Business Strategies (IBS) Jones notes that the race to 5G technology has been already won by Huawei in China (with Ericsson as runner-up and Nokia a distant third). 

The ongoing tension between the United States and China is not helping the U.S. either to kickstart 5G domestically or take the lead in the global 5G race.

Asked for proof that China has won the still emerging 5G market, Jones told us that Huawei has already made more than 50,000 5G base station equipment sales to all the leading telecom operators in China and broadcasters. Early installations of 5G telecom equipment in the field are helping Huawei gain in-depth insights and learn lessons fast.

Most likely, global 5G market will be split in two — with China honing, advancing and creating its own 5G standards.

And the United States? “might have to license IP on 5G from China.”

So what is the issue?

The United States’ concerns on China range from issues of 

• intellectual property thefts and China’s industrial policy to Huawei’s close relationship with Beijing and 
• potential national security risks posed by Huawei’s next-generation 5G telecommunication infrastructure equipment. 

Or is it just a race for technological superiority?

China, meanwhile, is asking for the U.S. to treat Chinese companies fairly and show mutual respect.

It appears that the U.S. President is eager to use Huawei as a bargaining chip for short-term leverage and is trading away his administration’s original concerns over national security and IP thefts.

Source  — Junko Yoshida, Global Co-Editor-In-Chief, AspenCore Media, Chief International Correspondent, EE Times

The Greatest Teacher of my life

Describe the parents dream in 2 words - 

Healthy child 

Danny Almog shares his story about his 2nd child - born autistic and retarded - he never made eye contact never said a word - but was the greatest professor of his life -

“ he has taught me about myself, society and others like him.” Says Danny.

This 1% of the population have 2 life sentences - locked in a broken body and put in an institution - how do you change this paradigm?

This TEDX talk makes me more hopeful of a future we can be proud of! 

An ode to Oz

With a  population of entrepreneurs , small business owners, leaders, Ozzie battlers artists, Parents and Children - we punch above our weight - and have a voice with the superpowers.

We strive to be a people that collaborate NOT berate.

We cherish life and experiences AND learn from them.

We are not perfect, but I am proud to be Australian and am hopeful for our future.

We are a country  that has world class educational institutions and a VET system, with every Australian having an opportunity to upskill - with amazing humans  giving the time to educate, help and provide services and support to ALL.... no matter what your religion, race or bias.

We are a nation that the rest of the world aspires to visit - wanting “their” slice of the Ozzie  dream.

As a country we know that the future of technology and human convergence is coming, and we need to be at the forefront and ride that tidal wave. 

We need to master the digital realm and to do this we need to invest  time, resources, training and lifeblood into this realm. 

Onwards and upwards 

AI in Agriculture is the bomb

Last week I was invited by Kevin Bloch of Cisco to an Agtech Forum which was really interesting. I then did a bit of research - 

Here are some of my takeouts 

It’s all about data 

It’s all about getting data and using that data to increase productivity - produce more for less .

How to Take subjective (gut feel) to objective (informed) decision making 

The future - livestock tags giving algorithms - the way the livestock moves - know where the animals are at any time - highlighting changes in their breathing? 

Parasites in sheep costs 436m pa is a case in point - merino sheep are born to die !!Good data has reduced loss by 25pc using sensor technology guving the farmer a heads up!

What happens when things go wrong -

Possums and birds destroying power supplies - equipment damaged - with IoT and data - it will be easy to fix or “swop it out”

“to have that level of control is magic”

Smart farming equipment manufacturers  are disrupting the $5T agriculture industry and agricultural giants - generating new revenue streams, and opening up new partnership opportunities. You can read the full report here by cb insights 

I was speaking to Richard Frawley (Ex Cisco and one of the smartest dudes I’ve met)  - and he was telling me that John Deere are providing harvesters that are already “self driving” via satellites and farmers are driving them from their laptops! If there is an issue - it will be identified by a satellite with an instruction to swop our a relevant part to fix it. 

Investment in AI in Agriculture is becoming extremely niche - with VC funding some interesting investments 

• seed financing raised by a company using machine learning algorithms for “fishmeal inventory management.” 

• Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates and others by  a company using computer vision and smart cameras for managing fish farms.

• AI for horse care and racing, 

• AI for roti making, and 

• AI for bull matchmaking. 

We now even have 

• AI for Sex Education

• Will the AI factory of the future look like this?

What are some of your ideas for commercialising Artificial Intelligence? 

Thanks to marcelo.ballve@cbinsights.com for the insights