Demo: The magic of AI neural TTS and holograms at Microsoft Inspire 2019 (Source: Microsoft)
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”
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."
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 using big data and millions of data points - is about how one can break the cycle of poverty and “generational abuse” in America.
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
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
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.
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/
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.”
The United States’ concerns on China range from issues of
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
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!
