Ted talk by Rory Sutherland (from 2012) - a great investment of your time

Just found by chance this Ted talk by Rory Sutherland (from 2012), and it is worthwhile the 18 minutes! I really like Rory’s perspective and insights and this talk approaches them in one go. Human behavior and psychology are paramount in any problem-solving framework. The UK’s post-office case made, among others, is a great example that perception has the same value of actual product/service attributes, dimensions or “real” value/utility. If you have a product that is better, or at least equal, to your competitors, but it is perceived 5 to 10% lower than your competitors, based on their willingness to pay, don’t invest in improving the product, invest on changing their perception! His book “Alchemy” is also a must read! https://youtu.be/iueVZJVEmEs?si=UN8s8yBBNC16Slcy

- Pedro

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AlphaProof & AlphaGeometry 2 by DeepMind - Helping to push the mathematic domain to a new level

Absolutely mind blowing the new 2 models that Deep-Mind has recently released, Alpha-Proof, a reinforcement-learning system for formal mathematic reasoning, and AlphaGeometry 2, an improved version of geometry-solving system. What is the all the fuzz about? Well, these 2 tools were able to solve 4 out 6 problems of International Mathematical Olympiad, that would put them equal to the silver medalists. Should be noticed that the time frame to solve 3 out of the 4 solved was significantly longer than the time given to the human math Wizz, nonetheless, it is a great achievement and, in the future, as Terence Tao mentioned in an Oxford’s talk, will provide great assistance and help mathematicians to explore their knowledge to a maximum that were not achievable in the recent past! “…We’re excited for a future in which mathematicians work with AI tools to explore hypotheses, try bold new approaches to solving long-standing problems and quickly complete time-consuming elements of proofs — and where AI systems like Gemini become more capable at math and broader reasoning. …” https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/ai-solves-imo-problems-at-silver-medal-level/

- Pedro

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Terminei Deus na escuridão por Valter Hugo Mãe - Avaliação - 3/5

Terminei Deus na escuridão por Valter Hugo Mãe Avaliação - 3/5 Um retrato simples, delicado e especial sobre a vida na ilha da Madeira e sobre o amor em geral. De leitura fácil, fluente, apelativa e por vezes intensa. Segundo livro que li de VHM e com certeza não será o ultimo. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204939819

- Pedro

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Six novels about India, perhaps the world’s most interesting place

Six novels about India, perhaps the world’s most interesting place. Do you want to understand India? as per the Economist these 6 books will hep you in such quest: Midnight’s Children. By Salman Rushdie A Fine Balance. By Rohinton Mistry The Siege of Krishnapur. By J.G. Farrell The God of Small Things. By Arundhati Roy Last Man in Tower. By Aravind Adiga English, August: An Indian Story. By Upamanyu Chatterjee All were added to my wish list. Happy readings https://www.economist.com/the-economist-reads/2024/08/20/six-novels-about-india-perhaps-the-worlds-most-interesting-place

- Pedro

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The square-root of 9 is?

What is the square-root of 9? A mathematical joke that entails several human behaviors like: Minimize complexity and opt for the fast answer (even if not fully correct) Aversion to scenario thinking as 2 options are equally likely Herd thinking… Among others one could derive.

- Pedro

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Simple but powerful Viz on Bayes' Theorem

A simple but insightful visualization on Bayes’ Theorem.

- Pedro

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“…It seems that corporate leaders do not owe their career advancement to sophisticated economic analysis….”

A very interesting article on how poorly senior leaders understand inflation and its impact on their business. “…It seems that corporate leaders do not owe their career advancement to sophisticated economic analysis….” Leaders anchor their inflation expectation more on what they hear or read on the news/media than on hard data and modeling based: input prices forecasts (raws, conversion, labor, etc…). willingness to pay from the customers to your industry products or services and directly to your company within the industry. depending on the industry (oligopoly, perfect competition, etc…) you need to understand the competition pricing strategies and how will they react to these key variables. By doing this they are usually behind the curve and reactive to a dynamic environment. Going back to basics, most of the leaders do not know: the past year inflation value (country or industry), the target inflation rate from the Fed and ECB (the 2%) and what are the actual key refence interest rates (monetary policy) applied by these entities in their market. Know your numbers, understand how they impact your industry, your company business and the valuation of your company. https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/08/15/why-companies-get-inflation-wrong

- Pedro

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