Curated Commons // Edition 7
Thank you for subscribing and welcome to the seventh edition of Curated Commons. Let’s dive right in.
Fintech is eating finance
Good, long read from the Economist on how the pandemic has acted as a shot in the arm for greater adoption of tech in banking and payments.
The digital tail now wags the analog head
One impact the pandemic is having across large traditional organizations - their online operations are getting the much-needed attention they’ve been demanding. Disney here putting their streaming services front in an organizational shuffle.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-moves-to-reorganize-entertainment-operations-11602534124
Grapes with a…EULA
You read that right. The lawyer takeover of the capitalist world is now complete. Apparently, when you purchase a bag of grapes from this company, you are deemed to have entered into an agreement to not do a bunch of things with…the grapes!
We are all actors in the Truman Show…(or maybe not!)
The question of whether or not we are living in a simulation…has some more clarity. Fascinating read extending the discussion around whether our reality is a simulacrum. Looking at 2020, I know what I and many others will be wishing for as the answer!
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/
The inexorable rise of conspiracy theories and theorists
The worrying part of online conspiracy theories - they rapidly attract an audience beyond the borders of the countries where they originate. Two good stories that highlight how Qanon, and its variants, are spreading beyond the US.
UK - https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-54065470
The high cost of staying true to your moral compass.
Lawyers are lovely. That’s all!
Airline rewards programs are rewarding, just not for you
Instructive read on how airline reward programs are great for airlines; so great that airlines have no qualms boasting about how they are in such a controlling position!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/10/your-money/airline-miles-credit-cards.html
Adversarial…t-shirts
Q: How do you hide from facial recognition tech.
A: With the right t-shirt
Researchers have come up with a t-shirt pattern that can make the wearer ‘invisible’ to neural networks used for object detection.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/facial-recognition-t-shirt-block
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China is trolling the rest of the world, at scale
Countries globally are struggling to make tests available widely. And apparently China is testing frozen fish. and testing a city of 11 million after a handful of positive cases. This truly qualifies for trolling at scale!
What’s your alternate career option?
Apparently, flying an aircraft requires the same kind decision-making as betting on financial markets. So a London firm decided to experiment by making out-of-job pilots traders.
https://www.ft.com/content/ee20d5a2-e761-4711-a63b-69bfeafcb482
It’s an MS Excel world, and we are but cells in it. Mis-formatted cells.
It’s no secret that despite all the big enterprise systems and talk of AI , most large organizations rely on the humble old Excel sheet for managing their billions. No surprise then that there’s a bunch of folks making a career out of spotting Excel goof-ups!
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/spreadsheet-excel-errors
We are living our future - we now have deepfake actors
Deepfakes have been around for a few years, but it’s only in recent years that they’ve become more realistic and…more worrying. Which only means that there will now be professional setups aimed at creating deepfake content fit for broadcast. Ergo, enter a new genre of actors - deepfake actors. Good read.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/09/1009850/ai-deepfake-acting/
A lowdown on Bytedance/TikTok
Neat little deck, extracted from a larger book, on ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/syixvxejz2g4s0y/TikTok%20%26%20ByteDance%20Report.pdf?dl=0
Go follow Matt Levine, if you aren’t already!
Matt Levine is one of my favorite writers when it comes to finance. His ability to write with exceptional clarity and explain arcane finance concepts in plain English is unparalleled. The NYT did a good profile here - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/business/matt-levine-bloomberg.html
One personal favorite from a while ago in context of Wells Fargo.
Twitter, but just for sharing creative pictures and videos!
Lovely little thread. Twitter is littered with such creative threads and tweets. The discovery model is still broken though, even after all these years.
Stay safe, and happy reading! And if you liked the newsletter, please do share on your social networks. My DMs on Twitter are always open for any feedback.