World statistics

I don't really believe their "updated in real time" claim, but still, interesting yet scary figures are to be found on the World statistics site (link here).

Will we be matched by machines by 2029?

Tagging on my previous post on "shift happens", ever serious site BBC Machines states that machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029. And we'll be having nanobots inside our bodies.

Click here for the full article.

Shift happens

.. and it is still happening. At an ever increasing pace. Check out the presentation.

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"Predictions are that by 2013 a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computational power of the human brain." I'm especially interested in this one; I should be around to witness it. Let's just hope that supercomputer doesn't turn out to be Skynet.


Here is the original "Did you know 2.0"

Read more at Shift Happens

*Update*
There is also a Shift Movie in the works. Watch it here.

Where is Marc Wallis?

I ran into my friend and colleague Marc Wallis again at the Mobile World congress this year. Why would I care to mention that on a blog you ask? Well, because exactly one year ago (ok, give or take a couple of days) we were exchanging ideas on blogging, and I showed him how I blogged from my mobile phone (I think I actually explained it to him again this year, but that's beside the point).

So he went on to register a site to track himself, got a blog account, and started to take pictures of wherever he was on his travels.

And so the whereismarcwallis.com photoblog was born. Happy first anniversary, Marc!

They key to life is ... running and reading

Wise words from Will smith: Running and reading are the key to life. Look here as he explains why.

Found through StrongLifts. Have a look there for his analysis. I'm off to running now. ;-)

The Abilene paradox

The previous post on the Asoh defense led me to another real gem, the Abilene paradox.

Where I work, they have something called "disagree and commit". It's a good principle if it works, and when there is ample time to discuss, as this post explains. It tends to get a bit scary when the discussion bit is omitted (by fear of displeasing management or whatever the reason may be), and people end up with the Abilene paradox. This is a paradox in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of any of the individuals in the group. It involves a common breakdown of group communication in which each member mistakenly believes that their own preferences are counter to the group's and do not raise objections. Scary, isn't it? The paradox is usually inllustrated by the below story:

"On a hot afternoon visiting in Coleman, Texas, the family is comfortably playing dominoes on a porch, until the father-in-law suggests that they take a trip to Abilene [53 miles north] for dinner. The wife says, "Sounds like a great idea." The husband, despite having reservations because the drive is long and hot, thinks that his preferences must be out-of-step with the group and says, "Sounds good to me. I just hope your mother wants to go." The mother-in-law then says, "Of course I want to go. I haven't been to Abilene in a long time."

The drive is hot, dusty, and long. When they arrive at the cafeteria, the food is as bad. They arrive back home four hours later, exhausted.

One of them dishonestly says, "It was a great trip, wasn't it." The mother-in-law says that, actually, she would rather have stayed home, but went along since the other three were so enthusiastic. The husband says, "I wasn't delighted to be doing what we were doing. I only went to satisfy the rest of you." The wife says, "I just went along to keep you happy. I would have had to be crazy to want to go out in the heat like that." The father-in-law then says that he only suggested it because he thought the others might be bored.

The group sits back, perplexed that they together decided to take a trip which none of them wanted. They each would have preferred to sit comfortably, but did not admit to it when they still had time to enjoy the afternoon."

Sounds familiar?

The Asoh Defense

The Asoh Defense is real simple:
If at first you don't succeed ... just admit it. "Yup, my fault, I f***ed up."
Not something you ever really here in the corporate world, do you?

Click here for the story behind the Asoh defense.

The part where they link it to the organizations really hits home. In a lot of a corporate cultures, the reality is more that of "crime and punishment"; something goes wrong and the great game of “Scape Goat” starts where everyone runs and hides while trying to find someone to be "it".


Through MetaFilter.