Lifeboat Foundation

These are a tiny fraction of the examples of how our economy differs from the 20th century industrial economy. Similar changes are under way in the developing world, as labor gives way to robotics and basic goods become affordable and accessible to the planet’s billions. Given those changes, why would 20th century models of prices and rates and money supply work as they used to work?

We like to believe that there are “laws of economics” and past patterns to guide us, but, as Yellen indicated, there is now “considerable uncertainty.” It may feel safer to trust that past patterns will reassert themselves. But maybe policymakers should weigh more heavily the chance that the patterns have changed.

The Federal Reserve takes a 20th-century approach to managing a 21st-century economy.

Continue reading “No Inflation? Technology May Have Left it Back in the 20th Century” »

Business and Longevity…

Jim Mellon, Burnbrae Group founder, discussed the biggest risks facing central banks with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua Oct. 4 on “Bloomberg Surveillance.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi are back with another successful venture into the world of science investment. Following their acclaimed 2012 book “Cracking the code”, whose spotlight was on the life sciences industry, Juvenescence takes us on a compelling journey through the dawning market of longevity and rejuvenation biotechnology, which the authors predict will be the biggest “money fountain” to hit the financial world in the coming years.

Juvenescence is a visionary book, debunking the sometimes questionable past of longevity research and steering us towards a ‘brave new world’ in which advances in medicine are already leading to clinical trials whose aim is to extend human lifespan to unprecedented levels.

Mellon and Chalabi come across as eloquent devotees of cold, hard science, and for a book targeted primarily at investors, biologists and experts will be hard-pressed to find inaccuracies in the many heavily technical sections. The authors explain the science of aging in an engaging and accessible manner, bridging the gap between the lab and the public with ease and tact. They employ elegant metaphors to explain complex processes as well as some light-hearted ones, including the “Deadly Quintet”, which reads more like the title of a long-lost Tarantino film, or the “Actuarial Escape Velocity”, a reference to the controversial “Longevity Escape Velocity” promoted by Aubrey de Grey. Mellon and Chalabi use state-of-the-art research whenever possible, with recent, fresh-from-the-lab studies making up the majority of sources.

Only two years ago, when I launched my advocacy website Rejuvenaction, I didn’t think I would read a book like Juvenescence so soon; yet, the topic of rejuvenation biotechnologies has already become mainstream enough to lead investors of the calibre of Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi to devote a whole book to it.

As Juvenescence is a book aimed at potential new investors in rejuvenation biotechnologies, I expected it to be an extremely technical and detailed account of things I don’t understand, such as finance, markets, and funds. To my delight, this was not the case. Rather, the details Juvenescence dives into are primarily those of the emerging field of rejuvenation science (alas, still something whose details I don’t fully understand).

The book explains the paradigm shift that is currently taking place and changing the way science sees aging—no longer as an inevitable fact of life but rather as a disease to be eradicated like any other—and goes through a biology 101 crash course for the benefit of readers who might be not too well versed in the science of life.

In addition to Deloitte, the other remaining big-four accounting firms – including EY, KPMG and PwC – have introduced the technology-driven services in China to businesses ranging from banking, technology, and consumer services.

Mainland based accountants are embracing automation to lower office administration costs and enhance efficiency, moves which are opening the door to a wider embrace of artificial intelligence (AI).

Delixi Electric, a manufacturer of low-voltage electrical products, is banking on robotics to trim time needed for tax invoice issuance by 75 per cent. The Zhejiang province-based company needs to issue more than 5,000 value-added-tax invoices to more than 600 clients nationwide monthly.

Continue reading “Robots finds a welcome reception among China’s finance and tax services” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4eRMBmS5Xfc

Ariadna Font Llitjós of IBM Emerging Technology, Director of Emerging Technology Experiences at IBM Experiences, moderated the MIT Venture Capital + Innovation Conference at the MIT Sloan School of Management on June 2017. The main question of this panel was “What do Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence mean for our future?”

Experts * S. Somasegar of Madrona Venture Group * Karl Iagnemma of NuTonomy, CEO of Nutonomy and Principal Research Scientist at MIT * Gareth Keane of Qualcomm Ventures * Saikat Dey of GuardHat, Co-Founder of GuardHat.

Continue reading “The Future of Machine Learning in a Connected World” »

The BRICS Finance Committee is discussing a joint virtual currency for the five nation bloc of developing economies, according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) chief Kirill Dmitriev.

It used to be banks, but now it is tech giants that dominate the US lobbying industry. Can money buy them what they want: less competition, less tax … and more data?

By Olivia Solon in San Francisco and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington

Hyder Jaffrey, head of strategic funding and fintech innovation at UBS, stated: “We have been in discussions with central banks and regulators and we will continue that over the next 12 months with the aim of a limited ‘go live’ at the back end of 2018.”

‘Utility settlement coin’ aims to launch next year for blockchain settlements.