Don’t believe the hype: Here’s what’s wrong with the ‘sharing economy’ Editor’s note: Milo Yiannopoulos is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Kernel and yesterday he gave a talk at LeWeb London entitled “Why the Sharing Economy is Bollocks.” It certainly proved a divisive argument and today he’s summed it up in this politically-charged post. Think he’s gone too far or missed the point?
The Blind Spot: Uncovering the Grammar of the Social Field This post is a bit longer than usual. But if you are interested in the invisible dimension of leading profound social change -- and in a blend of action science and consciousness to illuminate that blind spot -- it may be worth the read. My father is a farmer.
Peer-to-peer rental: The rise of the sharing economy LAST night 40,000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250,000 rooms in 30,000 cities in 192 countries. They chose their rooms and paid for everything online. But their beds were provided by private individuals, rather than a hotel chain. Hosts and guests were matched up by Airbnb, a firm based in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more than 4m people have used it—2.5m of them in 2012 alone. It is the most prominent example of a huge new “sharing economy”, in which people rent beds, cars, boats and other assets directly from each other, co-ordinated via the internet.
10 Ethics Trends for 2010 It’s a new year, and a time for resolutions, plans and even some bold predictions. Since I work with organizations that are trying to ensure that they have consistently civil, inclusive and lawful treatment in their workplaces, my view of what will happen in 2010 comes through a particular prism, incorporating legal, societal and political influences. Here are the 10 trends that I believe organizations will see unfolding in and around their workplaces this year: 1. How To Design For The Sharing Economy The definition of ownership is changing. We are becoming less interested in owning products and accumulating wealth through long-term purchases. Instead, we crave experiences, seeking out things without much of a financial or time investment, and have a newfound appreciation of bargains and second-hand possessions (a song about thrifting is leading the Billboard charts as I am writing this). We increasingly consume products and services through renting, sharing, and purchasing subscriptions. Being “socially connected” is no longer just about having a lot of people to share your news with; these days, it’s about having a lot of people to share your stuff with--either for free or at a fraction of the market fee.
The Sharing Economy Just Got Real The legal problems of the sharing economy just got real. The latest lawsuits against "ride-sharing" companies Lyft and Über could be game changers. The plaintiffs are drivers who give rides to strangers for money, paying a portion of their earnings to the companies. The class action lawsuits argue that the drivers should be classified as employees of the companies. Regardless of the outcome, the lawsuits call attention to the potential harms arising from the non-sharing parts of the sharing economy.
Theory U Introduction Theory U proposes that the quality of the results that we create in any kind of social system is a function of the quality of awareness, attention, or consciousness that the participants in the system operate from. Since it emerged around 2006, Theory U has come to be understood in three primary ways: first as a framework; second, as a method for leading profound change; and third, as a way of being - connecting to the more authentic of higher aspects of our self. How Freelancers Are Redefining Success To Be About Value, Not Wealth In an iconic scene in The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort--the “wolf” played by Leonardo DiCaprio--launches his $40,000 Rolex into a sea of outstretched hands, as eager young stockbrokers lunge for it, nearly clobbering one another in the process. The scene perfectly captures the infamous excesses of Wall Street in the ‘80s. But I couldn’t stop thinking about how it contrasts with the dramatic shift underway in the American economy. The nation’s 42 million freelancers are rewriting the definition of success--and it has nothing to do with gold watches, but everything to do with time. Independent workers are establishing a new way to work--and in the process, they’re cultivating a new way of life. Success in 2014 is less about wealth than it is about value--the value of time, community, and well-being.
HofficeHoffice Hoffice.nu is a network aiming at creating fantastic, free work spaces – and make it thereby possible for people to realise their dreams. The work spaces are free of charge, as we are using a during-the-day underused resource: our homes. They become fantastic, as we use methods of structuring the day that allow us as individuals to benefit from the support and intelligence of the collective. And here is how that looks like: But even though there is a structure, you are very welcome to ignore it, keep working while the others take breaks, come and go whenever you want. Negentropy In a note to What is Life? Schrödinger explained his use of this phrase. Indeed, negentropy has been used by biologists as the basis for purpose or direction in life, namely cooperative or moral instincts.[6] In 2009, Mahulikar & Herwig redefined negentropy of a dynamically ordered sub-system as the specific entropy deficit of the ordered sub-system relative to its surrounding chaos.[7] Thus, negentropy has units [J/kg-K] when defined based on specific entropy per unit mass, and [K−1] when defined based on specific entropy per unit energy. This definition enabled: i) scale-invariant thermodynamic representation of dynamic order existence, ii) formulation of physical principles exclusively for dynamic order existence and evolution, and iii) mathematical interpretation of Schrödinger's negentropy debt.
Why every leader should care about digitization and disruptive innovation The disruptive impact of technology is the topic of a McKinsey-hosted discussion among business leaders, policy makers, and researchers at this year’s meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. In this video, two session participants preview the critical issues that will be discussed, including the impact of digitization and automation on labor markets and how companies can adapt in a world of rapid technological change. What follows is an edited transcript of their remarks. Interview transcript
The end of capitalism has begun The red flags and marching songs of Syriza during the Greek crisis, plus the expectation that the banks would be nationalised, revived briefly a 20th-century dream: the forced destruction of the market from above. For much of the 20th century this was how the left conceived the first stage of an economy beyond capitalism. The force would be applied by the working class, either at the ballot box or on the barricades. The lever would be the state. The opportunity would come through frequent episodes of economic collapse. Instead over the past 25 years it has been the left’s project that has collapsed. Top 10 Machine Learning Blogs That Are Quite Readable 1. Data mining: Text Mining, Visualization and Social Media A machine learning blog by Matthew Hurst, who is an Artificial Intelligence researcher and data scientist. He is presently a principal architect at Microsoft. Recent article titles include: