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Meditation as a Modern Spiritual Path: Opening talk by Laurence Freeman OSB at the pre-Seminar Retreat: John Main Seminar 2015 in New Zealand

Meditation as a Modern Spiritual Path: Talk 01

Eckhart Tolle is reading from his book: Practicing the Power of Now

01 Practicing The Power of NOW -

Speaker(s): Professor Richard H Thaler | Richard Thaler, described by The Spectator as ‘the godfather of behavioural economics’, will be in conversation with LSE Director Craig Calhoun about his book Misbehaving, an authoritative and entertaining history of behavioural economics. Richard Thaler has spent his career studying the radical notion that the central agents in the economy are humans—predictable, error-prone individuals. Traditional economics assumes rational actors. Early in his research, Thaler realized these Spock-like automatons were nothing like real people. Whether buying an alarm clock, selling football tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. In other words, we misbehave. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and their effects on markets now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses, and our governments. Coupling recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behaviour, Thaler enlightens readers about how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world, revealing how behavioural economic analysis opens up new ways to look at everything. Laced with antic stories of Thaler’s spirited battles with the bastions of traditional economic thinking, Misbehaving is a singular look into profound human foibles. When economics meets psychology, the implications for individuals, managers, and policy makers are both profound and entertaining. Richard H. Thaler (@R_Thaler) is the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioural Science and Economics and the director of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is co-the author of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness and has worked in the US with Barack Obama and with David Cameron's 'Nudge Unit' in the UK. Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) is Director and President of LSE. He is a world-renowned social scientist whose work connects sociology to culture, communication, politics, philosophy and economics. The Behavioural Research Lab (@LSEBehavioural) is a purpose-built facility set up by the Department of Management (@LSEManagement) for the use of researchers examining organisational behaviour and decision making. The BRL’s state-of-the-art facilities include 20 workstations for individual computer-mediated studies and four bespoke discussion rooms with built-in audio-visual equipment for studies in social dynamics. Since its opening in 2011, over 18000 participants have taken part in more than 120 studies.  The BRL caters to researchers across LSE, including Management, Economics, Geography/Grantham Institute, Philosophy, Social Policy, Social Psychology and Government, and offers a large diverse participant pool to its researchers.

Misbehaving: the making of behavioural economics [Audio]

In this episode of the Data Show, I spoke with Soumith Chintala, AI research engineer at Facebook. Among his many research projects, Chintala was part of the team behind DCGAN (Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks), a widely cited paper that introduced a set of neural network architectures for unsupervised learning. Our conversation centered around PyTorch, the successor to the popular Torch scientific computing framework. PyTorch is a relatively new deep learning framework that is fast becoming popular among researchers. Like Chainer, PyTorch supports dynamic computation graphs, a feature that makes it attractive to researchers and engineers who work with text and time-series.

Why AI and Machine Learning Researchers are Beginning to Embrace PyTorch

In this episode of the Data Show, I spoke with Neha Narkhede, co-founder and CTO of Confluent. As I noted in a recent post on “The Age of Machine Learning,” data integration and data enrichment are non-trivial and ongoing challenges for most companies. Getting data ready for analytics—including machine learning—remains an area of focus for most companies. It turns out, “data lakes” have become staging grounds for data; more refinement usually needs to be done before data is ready for analytics. By making it easier to create and productionize data refinement pipelines on both batch and streaming data sources, analysts and data scientists can focus on analytics that can unlock value from data.

The Current State of Apache Kafka

Three themes from Detroit: Become Human, each focusing on one of the title's main characters, and each scored by a different composer.

Detroit: Become Human launches May 25, 2018 on PS4.

Detroit: Become Human — Connor Main Theme By Nima Fakhrara

In this episode of the O’Reilly Media Podcast, I talk with JP Phillips, platform engineer at IBM Cloud. IBM is driving development in the container space, as shown through last year’s launch of Istio, an open cloud service that allows developers to connect, manage, and secure networks of different microservices. Istio, a joint collaboration between IBM, Google, and Lyft, (in conjunction with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation), is platform agnostic and runs on Kubernetes platforms, such as IBM’s Cloud Container Service. Interest in the platform is growing. IBM's Daniel Berg, who is giving a talk on Istio at the upcoming OSCON conference in Portland, recently led a hands-on workshop at KubeCon in Copenhagen to help developers learn how Istio can solve common challenges with microservices deployed within Kubernetes.

Kubernetes and Containers for Enterprise Developers

Tune in to David Linthicum and guest Vasa Vishveshwara to learn about Istio, its role in managing microservices and how it can help manage the complexity of service mesh. Understand potential use cases and implementation considerations for enterprises exploring Istio.

What is Istio and will it increase or decrease the complexity of how microservices are managed and deployed?

If literature, as romantic poet John Keats said, is for soul making, how will our souls be made and remade in a digital age when most reading, if it happens at all, occurs on screens and at light speed? What are the threats to knowledge acquisition, modes of teaching, learning and wisdom?

This Sydney Ideas panel discussion took place on 15 October 2018: https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/reading-and-writing-slowly-in-a-digital-age.html

Reading and writing slowly in a digital age

Countries are discussing carbon emissions in a new political (and changing) climate.

Three Years Later, A Check In On The Paris Accord

At Google’s 2019 Cloud Next conference, I sat down with Stephen Thorne, site reliability engineer on Google’s customer reliability engineering team and co-author of "The Site Reliability Workbook," to talk about how organizations, both large and small, can use SRE to reduce operational costs, improve reliability, and create productive cross-functional teams.

How to Get Started With Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)

Bruce Schneier is a name most Techdirt readers are very familiar with — he's a famous computer security expert who most recently has taken up the mantle of Public Interest Technologist, and been exploring exactly what that means. This week, Bruce joins us on the podcast to discuss how technologists can dedicate themselves to the common good.

The Techdirt Podcast

Public Interest Tech, With Bruce Schneier

So you've decided raising venture capital is the best fundraising strategy for your startup. Now what?

In this second of a 3-part series, a16z Managing Partner Scott Kupor shares actionable fundraising advice based on his experience of seeing thousands of startup pitches and working on all of a16z's investments. 
  
Want to learn more? Read Scott's book "Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It" (https://a16z.com/book/secrets-of-sand-hill-road/). 

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: How To Raise Money From A Venture Investor

with @vijaypande @conniechan @jpm25 and @smc90

Introducing our new podcast, 16 Minutes, a short news podcast where we cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z podcast way -- why are these topics in the news; what's real, what's hype from our vantage point; and what are our experts' quick takes on these trends?

This is the first episode of the show, and this week we cover the below topics with the following experts:

* Neuralink's recent news/ event/ whitepaper and the trend of brain-computer interfaces -- with a16z bio general partner Vijay Pande
* TikTok video influencers and AI-driven media and commerce -- with general partner, consumer, Connie Chan
* FaceApp and privacy beyond national security -- with operating partner, security, Joel de la Garza
* iHeart Radio and direct listings -- with operating partner, corporate development, Jamie McGurk

...hosted by Sonal Chokshi.

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.

 This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

16 Minutes on the News: Neuralink & Brain Interfaces, TikTok, FaceApp, iHeartRadio

with Kurt House (@kurtzhouse), John Thompson, Connie Chan (@conniechan) and Hanne Tidnam (@omnivorousread)

The exploration for and mining of certain metals has driven huge epochs of human civilization, from copper and iron to gold and diamonds. In this conversation, Kurt House, CEO and co-founder of KoBold Metals; John Thompson, professor of earth and geosciences at Cornell and longtime advisor to the mining industry; and Connie Chan, general partner for consume, talk with Hanne Tidnam about why it is that cobalt is suddenly one of the most important metals on the planet.

Because this metal makes today's best batteries for phones, electric cars, and more, we have gone from little to enormous demand -- with that demand expected to only increase. This conversation covers the way technology is transforming how we find cobalt, and the mining industry as a whole. Along the way we touch on the science behind why exactly it is that cobalt is so damn good in batteries; what we know about what makes cobalt as a metal 'tick', where it's currently mined, and where it's most likely to be found; what data and knowledge used to drive mining; and what the new data sources, technologies, and techniques are today, from geophysical/ geochemical data, to agricultural information, to old boxes collected over centuries in the basements and attics of mining cos…. all of this to satisfy the incredible spike of demand for this material, as we enter a new age of battery metals.

a16z Podcast: The Search for the Secret Metal that Powers All Our Devices

Technological innovation like automation using robots to produce goods and provide services creates tremendous opportunities for businesses. But as the cost of producing robots goes down, is this technology widening the income gap? Economist Arnaud Costinot has been studying technological change and its impact on inequality, and in this podcast, he discusses how a robot tax might help better distribute the benefits of artificial intelligence, or AI technologies. Arnaud Costinot is a Professor of Economics at MIT, and coauthor of Robots, Trade, and Luddism: A Sufficient Statistic Approach to Optimal Technology Regulation. Costinot was invited to present his research at the IMF.

Arnaud Costinot: Taxing Robots to Level the Playing Field

with @martin_casado @jorgeconde @jayrughani and @smc90

This is episode #2 of our new show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends as well.

This week we cover, with the following a16z experts:

* . mobile malware and a recent report of a new kind in the wild and security in a post-perimeter world -- with a16z general partner Martin Casado;
* drug pricing given recent proposals on the table, sharing a lay of the land for why drug pricing is so damn hard, what is a medicine, and where tech comes in -- with a16z bio general partner Jorge Conde and market dev partner Jay Rughani;

...hosted by Sonal Chokshi.

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.

 This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

16 Minutes on the News: Mobile Malware, Drug Pricing

IT’S TIME TO TRANSFORM. At some point in our lives, we have let go of our old selves and grow into something greater. Think about the king cobra. It starts to feel uncomfortable in its skin. It’s not able to see- its skin makes its vision blurred. So it moves in seclusion. It gets rid of the old skin, and a new shiny skin comes up. Suddenly, its vision is clear. We all need this process. We all need to let go of the past and embrace our future. On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I talk about freeing ourselves from suffering with one of my most influential teachers: Preethaji. Preethaji is the co-founder of the O&O Academy near Chennai, India. O&O’s campus and teachings are designed to free humans from all forms of suffering. Combining ancient wisdoms and teachings with neuroscience and neurobiology, Preethaji helps students develop a personal practice of mindfulness, meditation, and breathwork with the goal of personal transformation. I studied with Preethaji in India, and it changed my life. She taught me that there are only two states in life: a suffering state and a beautiful state. So get ready to learn how to stop suffering on Episode 830.

Some Questions I Ask:
Why did this calling come to you when it did? (6:30)
How do we stop suffering? (18:00)
What happens when we fixate on past experiences? (23:00)
Why do so many people hold onto heartbreak (39:30)
What happens when our outer world is thriving but the inner world is suffering? (49:00)

In This Episode You Will Learn:
What to do when your children struggle with depression and addiction (11:00)
The only two states in life (13:00)
The fable of Yesmi and Nomi (22:00)
The root of loneliness (25:00)
The four sacred secrets (34:00)

If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes, and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/830

The School of Greatness

On Apple Podcasts

Cultivate Inner Peace and End Your Suffering with Preethaji

In this episode of the Data Show, I speak with Cassie Kozyrkov, technical director and chief decision scientist at Google Cloud. She describes "decision intelligence" as an interdisciplinary field concerned with all aspects of decision-making, and which combines data science with the behavioral sciences. Most recently she has been focused on developing best practices that can help practitioners make safe, effective use of AI and data. Kozyrkov uses her platform to help data scientists develop skills that will enable them to connect data and AI with their organizations' core businesses.

We had a great conversation spanning many topics, including:

How data science can be more useful

The importance of the human side of data

The leadership talent shortage in data science

Is data science a bubble?

Learning

Sanjai