The year 2019 in review

The year that was dominated by Brexit - again. From the massacres and protests that shocked the world to Greta Thunberg’s solo climate strike and worldwide phenomenon, this are just few of the many events that made the headlines in the ending of a decade. To remember, here and also in this link. 

And a great collection of photos from year 2019 by CNN can viewed in this link.

Trash talk hurts, even when it comes from a robot

Not only can robots beat humans at games, it turns out they can effectively trash talk us during them, too. Trash talking has a long and colorful history of flustering game opponents, and researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have demonstrated that discouraging words can be perturbing even when uttered by a robot.

Discouraging words from machines impair human game play study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University show that programmed humanoid robot Pepper to talk smack to humans while playing a strategy game against them — and despite the relatively tame nature of the bot’s insults, it was still able to get into its opponents’ heads and negatively affect their game play.

How the application of AI is impacting sports

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing all and sports is just one of many areas, elevating it to a whole new level. 

While it is true that statistics and quantitative analysis have played a central role in games for a long time, AI is significantly impacting every aspect of sports. 

This article is a elusive reading on some breathtaking advancements in sports which would have thought even a decade ago. The article outlines a wide range of AI uses and applications in sports, showing how AI is disrupting the future, making significant advances, even if computers might just be getting started this arena - together with humans it will be possible to reach another local optimum.

AI and Human Natural Language

It’s very easy to misread and overestimate achievements in artificial intelligence. And nowhere is this more evident than in the domain of human language, where appearances can falsely hint at in-depth capabilities. 
In the last two years, we’ve seen several companies giving the impression that their chatbots, robots and other applications can engage in meaningful conversations as a human would.

You just need to look at Google’s Duplex, Hanson Robotics’ Sophia and numerous other stories to become convinced that we’ve reached a stage that artificial intelligence can manifest human behavior.

But mastering human language requires much more than replicating human-like voices or producing well-formed sentences. It requires commonsense, understanding of context and creativity, none of which current AI trends possess.  Here is an this article, a recent reality check about AI grasp's on human language.

Deep Medicine: How AI will transform the doctor-patient relationship

Interesting review of the book Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again, by Dr. Eric Topol, physician, scientist and researcher, that sheds light on how AI can solve some of the biggest challenges in medicine and health care. 

Why you should never stop learning

One of the good things about life is that you may never have to stop learning, with a growing new set of skills and techniques always coming up and at your had to learn and adopt. by doing so, one is pushing to live a life to the fullest, continually looking for ways to improve and stepping out of the so-called "comfort zone", getting the most of learning as a self-growth tool.

And why is that so? Why you should never stop learning?


1. You will become happier | Learning is tough and can be frustrating; this is especially true when talking about taking on new sports like crossfit, or pushing our brain to the limits trying learn how to code. But although new tasks can be hard, nothing is greater than reaching your accomplishment. For highly challenging goals like learning to write software, it is such an amazing feeling when your code works bug free. When we play sports, beating our personal records gives a high like none other.

2. You'll become (almost) irreplaceable to your team | The person who can adapt the most wins; success is most of the times your strengths but about the ability to react and adjust to different situations. If you can only do a couple of tasks, you are limited by your contribution; however, if you can sell, build, code, and run operations among others, you'll become (almost) irreplaceable.

3. You'll stay humble | When we are looking to learn as much as possible, there's less of a chance that we will come off as arrogant. True charmers don't make themselves look smart, they make others look smart. And when people see that you are trying to learn from them, it makes liking you that much easier. Every interaction you have is a chance to learn something.

4. You'll become a great coach | The only way to mastery is through teaching. One of the best feelings in the world is teaching others what you've learned. Not only will it affect the person you're teaching, but also they in turn will teach others.

The “artificial” preceding “intelligence”

We live in an incredible period in history; humans can do things with computers that could never be done before, and computers can do things for humans that could never be done before. Even so, one should not cloud what are the machine's limitations, thinking they can be smarter than humans or that that data mining can identify previously unknown truths, or make discoveries that will revolutionize lives. 

Computers are very good at discovering patterns, but are useless in judging whether the unearthed patterns are sensible because computers do not think the way humans think.

"The AI Delusion" book, by Gary Smith explains why we should not be intimidated into thinking that computers are infallible, that data-mining is knowledge discovery, and that black boxes should be trusted. We fear that super-intelligent machines will decide to protect themselves by enslaving or eliminating humans. But the real danger is not that computers are smarter than us, but that we think computers are smarter than us and, so, trust computers to make important decisions for us.

The adjective “artificial” preceding “intelligence” is a warning that real intelligence is not just carrying out the steps that someone else has coded - only human wisdom can combine with data to produce real insights.

How your brain works in improvisation

Everyday improvisation is about being cognizant of those small moments when you’re dealing with something unplanned or unscripted. Navigating your way to work and having conversations are things you do naturally; but once you frame them within the context of improvisation, it may be easier to build on and leverage that kind of creativity, not unlike how musicians get better at improvising during a set the more times they do it.

Many study results showed that when someone is creating something new, parts of the brain associated with self-expression (language and at times, especially while freestyle rapping, parts associated with visual imagery) are highly active. Although there are many areas of the brain that are quiet during improvisation, several key areas are also highly active. Professional jazz musicians and rappers have practiced for so many hours that the techniques and skills they need to perform successfully become almost automatic. 

This expertise is reflected in their brains while they improvise. This feeling of being in the zone is called a flow state. When one is in a flow state, everything starts “clicking” – the activity can begin to feel effortless, and one forgets or does not notice that any time is passing. Flow states do not only happen during music performances. Playing sports or video games, writing, computer programming, painting, and many other activities can lead to flow states. All of these activities require training to gain expertise. Once you have honed a hard-to-master skill, you may perform best when you begin to feel the flow, ie, when the parts of your brain that critique and criticize are muted.



Read more about The Neuroscience of Improvisation at Dana Foundation

Do you really need goals?

How many times have you heard that if you want to succeed, you need to set goals ? That without goals you lack focus and direction? That goal setting not only allows you to take control of your life's direction as it also provides you a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding


It’s true that decades of research show that goals can get you to work harder, focus more and perform better. But they also can kill your creativity, make you more likely to cheat, and less likely to thrive.  To focus on outcome alone feeds people into a hamster-wheel mentality, as Bhagavad Gita (the fundamental Hindu text) communicates + 2000 years ago -  “Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.”

So, yes do set your goals ... but focus on the process and not on the outcome alone; focusing on your behaviors is key on how you achieve goals.

Engineers translate brain signals directly into speech

This advance marks critical step toward brain-computer interfaces that hold immense promise for those with limited or no ability to speak

In a scientific first, Columbia neuroengineers have created a system that translates thought into intelligible, recognizable speech. By monitoring someone's brain activity, the technology can reconstruct the words a person hears with unprecedented clarity. This breakthrough, which harnesses the power of speech synthesizers and artificial intelligence, could lead to new ways for computers to communicate directly with the brain. It also lays the groundwork for helping people who cannot speak, such as those living with as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or recovering from stroke, regain their ability to communicate with the outside world.

Read the full article here:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190129081919.htm

Want to excel? Get a coach !

How important is coaching to and to your organization? Do you coach your direct reports? Would you like all managers and leaders in your company to coach more often and in more effective ways? Could good coaching solve a performance and other deficiencies in your workplace? And in your life?

How is it possible to improve in the face of complexity?

Atul Gawande (American surgeon, writer and public health researcher) studied this question with a surgeon's precision and in this TED Talk he shares what he's found to be the key: having a good coach to provide a more accurate picture of our reality, to instill positive habits of thinking, and to break our actions down and then help us build them back up again. 

"It's not how good you are now; it's how good you're going to be that really matters," says Gawande.