Sat.Jan 02, 2021

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The art of “Back Casting” needs care

Paul Hobcraft

Backcasting is a planning method that starts with defining a desirable future and then works backwards to identify policies and programs that will connect that specified future to the present. The fundamentals of the method were outlined by John B. Robinson from the University of Waterloo in 1990. The fundamental question of backcasting asks: “if we want to attain a certain goal, what actions must be taken to get there?

System 280
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These 2 guys have found a way to make leather out of cactus

Idea to Value

Leather is a luxurious material, but it is also one of the most resource-intensive and pollution-rich materials in the fashion industry. These two Entrepreneurs from Mexico are trying to change that, with a new way to produce vegan leather from cactuses. While most faux-leather is made from plastic, their leather is made from a patented way of drying and treating cactus plant material.

Resources 198
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An Ethics Crisis in 2020 – Here Is To A Better 2021

Phil McKinney

Given the esteem and trust we grant scientists and innovators, how could this happen? How could research fraud, falsified data, and unproven conclusions result in 1,800 papers in leading journals and peer review articles being retracted in 2020? And this is not an anomaly. [1] Two decades ago, journals were retracting roughly 40 papers per […].

Data 80
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#2,051 – 2021 Breakthrough Nominee: vTubers

Greatest. Idea. Ever.

One of the ways that my life changed the most in 2020 was starting a new routine of watching YouTube before going to bed thanks to my discovery of ASMR videos that help me fall asleep. Before that I never really watched anything on YouTube, not crazy cat videos, Dude Perfect trick shots, unboxing videos, or gaming streams. Nothing. And just when I was learning the lay of the land a disruptive new trend comes along that could change everything: vTubers.

Video 56
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Peak Performance: Continuous Testing & Evaluation of LLM-Based Applications

Speaker: Aarushi Kansal, AI Leader & Author and Tony Karrer, Founder & CTO at Aggregage

Software leaders who are building applications based on Large Language Models (LLMs) often find it a challenge to achieve reliability. It’s no surprise given the non-deterministic nature of LLMs. To effectively create reliable LLM-based (often with RAG) applications, extensive testing and evaluation processes are crucial. This often ends up involving meticulous adjustments to prompts.

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20 IS PLENTY: Breakthrough Thinking for the Time-Crunched

Idea Champions

THIS JUST IN! You don't have the time to read this. We know it. You know it. And all the marketing bots know it. Which is why I'm going to cut to the chase. Your lack of time is really not a problem. For us, at Brainstorm Champions , it's simply the current reality. When in Rome. Hey, if Twitter can become the preferred communication platform for 330 million people, we can figure out how to deliver our breakthrough thinking services in bite-sized pieces.

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#2,052 – 2021 Breakthrough Nominee: Aurora 21

Greatest. Idea. Ever.

There is a lot of hope right now that 2021 will be better than 2020. It certainly can’t be much worse. But aside from wishful thinking there is a concrete reason for optimism: the launch of a new scientific endeavor, a new kind of supercomputer that aims to map the human brain and solve some of the hardest problems in modern day science. As Big Think puts it: “Between your ears lies a miracle of nature, with more connections than our galaxy has stars.

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