Updates
I do plan on writing articles that are more than newsletters and have a few in the pipeline. Be sure to be on the lookout for those.
Thanks everyone who sent me links and recommendations this week. If you stumble across something interesting, send it my way! You can send any recommendations to links@houstonp.com.
Books
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari - I've enjoyed Yuval's other books, and this one is no different. He hits on important topics that we are dealing with right now. It gave me a lot to think about. Highly recommend.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson - I'm not in a hurry, but this was enjoyable. I love reading about the universe, and Degrasse Tyson explains concepts in a approachable and passionate way.
Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking - Hawking will be missed, and this book gives you a good explanation why. I liked this book more than Degrasse Tyson's. Hawking hits on a broader set of topics, and the depth is a little deeper.
Start With Why by Simon Sinek - I've been told to read this book a few times, but it was difficult to get through. I'm not a fan of Sinek and how he explains things. His reasoning and explanations are too perfectly wrapped with a bow. He conflates an organization's “why” with its culture, its brand, and its founders. He calls his crowning insight “The Golden Circle,” and it screams of snake oil.
Find Your Why by Simon Sinek - I thought I would give Sinek the benefit of the doubt and try another of his books about “why.” I'm not convinced. “You can only have one why.” and “You develop your why in your late teens.” are just a couple of items he says that don't sit well with me. Contemplating about your past, those that influenced you, and why you've gone down a certain path in your career are valuable exercises, but take everything else with a grain of salt.
Another week. Another five books. You should read everything by Yuval if you haven't.
Podcasts
Some extraordinary episodes from this week:
Breaking the Black Box - Rework - If there is one thing you listen to this week, it should be this. Machine learning and data analytics have many consequences and risks associated with implicit bias. Practitioners should be extremely cautious and conscious of these risks when developing insights and analysis.
Solution to a Stalled Technical Career - HOF 2019 - Manager Tools - This episode reminds me of What Got You Here Won't Get You There. They go on to talk about three types of influence: positional, expertise, and relational. I tend to agree with what they say. Managers who try to influence based on their position or expertise are bound to stall in their career as relationships become more and more important.
The Creative Curve - Not So Standard Deviations
Capitalism on Trial in Chile - The Daily - A brief summary of what is going on down in Santiago, it provides a lot of historical context that I think is important to understand what the underlying problems in the country are.
The Siege of Mecca - Throughline - Speaking of context, I think it's so important to understand the context of how we got to now. I never knew this siege happened, and it adds a lot of value to understand what's going on in Saudi Arabia and the middle east.
Why is Software so Bad? - Akimbo - I usually like Seth's take on things, but I thing he's missed this one. What is important in software has changed over the years, and comparing current software to the past misses a lot of that. I wonder if others agree with him?
Daniel Ek - The Future of Audio - Invest Like the Best
Back to Agile's Basics - The Changelog - It's unfortunate how obfuscated Agile has become. Consultants have hooked on to it and destroyed the fundamentals of what it is trying to solve. The word has become almost meaningless at this point.
Stillness is the Key - EntreLeadership - I especially liked his JFK example.
Videos
Nothing new this week.
Articles
We Teach A.I. Systems Everything, Including Our Biases - Enough said.
Researchers say computer systems are learning from lots and lots of digitized books and news articles that could bake old attitudes into new technology.
The Importance Of Centralization Of Actuarial Modeling Functions, Part 1: Focus On Modularization And Reuse - I could rant on this for some time and may do a write up at some point in the future. Bryon hits on software engineers having already solved a lot of actuarial modeling's problems, but I think he misses the mark on the rest. This is a fundamental problem with actuarial modeling software that can't be solved with organizational rearranging.
Fed Says $500 Billion in Losses Show the Economic Threat of Climate Change - Climate change is a crisis we can't ignore whether we like it or not. The risk extends to all aspects of society and the world.
FinTech in Financial Inclusion: Machine Learning Applications in Assessing Credit Risk - This is a good overview of machine learning methods and ways to evaluate credit, but I can't help but be nervous about the implications.
Hues and Views - Language is a fundamental aspect of who we are as humans. It influences our reality in ways you may not realize. I often bring this up with people after learning about it in a communications class.
The Google Squeeze - A company (or person) that relies on another company's algorithm as a major source of revenue is at the will of that algorithm.
DevOps tech: Trunk-based development - A trunk-based development approach is always my initial recommendation for those wondering how to develop and deploy software.
The Dark Psychology of Social Networks - Echo chambers and algorithms abound on social media, and I wonder if the cons outweigh the pros of social networks.
How to turn the complex mathematics of vector calculus into simple pictures - A lot of vector calculus is over my head, but reducing complexity by using pictures – really cool stuff.
Why scientists need to be better at data visualization - Visualizations are important in science, and the same is true for business.
The scientific literature is riddled with bad charts and graphs, leading to misunderstanding and worse. Avoiding design missteps can improve understanding of research.
It's Not Sabotage, They're Drowning - This is helpful for everyone to keep in mind.
European Investment Bank to phase out fossil fuel financing - I love this. More companies need to put their money where their mouth is. You vote with your wallet, and asset managers, pension funds, investment banks, etc. have a large wallet.
Neutrinos Lead to Unexpected Discovery in Basic Math - Anyone who took a linear algebra class in college can understand how big of a deal this is. Interesting to note how it has probably been discovered before. It makes you wonder how many other discoveries are just waiting to be rediscovered.
Mind of a Mathematician - A brief biography of Terrance Tao is well worth the read.
How to Transform a ‘Big, Old’ Company into an Agile Digital Business - The big items I agree with in this article are the what it is not: 1. It's not IT architecture. 2. It's not restructuring. 3. It's not an end state.
Don’t Take Their Word For It: The Misclassification of Bond Mutual Funds - Yikes.
We provide evidence that mutual fund managers misclassify their holdings, and that these misclassifications have a real and significant impact on investor capital flows.
renv: Project Environments for R - I've been watching this get developed on GitHub, and it's really exciting to see it released on CRAN now. Anyone who wants to have reproducible environments in R should take a look.
AI Doesn’t Actually Exist Yet - 1000% this.
Many businesses claim they’re using it, but they’re kidding themselves—and they’re kidding you, too
The Only Sure Thing In Software Engineering
Floating point oddity and Just evaluating a polynomial: how hard could it be?- Not enough actuaries understand the complications and risks associated with floating points.
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers - Actuarial students take note.
That's it for this week. Again, if you have anything you want to share or have any comments, shoot me an email at links@houstonp.com.