AFP Share on Twitter (opens new window) Share on Facebook (opens new window) Share on LinkedIn (opens new window) Share on Whatsapp (opens new window) Save to myFT Save to myFT Jonathan Derbyshire November 8, 2017 Print this page Experimental feature Listen to this article Play audio for this article Pause 00:00 00:00 Experimental feature Report a mispronounced word What was mispronounced? Optional: help us by adding the time Submit Thank you for your help! or Give us your feedback Thank you for your feedback. What do you think? Ill use it in the future I dont think Ill use it Please tell us why (optional) Send Feedback This article is from todays FT Opinion email. Sign up to receive a daily digest of the big issues straight to your inbox.The heady days of breathless enthusiasm about the Brics, the worlds major emerging economies, seem like a distant memory at least where Brazil is concerned. An increasingly confident and assertive China is, of course, another matter.Martin Wolf argues in his column that Brazil teeters on the edge of economic, political and moral crisis. A series of political scandals that have engulfed a third of the members of the current cabinet, as well as the president and leaders of the other main political parties, form the backdrop to a worryingly anaemic economic performance.The bald numbers tell an alarming story: income inequality in Brazil remains among the highest in the world; growth is sluggish, lagging behind less vaunted economies in the region such as Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Chile; and total factor productivity a measure of the rate of innovation has been falling since the turn of the century.But, as the saying goes, you should never let a crisis go to waste. Brazil, Martin insists, should seize the opportunity to enact lasting change. This is easier said than done, however. The reforms required are political as well as fiscal (although the weight of the structural deficit shouldnt be downplayed) and its not clear that either of the politicians currently leading the polls former president Luiz Incio Lula da Silva and rightwing populist Jair Bolsonaro is capable of delivering them. Where, one wonders, is Brazils Emmanuel Macron?Energy costs of the bitcoin bubble: As the price of bitcoin rises above $7,000 and a major derivatives exchange plans to launch bitcoin futures, Izabella Kaminska examines the environmental costs of using the cryptocurrency. As bitcoin mutates from a medium of exchange into a price-defying asset class, the more expensive and energy-intensive it becomes to maintain. Is it worth the candle?Britains post-Brexit bind on trade: Alan Beattie runs the rule over a new report from the Legatum Institute, the governments favourite think-tank, on Britains pathway to prosperity. The UK may want to remake global trade regulations in its own image, but the reality is that it will likely find itself squeezed between regulatory behemoths on either side of the Atlantic.High stakes in Saudi Arabia: The reforming ambitions of Mohammed bin Salman, heir to the Saudi throne, are vast, writes Roula Khalaf. But its hard to see how the young pretender will be able to achieve his domestic goals at the same time as running a more aggressive foreign policy.Best of the restNever mind fake news, this is fake government Alex Massie in the Spectator despairs of the chaos in Theresa Mays cabinetThe Paradise Papers Hacking and the Consequences of Privacy Jake Bernstein in the New York Times says the revelations about the murky world of offshore finance draw attention to the fuzzy boundary between privacy and secrecyBrowns greatest hits are eclipsed by his endless grudge against Blair Polly Toynbee in the Guardian argues that Gordon Browns new memoir shows the best and worst of the man who claimed to have saved the world at the height of the global financial crisisDont let the flame of Kurdistan go out writing in Le Monde, Anne Hidalgo, Bernard-Henri Levy and others denounce the indifference of the west to the predicament of the KurdsBrits dont appreciate being damned by a Yankee Alice Thomson in the Times takes issue with a recent op-ed in the New York Times describing Britain as a country in the throes of a controlled suicideWhat youve been sayingMembership of the EEA is clearly the inferior option letter from Hugo Dixon in LondonIt might still be sensible to take Mr Mnchaus advice if the chance of staying in the EEA was much greater than staying in the EU. But its not. Both would require a massive change in government policy, triggered by a change in public opinion. If the voters do change their mind, and there are some signs that they are starting to, much better to go the whole hog and reverse Brexit.Comment from Scouse 1 on Janan Ganeshs article, Britain is overexposed to its ruling classIn 1485 upstarts seized control from a despot and the remnants of the Normans. They immediately imitated the former rulers, their caste succumbed too the upstarts of Cromwell and his gang. Later we saw a nascent English elite take control of the German George. Thus we saw a return to imitation of the Normans. We saw the rise of the Heath-Thatcher middle class elite. We have now we have seen the Blair-Mandelson-Prescott elite change to Boris-Diane Abbott upstarts. All imitating the former Establishment. God help the United Kingdom in the years post 2020.A way to solve the Catalan crisis and strengthen the EU at the same time letter from Prof Wolfgang Danspeckgruber in New JerseyMost importantly, Spain has to begin a meaningful dialogue initiative on all levels of society, taking care to include the next generation, opinion leaders, business and finance, academia, the church and the crown. Only by erasing misconceptions, misunderstandings and ignorance on all sides will it be possible to seriously address the grievances at hand and to turn the current negative dynamics into a positive and forward-looking development for all Spaniards, the region and the EU.Todays opinionWhy Brazils crisis creates an opportunityThe country needs a programme of comprehensive economic and fiscal reformSaudi crown princes purge extends into LebanonMbSs intervention could pave the way to war against HizbollahFree Lunch: Why the Paradise Papers matterOffshore finance makes it easier to hide wealth in plain sightInstant Insight: Italys centre right draws hope from elections in SicilyBut a rightwing alliance would need a coalition for national rule, writes Tony BarberBritains post-Brexit bind on tradeThe UK is likely to find itself squeezed by both the EU and US on regulationFT Alphaville: Greeces membership of the euro is still tenuousInstant Insight: Rupert Murdoch entertains a retreat to the news businessSelling film and TV assets of 21st Century Fox could disrupt family succession, writes John GapperSaudi Arabias crown prince plays for high stakesThe reform ambitions are so vast that they are colliding with each otherThe environmental costs of bitcoin are not worth the candleTo make the cryptocurrency more sustainable, vested interests would have to be confrontedFT ViewFT View: Brexit Britains slapdash approach to foreign policyTheresa May is struggling to bring her undisciplined cabinet into lineFT View: Why debt and equity should be taxed the same wayThe Republican tax plan takes a tentative step more is neededThe Big ReadThe Big Read: Sri Lanka counts high cost of war and peace President Sirisena is accused of backsliding on pledge to heal countrys damaged reputation Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2018. All rights reserved. Show Comments Follow the topics in this article Jonathan Derbyshire Add to myFT Opinion Add to myFT Promoted Content

AFP Share on Twitter (opens new window) Share on Facebook (opens new window) Share on LinkedIn (opens new window) Share on Whatsapp (opens new window) Save to myFT Save to myFT Jonathan Derbyshire November 8, 2017 Print this page Experimental feature Listen to this article Play audio for this article Pause 00:00 00:00 Experimental feature Report a mispronounced word What was mispronounced? Optional: help us by adding the time Submit Thank you for your help! or Give us your feedback Thank you for your feedback. What do you think? Ill use it in the future I dont think Ill use it Please tell us why (optional) Send Feedback This article is from todays FT Opinion email. Sign up to receive a daily digest of the big issues straight to your inbox.The heady days of breathless enthusiasm about the Brics, the worlds major emerging economies, seem like a distant memory at least where Brazil is concerned. An increasingly confident and assertive China is, of course, another matter.Martin Wolf argues in his column that Brazil teeters on the edge of economic, political and moral crisis. A series of political scandals that have engulfed a third of the members of the current cabinet, as well as the president and leaders of the other main political parties, form the backdrop to a worryingly anaemic economic performance.The bald numbers tell an alarming story: income inequality in Brazil remains among the highest in the world; growth is sluggish, lagging behind less vaunted economies in the region such as Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Chile; and total factor productivity a measure of the rate of innovation has been falling since the turn of the century.But, as the saying goes, you should never let a crisis go to waste. Brazil, Martin insists, should seize the opportunity to enact lasting change. This is easier said than done, however. The reforms required are political as well as fiscal (although the weight of the structural deficit shouldnt be downplayed) and its not clear that either of the politicians currently leading the polls former president Luiz Incio Lula da Silva and rightwing populist Jair Bolsonaro is capable of delivering them. Where, one wonders, is Brazils Emmanuel Macron?Energy costs of the bitcoin bubble: As the price of bitcoin rises above $7,000 and a major derivatives exchange plans to launch bitcoin futures, Izabella Kaminska examines the environmental costs of using the cryptocurrency. As bitcoin mutates from a medium of exchange into a price-defying asset class, the more expensive and energy-intensive it becomes to maintain. Is it worth the candle?Britains post-Brexit bind on trade: Alan Beattie runs the rule over a new report from the Legatum Institute, the governments favourite think-tank, on Britains pathway to prosperity. The UK may want to remake global trade regulations in its own image, but the reality is that it will likely find itself squeezed between regulatory behemoths on either side of the Atlantic.High stakes in Saudi Arabia: The reforming ambitions of Mohammed bin Salman, heir to the Saudi throne, are vast, writes Roula Khalaf. But its hard to see how the young pretender will be able to achieve his domestic goals at the same time as running a more aggressive foreign policy.Best of the restNever mind fake news, this is fake government Alex Massie in the Spectator despairs of the chaos in Theresa Mays cabinetThe Paradise Papers Hacking and the Consequences of Privacy Jake Bernstein in the New York Times says the revelations about the murky world of offshore finance draw attention to the fuzzy boundary between privacy and secrecyBrowns greatest hits are eclipsed by his endless grudge against Blair Polly Toynbee in the Guardian argues that Gordon Browns new memoir shows the best and worst of the man who claimed to have saved the world at the height of the global financial crisisDont let the flame of Kurdistan go out writing in Le Monde, Anne Hidalgo, Bernard-Henri Levy and others denounce the indifference of the west to the predicament of the KurdsBrits dont appreciate being damned by a Yankee Alice Thomson in the Times takes issue with a recent op-ed in the New York Times describing Britain as a country in the throes of a controlled suicideWhat youve been sayingMembership of the EEA is clearly the inferior option letter from Hugo Dixon in LondonIt might still be sensible to take Mr Mnchaus advice if the chance of staying in the EEA was much greater than staying in the EU. But its not. Both would require a massive change in government policy, triggered by a change in public opinion. If the voters do change their mind, and there are some signs that they are starting to, much better to go the whole hog and reverse Brexit.Comment from Scouse 1 on Janan Ganeshs article, Britain is overexposed to its ruling classIn 1485 upstarts seized control from a despot and the remnants of the Normans. They immediately imitated the former rulers, their caste succumbed too the upstarts of Cromwell and his gang. Later we saw a nascent English elite take control of the German George. Thus we saw a return to imitation of the Normans. We saw the rise of the Heath-Thatcher middle class elite. We have now we have seen the Blair-Mandelson-Prescott elite change to Boris-Diane Abbott upstarts. All imitating the former Establishment. God help the United Kingdom in the years post 2020.A way to solve the Catalan crisis and strengthen the EU at the same time letter from Prof Wolfgang Danspeckgruber in New JerseyMost importantly, Spain has to begin a meaningful dialogue initiative on all levels of society, taking care to include the next generation, opinion leaders, business and finance, academia, the church and the crown. Only by erasing misconceptions, misunderstandings and ignorance on all sides will it be possible to seriously address the grievances at hand and to turn the current negative dynamics into a positive and forward-looking development for all Spaniards, the region and the EU.Todays opinionWhy Brazils crisis creates an opportunityThe country needs a programme of comprehensive economic and fiscal reformSaudi crown princes purge extends into LebanonMbSs intervention could pave the way to war against HizbollahFree Lunch: Why the Paradise Papers matterOffshore finance makes it easier to hide wealth in plain sightInstant Insight: Italys centre right draws hope from elections in SicilyBut a rightwing alliance would need a coalition for national rule, writes Tony BarberBritains post-Brexit bind on tradeThe UK is likely to find itself squeezed by both the EU and US on regulationFT Alphaville: Greeces membership of the euro is still tenuousInstant Insight: Rupert Murdoch entertains a retreat to the news businessSelling film and TV assets of 21st Century Fox could disrupt family succession, writes John GapperSaudi Arabias crown prince plays for high stakesThe reform ambitions are so vast that they are colliding with each otherThe environmental costs of bitcoin are not worth the candleTo make the cryptocurrency more sustainable, vested interests would have to be confrontedFT ViewFT View: Brexit Britains slapdash approach to foreign policyTheresa May is struggling to bring her undisciplined cabinet into lineFT View: Why debt and equity should be taxed the same wayThe Republican tax plan takes a tentative step more is neededThe Big ReadThe Big Read: Sri Lanka counts high cost of war and peace President Sirisena is accused of backsliding on pledge to heal countrys damaged reputation Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2018. All rights reserved. Show Comments Follow the topics in this article Jonathan Derbyshire Add to myFT Opinion Add to myFT Promoted Content

The average number of Bitcoin transactions per block reached an all-time high of over 2,700 transactions on Mar. 29. These figures have not been seen since the peak of the cryptocurrency market in December of 2017.Average Bitcoin transactions per block represent how many transactions are included in each 2 MB block, on average, in a given day. Assuming an average transaction occupies 570 bytes of data, then a block can contain approximately 3,500 transactions, given the 2 MB limit.Bitcoin transactions per block now at all time high. 🚀 We’re taking over. pic.twitter.com/1QELlRWWnw— Jacob Canfield 🔰 (Official Account) (@JacobCanfield) April 7, 2019On Mar. 31, 2018, the figure hit a three-year low of 830 transactions per block. Average transactions have been trending up since.Then, on Mar. 23, average Bitcoin transactions per block shot up from 1,500 to 2,700, an increase of 80 percent.The sudden increase could signal increasing bitcoin adoption, but it is more likely to stem from growing trading-related transactions. As trading volumes increased from $4.3 billion on Jan. 1 to $16.7 billion on Apr. 7th (based on CoinMarketCap data) transaction volumes followed.Moreover, the more recent uptick appears related to the sudden increase in bitcoin prices, which again impacts trading volume.The average transactions per block do not include transactions conducted over the Lightning Network. As such, the number of transactions facilitated by Bitcoin could be much higher, especially considering that the Lightning Network has also seen steady month-over-month growth.As Bitcoin blocks approach saturation, then the transaction fees per block will undoubtedly increase. A rise in fees has already been seen with average daily fees going from $0.20 to over $1.00 per transaction.Bitcoin, currently ranked #1 by market cap, is up 0.39% over the past 24 hours. BTC has a market cap of $91.2B with a 24 hour volume of $17.16B.Commitment to Transparency: The author of this article is invested and/or has an interest in one or more assets discussed in this post. CryptoSlate does not endorse any project or asset that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Please take that into consideration when evaluating the content within this article.Disclaimer: Our writers’ opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post…Sparkswap Raises $3.5 Million From Initialized, Pantera for Lightning-Powered DEXMatic Network (MTX): IEO Review and Rating Ahead of Token Sale (Binance Launchpad)5 Reasons Why China’s Proposed Ban on Bitcoin Mining Could Kill BitmainScotland: Man Jailed after Using Bitcoin to Buy Handgun on Dark WebSaudi Arabia Won’t Bow to Trump’s ‘Crude’ Jabs Until After Aramco IPOWhat Are The Top Bitcoin & Crypto Hardware Wallets?Dow Plunges After Trump Unleashes $11 Billion Tariff ThreatYin Wu is the founder of Dirt Protocol, a protocol for decentralized information curation that aims to organize the world’s data and make it freely accessible.The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.In 2018, the promise of a decentralized future fell apart.The most widely used dapps have a few thousand daily users and a study of 43 blockchain applications found a zero percent success rate. With so much funding and talent in the space, why do we have so little success to show?There is a broken process for building and launching blockchains applications today. Rather than working within an low-risk environment that supports iterations and learning, blockchain companies follow a playbook that stacks the odds against their success. By pre-selling a product before it is built, projects set themselves up to failure with unrealistically high user expectations on their V1.Moving forward, this approach to building creates three problems:With so little to show from 2018, we have to change how products are incubated and tested. For a better 2019, we can take lessons from how successful technology companies are built and apply them to the blockchain space.Many blockchain projects that pitched a future of decentralization just a year ago are realizing you cannot find mass market success by preaching a philosophy alone. Open-source projects as an alternative to closed, centralized networks are nothing new. It has been tried before with Diaspora vs Facebook, Mastodon vs Twitter and DuckDuckGo vs Google.The takeaway from these projects is the same: openness and decentralization only matter to developers.Blockchain applications need to go back to basics and ask the question of who is the user and what is their problem. Bitcoin created a way for darknet users to exchange funds online. Ethereum allows developers to run a script on a decentralized computer. IPFS is a way to store censorship data.No crypto-economic incentive is strong enough to overcome a missing use-case.Facebook released the newsfeed to overwhelming negative public response. Apple product launches have all been met with the same media reaction: too expensive to succeed. Netflix moved to streaming and lost over a million customers in the transition.Some of the most important product decisions that seem obvious in hindsight were controversial at the time. For crypto projects, a vocal community can be the biggest asset or biggest liability. Listen to your users but filter the feedback. Don’t give your users what they ask for; give them what they want.There is an mistaken perception in crypto that the idea is the most important part of success. So, we see teams focusing on white papers and delaying the launch for years. But what we have learned from how successful technology startups are built is that a good idea is only the beginning.Two markets with runaway success in 2018 were exchanges (e.g. Binance) and mining hardware (e.g. Bitmain). Binance went from zero to over $1 billion in revenue in under a year. ASIC mining efficiency for bitcoin has increased by over 10 times. In the same year, no decentralized application has seen mainstream success.The product development cycle for building smart contracts and decentralized networks is excessively slow because the high risks of mistakes are too high (e.g. Parity wallet hacks). Rather than launching and learning from user feedback, teams iterate in isolation and delay the valuable learnings that come from real users. Moving forward, projects should launch earlier and smaller. Test the product with a small group of users, get feedback, and iterate.Despite a 2018 with few signs of success, I am optimistic about the year ahead.As seen in the dot-com bubble and burst, bear markets are some of the best times to collect talent and build. That said, as Einstein said, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post…China’s plans to ban bitcoin mining could not have come at a worse time for Bitmain. Once seemingly indomitable, Bitmain is now in a precarious phase.In the past couple of months, the bitcoin mining hardware giant has not only reported a $500 million loss after a couple of years of consistently making profits but also failed in a bid to get publically listed.Though recent leadership changes have given rise to hopes that the Bitmain ship could be steered back into the right track, reports that China is planning to ban cryptocurrency mining comes as a big blow.Here is why Bitmain’s senior management will likely spend sleepless nights for the foreseeable future:Despite a 2017 ban on cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings, China has been the world’s biggest market for bitcoin mining hardware.With the potential ban on cryptocurrency mining in the world’s second-largest economy, sales of Bitmain’s mining hardware are certain to fall. Bitmain has been diversifying lately but the bulk of its revenues still comes from selling bitcoin miners.As part of the plans of righting the ship, Bitmain was on the verge of making a serious cryptocurrency mining investment in China. With China possessing one of the cheapest electricity across the globe, this was a no-brainer.Electricity cost around the world | Source: StatistaSpecifically, Bitmain intended to put up 200,000 units of crypto mining hardware in China at a cost between $80 million and $100 million.News of the ban will, however, derail these plans and Bitmain will have to scour other locations for cheap electricity. Or cancel its expansion plans altogether.In what can only be referred to as unfortunate timing, the restructuring that Bitmain has been undergoing in the past few months have seen it reduce its global footprint as it focused on its domestic operations.This included suspending operations in Texas and by extension a $0.5 billion investment. The investment would have turned the Lone Star State facility into the largest cryptocurrency mining operation in the United States.Similarly, Bitmain also scaled back its operations in the Netherlands earlier in the year. And last year in December, Bitmain shut down a development center located in Israel.As Bitmain was awaiting the decision of its unsuccessful public listing bid, Charles Li Xiaojia, the CEO of the Hong Kong stock exchange where Bitmain was planning to list warned that consistency and sustainability were key to a successful process.‘Be Sustainable’: Hong Kong Stock Exchange CEO Scoffs at Crypto Giant Bitmain’s IPO Attempt https://t.co/1weg5JysDzNow with the threat of losing its largest market in one fell swoop, Bitmain’s chances of an IPO have been put into even more doubt. This is because the ban has only drawn attention to the uncertainty and precariousness of the business Bitmain is in.In war and in business, the enemy never sleeps. Even as Bitmain has been scaling back, its Chinese rivals have been doing the opposite.Ebang, one of Bitmain’s Chinese rivals has already announced plans to expand dramatically this year. Ebang is scheduled to manufacture over 400,000 blockchain processing units in 2019.Canaan Creative, on the other hand, has been busy looking for funding, no doubt both to finance growth and operations. Per the Securities Times, Canaan Creative recently raised several hundred million dollars.So is it all doom and gloom for Bitmain? Not really. On the plus side, this could be a good thing for the bitcoin mining giant. The ban could drive the price of bitcoin up and therefore raise interest in cryptocurrency mining. That would boost mining hardware sales. Bitmain will, however, have to fight harder in the market in the face of emboldened rivals.Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post…SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, is laying off 10 percent of its 6,000-employee workforce. The layoffs are part of a move to streamline the business and cut costs.“SpaceX must become a leaner company,” President Gwynne Shotwell wrote in a Friday email. The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.This means we must part ways with some talented and hardworking members of our team. This action is taken only due to the extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead and would not otherwise be necessary.The company is providing a minimum of eight weeks’ pay and other benefits to the fired workers.Elon Musk — the billionaire founder of electric-car company Tesla — launched SpaceX in 2002 to make space travel accessible to everyday people. In addition, SpaceX’s goal is to colonize Mars.Equidate’s Robert Hilmer says SpaceX is one of the most valuable private companies in the world, with the potential to raise an “unlimited amount” of capital.“SpaceX is one of [the most] popular pre-IPO tech companies globally,” Hilmer told CNBC.Everywhere I travel around the world, investors of all types — individuals, family offices, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds or private equity — want to get into SpaceX.Meanwhile, Musk is taking the downsizing in stride.He has not commented on the layoffs, preferring instead to focus on upcoming space launches.Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the @SpaceX Texas launch site. This is an actual picture, not a rendering. pic.twitter.com/k1HkueoXazThe South African business mogul is more concerned that SpaceX’s newest test flight rocket has a cool, aerodynamic design.“Obv must be more pointy tho,” Musk tweeted, in reference to the tip of the rocket.Musk is an unwitting media darling who generates countless headlines. In August 2018, Musk stirred a volcanic backlash from Tesla investors after tweeting that he might take his car company private.Weeks later, the SEC sued Musk for securities fraud, claiming his errant tweet caused Tesla stock to spike 6 percent that day. Shareholders were enraged when Tesla shares abruptly tanked in the following days.The debacle forced Musk to step down as chairman in September 2018 and pay a $20 million fine to the SEC.Despite being a technophile, Elon Musk does not own crypto, as CCN reported.“I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from .25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago,” Musk confessed on Twitter.In November 2017, Musk denied speculation that he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. A former SpaceX intern inadvertently started the rumor with a blog post.Sahil Gupta wrote at Medium: “Satoshi is probably Elon.”Elon is a self-taught polymath. He’s repeatedly innovated across fields by reading books on a subject and applying the knowledge.It’s how he built rockets, invented the Hyperloop (which he released to the world as a paper), and could have invented Bitcoin.Musk responded by denying that he invented Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has never been confirmed.A group of banks in India has begun to issue warnings to customers threatening to close their accounts in the event that they are found to have performed acts involving the use of cryptocurrencies.According to a tweet published by Indian CryptoGirl, the banks that have issued the warnings indicate that they have done so in order to comply with regulations issued by the Royal Bank of India (the country’s central bank). One of the tweets shows how the RBI has compelled banks to close the accounts of any user of cryptocurrency in what seems to be a move to indirectly ban them:“As per RBI vide its circular RBI/2017-18/154 DBR.No.BP.CP 104 /08.13.102/2017-18 dated April 6, 2018, regulator has mandated Banks to close the accounts of customers who had undertaken transactions in virtual currency / Bit coins (sic) any time during the tenure of the account & that Banks shall not deal in Virtual Currencies or provide services for facilitating any person or entity in dealing with or settling virtual currencies. These services include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges dealing with them and transfer/receipt of money in accounts relating to purchase / sale of virtual currencies”.If a person is found to have been involved in any of the businesses mentioned in the quotation, the bank will close the account 30 days after the user has been notified. Once this period has elapsed, the user will not be able to withdraw or use their funds.“We noticed you did a transaction involving crypto, hence, we will close your account within 30 days”P.S: Glad they’re doing it for me pic.twitter.com/JIWzeU54i5— Indian CryptoGirl (@DesiCryptoHodlr) January 12, 2019Another of the tweets shows a disclaimer by a bank forcing users to accept a clause declaring that they will not carry out any type of transaction in cryptocurrencies, recognizing the right of the bank to close their accounts “without further intimation” should it be determined that they failed to comply with that stipulation:Banks in India are now saying they will now close customers’ accounts if they deal in cryptocurrencies.These legacy institutions fear what they can’t control, but people should be allowed to do whatever they want with their wealth.Long Bitcoin, Short the Bankers! pic.twitter.com/vvjniodaiLThe measure appears to be an effort by the state to avoid the use of cryptocurrencies. Although the Supreme Court of India ordered the clarification of a government stance regarding cryptocurrencies -which are not entirely illegal- there is still a regulatory void that allows situations like this to happen as the government failed to comply with the Court’s order.Finally! The crypto matter came up for hearing in court today & Supreme court has asked Govt. to file an affidavit related to the findings of the crypto committee set up by them. They’re supposed to submit this within 2 weeks. Things are getting interesting! #isupportcrypto— Nischal (WazirX) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) October 25, 2018Let’s wait and watch about the situation. Crypto isn’t illegal in India currently so there’s nothing to worry about. Hoping we get a favorable outcome from the court case.— Nischal (WazirX) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) October 25, 2018Donald Trump has been doing his best to wage war on the rising oil price, but the president is struggling with the fact that strong US growth is a natural boost to crude.However, there is another thorn in his side – Saudi Arabia-led OPEC, who have been keen to limit supply. Given that state-owned Aramco is gradually opening to global investors, it seems unlikely that Mohammed Bin Salman and Khalid Al-Falih will want to let oil production off the leash anytime soon.The US might be the world’s biggest individual producer, but Saudi Arabia still casts a large shadow over the bulk of the crude supply. Aramco’s recent bond sale is part of the crown prince’s efforts to gradually open up the Saudi economy. It was a tremendous success, raising around $60 billion.Due to the need for an audit to raise debt, Aramco is now officially the world’s most profitable company. The rabid demand for the bond could spur Saudi Arabia to accelerate its plans for the long-awaited Aramco IPO.While Aramco is slowly prepping for that IPO, the oil price surge couldn’t be better for the Saudis – or worse for Trump.President Trump would love for oil prices to fall to help support his agricultural voter base and juice the economy with additional economic stimulus. However, Aramco has no incentive to open the taps. Analysts rave about the raging success of the bond sale with oil above $60 a barrel. Imagine how much money Aramco would be worth in an IPO if crude prices continued to rise from here.Crude oil has steadily climbed throughout 2019. | Source: Yahoo FinanceTrump might eventually succeed in his bid to reduce the cost of oil, but Aramco will likely massage prices until an IPO date is chosen. Given that this might not be until 2021, he might be waiting a while – and might not even be in office when it happens.If President Trump intends to lower the oil price, he would be better served encouraging Saudi Arabia to move up the IPO. Until the kingdom secures the funds for Aramco’s sale, they would be crazy to do anything to dent crude. Only time will tell if Trump’s upgrades to US pipeline infrastructure will be able to keep WTI under wraps.Prices continue to soar, and it doesn’t look like OPEC will be “increasing the flow of oil” anytime soon. The fact that Trump keeps ramping up policy attacks on major oil producer Iran is just compounding his problem. Middle East disruption and the liberal flow of crude do not go hand-in-hand.Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post… TO HELP SUPPORT AND MAINTAIN THIS WEBSITE DONATE TO THIS ADDRESS jQuery

United States bank holding corporation Capital One has won its latest blockchain-related patent, this time incorporating the technology in a content validation system. Documents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released the patent on April 2.Capital One, which last year focused its intellectual property efforts on blockchain for user authentication, now wants to use it as part of a wider network involving content providers.“A device may receive first content data from a content provider, the first content data including data identifying content,” an extract from the patent’s summary reads. The summary continues:“The device may generate second content data based on the first content data, the second content data including information that causes content validation to be performed on the content.The device may also provide the second content data to a content validation node, the content validation node being included in a content validation network implementing a blockchain network that includes executable instructions for performing content validation.”Capital One has shown interest in blockchain for several years. In 2016, the company was already looking into how to apply the technology to solve payments issues, at the time linked to health insurance.Last year, Gill Haus, Capital One’s senior vice president, retail and direct bank chief information officer, told Forbes about the ongoing bullish mood.“The benefit that we see with blockchain is that security is inherently built in,” he said. Haus continued:“You know who is contributing to that blockchain, you have an immutable record, and you can make sure that the system and the protocol assemble easily.”Within the banking sector more broadly, blockchain has also made something of a comeback this year, despite previous concerns its impact had been overhyped by the industry.Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post…eToro survey finds millennials are leading the shift from stocks to cryptoCrypto Market Watch April.8: Market Cap Records 5-Month High At $185 Billion5 Reasons Why China’s Proposed Ban on Bitcoin Mining Could Kill BitmainCrypto Expo Asia Partners ICOWatchlist to Present Blockchain Summit in Vietnam – November 24, 2018Saudi Arabia Won’t Bow to Trump’s ‘Crude’ Jabs Until After Aramco IPOWhat Are The Top Bitcoin & Crypto Hardware Wallets?Dow Plunges After Trump Unleashes $11 Billion Tariff ThreatChina’s plans to ban bitcoin mining could not have come at a worse time for Bitmain. Once seemingly indomitable, Bitmain is now in a precarious phase.In the past couple of months, the bitcoin mining hardware giant has not only reported a $500 million loss after a couple of years of consistently making profits but also failed in a bid to get publically listed.Though recent leadership changes have given rise to hopes that the Bitmain ship could be steered back into the right track, reports that China is planning to ban cryptocurrency mining comes as a big blow.Here is why Bitmain’s senior management will likely spend sleepless nights for the foreseeable future:Despite a 2017 ban on cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings, China has been the world’s biggest market for bitcoin mining hardware.With the potential ban on cryptocurrency mining in the world’s second-largest economy, sales of Bitmain’s mining hardware are certain to fall. Bitmain has been diversifying lately but the bulk of its revenues still comes from selling bitcoin miners.As part of the plans of righting the ship, Bitmain was on the verge of making a serious cryptocurrency mining investment in China. With China possessing one of the cheapest electricity across the globe, this was a no-brainer.Electricity cost around the world | Source: StatistaSpecifically, Bitmain intended to put up 200,000 units of crypto mining hardware in China at a cost between $80 million and $100 million.News of the ban will, however, derail these plans and Bitmain will have to scour other locations for cheap electricity. Or cancel its expansion plans altogether.In what can only be referred to as unfortunate timing, the restructuring that Bitmain has been undergoing in the past few months have seen it reduce its global footprint as it focused on its domestic operations.This included suspending operations in Texas and by extension a $0.5 billion investment. The investment would have turned the Lone Star State facility into the largest cryptocurrency mining operation in the United States.Similarly, Bitmain also scaled back its operations in the Netherlands earlier in the year. And last year in December, Bitmain shut down a development center located in Israel.As Bitmain was awaiting the decision of its unsuccessful public listing bid, Charles Li Xiaojia, the CEO of the Hong Kong stock exchange where Bitmain was planning to list warned that consistency and sustainability were key to a successful process.‘Be Sustainable’: Hong Kong Stock Exchange CEO Scoffs at Crypto Giant Bitmain’s IPO Attempt https://t.co/1weg5JysDzNow with the threat of losing its largest market in one fell swoop, Bitmain’s chances of an IPO have been put into even more doubt. This is because the ban has only drawn attention to the uncertainty and precariousness of the business Bitmain is in.In war and in business, the enemy never sleeps. Even as Bitmain has been scaling back, its Chinese rivals have been doing the opposite.Ebang, one of Bitmain’s Chinese rivals has already announced plans to expand dramatically this year. Ebang is scheduled to manufacture over 400,000 blockchain processing units in 2019.Canaan Creative, on the other hand, has been busy looking for funding, no doubt both to finance growth and operations. Per the Securities Times, Canaan Creative recently raised several hundred million dollars.So is it all doom and gloom for Bitmain? Not really. On the plus side, this could be a good thing for the bitcoin mining giant. The ban could drive the price of bitcoin up and therefore raise interest in cryptocurrency mining. That would boost mining hardware sales. Bitmain will, however, have to fight harder in the market in the face of emboldened rivals.Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post…SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, is laying off 10 percent of its 6,000-employee workforce. The layoffs are part of a move to streamline the business and cut costs.“SpaceX must become a leaner company,” President Gwynne Shotwell wrote in a Friday email. The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.This means we must part ways with some talented and hardworking members of our team. This action is taken only due to the extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead and would not otherwise be necessary.The company is providing a minimum of eight weeks’ pay and other benefits to the fired workers.Elon Musk — the billionaire founder of electric-car company Tesla — launched SpaceX in 2002 to make space travel accessible to everyday people. In addition, SpaceX’s goal is to colonize Mars.Equidate’s Robert Hilmer says SpaceX is one of the most valuable private companies in the world, with the potential to raise an “unlimited amount” of capital.“SpaceX is one of [the most] popular pre-IPO tech companies globally,” Hilmer told CNBC.Everywhere I travel around the world, investors of all types — individuals, family offices, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds or private equity — want to get into SpaceX.Meanwhile, Musk is taking the downsizing in stride.He has not commented on the layoffs, preferring instead to focus on upcoming space launches.Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the @SpaceX Texas launch site. This is an actual picture, not a rendering. pic.twitter.com/k1HkueoXazThe South African business mogul is more concerned that SpaceX’s newest test flight rocket has a cool, aerodynamic design.“Obv must be more pointy tho,” Musk tweeted, in reference to the tip of the rocket.Musk is an unwitting media darling who generates countless headlines. In August 2018, Musk stirred a volcanic backlash from Tesla investors after tweeting that he might take his car company private.Weeks later, the SEC sued Musk for securities fraud, claiming his errant tweet caused Tesla stock to spike 6 percent that day. Shareholders were enraged when Tesla shares abruptly tanked in the following days.The debacle forced Musk to step down as chairman in September 2018 and pay a $20 million fine to the SEC.Despite being a technophile, Elon Musk does not own crypto, as CCN reported.“I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from .25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago,” Musk confessed on Twitter.In November 2017, Musk denied speculation that he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. A former SpaceX intern inadvertently started the rumor with a blog post.Sahil Gupta wrote at Medium: “Satoshi is probably Elon.”Elon is a self-taught polymath. He’s repeatedly innovated across fields by reading books on a subject and applying the knowledge.It’s how he built rockets, invented the Hyperloop (which he released to the world as a paper), and could have invented Bitcoin.Musk responded by denying that he invented Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has never been confirmed.A group of banks in India has begun to issue warnings to customers threatening to close their accounts in the event that they are found to have performed acts involving the use of cryptocurrencies.According to a tweet published by Indian CryptoGirl, the banks that have issued the warnings indicate that they have done so in order to comply with regulations issued by the Royal Bank of India (the country’s central bank). One of the tweets shows how the RBI has compelled banks to close the accounts of any user of cryptocurrency in what seems to be a move to indirectly ban them:“As per RBI vide its circular RBI/2017-18/154 DBR.No.BP.CP 104 /08.13.102/2017-18 dated April 6, 2018, regulator has mandated Banks to close the accounts of customers who had undertaken transactions in virtual currency / Bit coins (sic) any time during the tenure of the account & that Banks shall not deal in Virtual Currencies or provide services for facilitating any person or entity in dealing with or settling virtual currencies. These services include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges dealing with them and transfer/receipt of money in accounts relating to purchase / sale of virtual currencies”.If a person is found to have been involved in any of the businesses mentioned in the quotation, the bank will close the account 30 days after the user has been notified. Once this period has elapsed, the user will not be able to withdraw or use their funds.“We noticed you did a transaction involving crypto, hence, we will close your account within 30 days”P.S: Glad they’re doing it for me pic.twitter.com/JIWzeU54i5— Indian CryptoGirl (@DesiCryptoHodlr) January 12, 2019Another of the tweets shows a disclaimer by a bank forcing users to accept a clause declaring that they will not carry out any type of transaction in cryptocurrencies, recognizing the right of the bank to close their accounts “without further intimation” should it be determined that they failed to comply with that stipulation:Banks in India are now saying they will now close customers’ accounts if they deal in cryptocurrencies.These legacy institutions fear what they can’t control, but people should be allowed to do whatever they want with their wealth.Long Bitcoin, Short the Bankers! pic.twitter.com/vvjniodaiLThe measure appears to be an effort by the state to avoid the use of cryptocurrencies. Although the Supreme Court of India ordered the clarification of a government stance regarding cryptocurrencies -which are not entirely illegal- there is still a regulatory void that allows situations like this to happen as the government failed to comply with the Court’s order.Finally! The crypto matter came up for hearing in court today & Supreme court has asked Govt. to file an affidavit related to the findings of the crypto committee set up by them. They’re supposed to submit this within 2 weeks. Things are getting interesting! #isupportcrypto— Nischal (WazirX) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) October 25, 2018Let’s wait and watch about the situation. Crypto isn’t illegal in India currently so there’s nothing to worry about. Hoping we get a favorable outcome from the court case.— Nischal (WazirX) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) October 25, 2018Donald Trump has been doing his best to wage war on the rising oil price, but the president is struggling with the fact that strong US growth is a natural boost to crude.However, there is another thorn in his side – Saudi Arabia-led OPEC, who have been keen to limit supply. Given that state-owned Aramco is gradually opening to global investors, it seems unlikely that Mohammed Bin Salman and Khalid Al-Falih will want to let oil production off the leash anytime soon.The US might be the world’s biggest individual producer, but Saudi Arabia still casts a large shadow over the bulk of the crude supply. Aramco’s recent bond sale is part of the crown prince’s efforts to gradually open up the Saudi economy. It was a tremendous success, raising around $60 billion.Due to the need for an audit to raise debt, Aramco is now officially the world’s most profitable company. The rabid demand for the bond could spur Saudi Arabia to accelerate its plans for the long-awaited Aramco IPO.While Aramco is slowly prepping for that IPO, the oil price surge couldn’t be better for the Saudis – or worse for Trump.President Trump would love for oil prices to fall to help support his agricultural voter base and juice the economy with additional economic stimulus. However, Aramco has no incentive to open the taps. Analysts rave about the raging success of the bond sale with oil above $60 a barrel. Imagine how much money Aramco would be worth in an IPO if crude prices continued to rise from here.Crude oil has steadily climbed throughout 2019. | Source: Yahoo FinanceTrump might eventually succeed in his bid to reduce the cost of oil, but Aramco will likely massage prices until an IPO date is chosen. Given that this might not be until 2021, he might be waiting a while – and might not even be in office when it happens.If President Trump intends to lower the oil price, he would be better served encouraging Saudi Arabia to move up the IPO. Until the kingdom secures the funds for Aramco’s sale, they would be crazy to do anything to dent crude. Only time will tell if Trump’s upgrades to US pipeline infrastructure will be able to keep WTI under wraps.Prices continue to soar, and it doesn’t look like OPEC will be “increasing the flow of oil” anytime soon. The fact that Trump keeps ramping up policy attacks on major oil producer Iran is just compounding his problem. Middle East disruption and the liberal flow of crude do not go hand-in-hand.Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post…Unlike traditional assets, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies are predicated on decentralization, giving their users an opportunity to “be their own bank.” While many have embraced this premise, there have been some that are wary, as a loss of a private key could result in a loss of thousands, if not millions of dollars.In fact, one early crypto investor famously lost tens of thousands of BTC, now valued in the dozens of millions of dollars, on a computer hard drive that ended up in his local landfill. But fear not, that’s where the Ledger Nano lineup, TREZOR devices, and other Bitcoin hardware wallets from industry startups come in, as they allow users to effectively fully mitigate the risk of over-the-Internet hacks. And NewsBTC is here to help you decipher which each device does, in a bid to give you, the reader, a chance to learn more about cryptocurrency security.Here are some of the industry’s best hardware wallets in no particular order.Ledger Nano SThe Nano S is the world’s foremost cryptocurrency storage device, created by French industry startup Ledger. This piece of Bitcoin-friendly hardware is so well-known that it was even featured in an episode of Showtime’s “Billions” as a plot device. Simply put, the Nano S is the “certified benchmark of crypto security,” having the most recognizable look — a USB-esque design, two physical buttons, a small screen, a streamlined appearance, and a small but functional screen. But what does the device actually do?This hardware wallet is a device that allows consumers to take control of their private keys, by securing them in an offline, “cold” container on a single device, this being the Nano S. Ledger allowsThe device, which comes in black, yellow, pink, green, blue, and transparent white, stores upwards of 1,100 cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, Litecoin, Monero. Effectively all assets in top 20, and all established Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens are supported by the Nano S. Ledger, however, does have plans to add all crypto assets it can technically support over time.The Nano S is secured through an onboard secure chip, which has stood up to harsh technical tests, disallowing hackers to either physically or electronically breach the private keys stored solely on the Nano. On the software side, the device is powered by BOLOS, a Ledger-developed operating system that further cements the security of a user’s crypto holdings. Ledger’s proprietary system has been certified by ANSSI, the French cybersecurity agency.The easy-to-use wallet is best used in tandem with Ledger Live, the startup’s desktop (and now mobile) application that allows users to view their account balances, sign transactions, and manage on-device applications. The Nano S can be used with services like the Monero core wallet, Electrum, and MyEtherWallet though, as some cryptocurrencies and blockchain functions aren’t natively supported in the Live application.Ledger’s flagship product can be ordered for the crypto or fiat equivalent of approximately $60 U.S. dollars worldwide through Ledger’s website (free shipping, duties not included), Amazon, and certain resellers. But, the device has sold for even less in flash deals and bundle packages.Ledger Nano XThe reason why the Nano S is currently selling for a hot price is due to the launch of the Ledger Nano X — the spiritual successor to the Nano S.Unlike its predecessor, the Nano X sports support for Bluetooth, thereby giving its users the opportunity to transact with Bitcoin and other digital assets on-the-go, all with your mobile device. While many have discussed the security flaws of Bluetooth, Ledger has affirmed that its wireless system will be just as secure, if not more secure than the Nano S, making this a logical upgrade.Save for aforementioned feature, a larger screen, refreshed design, updated CC EAL5+ chip, and larger storage space, the Nano X is near-identical to the S in many respects.While the Nano S is selling for bargain bin prices, the Nano X sells for $119, due to its newfangled features. Like its predecessors, it can be ordered through the official company website, Amazon, or other resellers.NewsBTC will have a full review of the device in the coming weeks — stay tuned.TREZOR OneNext up on the chopping block is TREZOR, or the TREZOR One and TREZOR Model T rather. TREZOR, or SatoshiLabs as the parent company is known, launched in 2014 as the world’s first Bitcoin hardware wallet provider, first offering the TREZOR One device, which has remained the company’s “gold standard” to this day.The One device is a traditional hardware wallet, with a monochrome small screen, two buttons for verification and navigation, and a USB port for computer or mobile phone connectivity. It ensures that attackers cannot gain access to your cryptocurrencies, as it gives users the opportunity to store their holdings offline in cold storage, rather than an online hot wallet, like Blockchain.com or Coinbase.TREZOR accomplished this security feat through a number of tried and true security measures: firmware verification, which ensures the OS used by the TREZOR is SatoshiLabs-approved; an “ultrasound hardware seal”; a write-protected bootloader, which prevents man-in-the-middle attacks, and protected key operations. All this limits the attack surface and ensures that TREZOR is operating on what it calls the “zero trust principle.”Much like competing devices, the TREZOR One, which ships in black and white variants, supports approximately 1,100 cryptocurrencies, including most assets in the top 20, like Bitcoin, Stellar Lumens, Tether, and Dash, and all ERC-20 tokens that have an established track record. The One does not, however, support the cold storage of XRP, Cardano, Monero, or Tezos at this time, presumably due to the aged architecture of the device.One is best used with what is known as the “TREZOR Bridge,” which is a communication tool for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux that connects the gap between your offline private keys on TREZOR and your Internet browser. Bridge is much like Ledger Live, in that it allows users to track their holdings and send and receive transactions, making it an all-in-one shop for TREZOR users.The device can also be used with certain mobile wallets, namely Mycelium. Mycelium, a barebones wallet solution for Bitcoin, allows users to hook up the TREZOR Ones to Android devices, thereby creating an on-the-go hardware-secured account.One sells for €69 ($77.5 U.S.) on TREZOR’s website for Bitcoin or credit card, and for similar prices on Amazon and through resellers. It is comparatively slightly more expensive than the $60 Ledger Nano S, especially considering the lack of free international shipping.TREZOR Model TJust as there’s a Ledger Nano X to the Ledger Nano S, there is a TREZOR Model T to the TREZOR One. The Model T is a refreshed take on the One, providing users with a larger, color screen, a bigger footprint, a faster USB-C connection option, and support for more cryptocurrencies than its predecessor. It supports XRP and Monero, for example, while the One does not.What makes the Model T unique is that TREZOR has expanded its capabilities beyond cryptocurrencies and blockchain, giving users the ability to manage passwords, the SSH, GPG, and U2F protocols through the hardware, providing an additional value proposition.Model T currently sells for €149 ($170 U.S.) on TREZOR’s website for Bitcoin or credit card, and for similar prices on Amazon and through resellers.KeepKeyThe KeepKey is a long-standing, Bitcoin-centric hardware wallet provider that is currently owned by ShapeShift, crypto pioneer Erik Voorhees’ startup. The firm only offers a single device — the KeepKey, and it’s rather simple but effective. The Importance Of Crypto & Bitcoin Security Featured Image from Shutterstock, Product Images Courtesy of Their Respective CompaniesLike what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friendsoriginal post… TO HELP SUPPORT AND MAINTAIN THIS WEBSITE DONATE TO THIS ADDRESS jQuery

There comes a time in every person’s life when they reach an impasse. When I say, “impasse,” I’m speaking about one of life’s many obstacles that present itself to us at incredibly inopportune moments. For you cinephiles in the audience, you’ve witnessed the man/woman standing on a street corner, who just lost their job and screams at the top of their lungs, “how could this get any worse,” only to be drenched in sewer runoff following a taxicab who drives right through a puddle. For those of us less entrenched with stereotypical vehicles of slapstick in film, everyone, more or less, has a bad day. Well, suffice to say that the US stock market has had a series of rough days over the course of the last several weeks, and several analysts believe that our nation may be headed for a recession a la 2008. Over ten years have gone by since our country underwent an industry-collapsing recession, and, although activity measures like retail sales, industrial production, and employment are at an all-time high, a growing number of economists and financial experts believe we are due for another recession in the next twenty-four months. Market growth has shown significant signs of slowing down over the last few months, with the Dow and several other indices dropping hundreds of points every week or so. “Traditional signals of a U.S. recession from the shape of a yield curve to a fall in housing investment to corporate bond spreads are suggesting in late 2019, early 2020.”According to several media outlets, all eleven sectors of the S&P 500 have received a decrease in expected earnings growth in the last few months, “led by utilities, materials, and industrials.” Before he even took office, President Trump made it clear that he wanted every product, service, and commodity to be manufactured in America and only America. As it relates to the oil industry, this has translated to a rush to pump oil out of shale fields around the country, most notably in West Texas, miraculously leading to record-high levels of production for black gold. Though domestic oil production couldn’t be higher, concerns about oversupply have sent oil prices every which way but loose. As of Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped below 22,000 following a statement issued by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that was intended to calm nervous investors in the space. In his ill-timed statement, Mnuchin said that:“We continue to see strong economic growth in the U.S. economy with robust activity from consumers and businesses. With the government shutdown, Treasury will have critical employees to maintain its core operations at Fiscal Services, IRS, and other crucial functions within the department.”Following Mnuchin’s statement, several major US indexes dropped due to the fact that his words were viewed as off-base and arguably unnecessary in the grand scheme of it all. One analyst told CNN that “this type of announcement raises the question of whether Treasury sees a problem that the rest of the market is missing.” Why else would Mnuchin call executives from every major US banking institution on Christmas Eve? In addition to Mnuchin’s bizarre statement, I can’t imagine it being helpful that President Trump shutdown parts of the federal government until further notice. Though many understand that the shutdown will have no major effects on the US economy, investors and executives across all sectors are concerned with the inability of lawmakers and the current administration to set aside their differences and approve the federal budget. When describing Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (TSLA) , SpaceX, and The Boring Company, many would use terms like “eccentric” or “a little out there.” While I recognize Musk’s eccentricity, Musk so much more than simply “out there.” He is an innovative revolutionary with the creativity to manifest tenable change and the bank account to make his ideas a reality. When Musk founded The Boring Company in 2016, his primary goal was to mitigate traffic in major cities by creating a network of underground tunnels, allowing for cars to travel both above and below the surface. The Initial Test Tunnel, as its called, is located in Hawthorne, California, and is currently being used for the research and development of The Boring Company’s public transportation projects, “Loop” and “Hyperloop.” As the company broke first ground on their tunnel in California, Musk thought of no better time to market the Boring brand. He decided to sell a line of very interesting products emblazoned with the Boring Company logo, the most notable product being the “Not-A-Flamethrower.” Originally retailing for $600, the price has now dropped to $500 per flamethrower with an added twist:The Boring Company is now accepting Bitcoin (BTCUSD), Ethereum(ETHUSD), Litecoin (LTCUSD), and Bitcoin (BTCUSD) Cash as forms of payment.Historically, Musk has never openly supported cryptocurrency, though he has had several “flirtations” with the blockchain payment system this year. In February, Musk discovered that several false “Musk” twitter accounts were scamming users into giving away their cryptocurrency. He said that he “literally owned zero cryptocurrencies,” and for crypto owners to be on alert for scammers. After delivering this warning, Musk admitted that he owns .25 Bitcoin (BTCUSD) that a friend sent him a while back. So what does The Boring Company’s accepting of cryptocurrency mean for the crypto market? Analysts are suggesting Musk’s move is one of many that will take place as cryptocurrencies are potentially on the verge of a comeback.The price of Bitcoin (BTCUSD) was unremarkable on Thursday, furthering a relatively consistent downward trend for the world’s largest digital currency. The value decrease of cryptocurrency has been the new normal over the last few months, but many believe bitcoin’s lull may be finding its end. Madi Greenspan, a senior market analyst at eToro believes that the market is on the precipice of watching bitcoin breakout once more. “It’s only a matter of time now. Of course, the flat-line pattern could easily remain for another few months, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing; however, there are signs of excitement boiling underneath the cool price action exterior.”As for the evidence backing up Greenspan’s curious claims, let’s turn our attention to the rising number of transactions per second. For those of us not familiar with how cryptocurrency works, join me for this brief, but informative, aside. All cryptocurrencies use “blockchain” technology, a framework purposed with decentralizing currency and reframing how transactions occur. Blockchain is a digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record infinite exchanges, while also keeping a record of every person a currency changes hands with. Imagine a spreadsheet that is shared between a thousand computers. Once you’ve done that, imagine that spreadsheet updating regularly to account for all interactions with the file. Attaching this technology to cryptocurrency removes the need for traditional banking systems to monitor transactions and a dramatic increase in fiscal transparency, given that all parties can view transaction history for each BitCoin purchased. Reverting our attention back to the wise words of Mati Greenspan, transactions per second, between various cryptocurrencies, are increasing, and this serves as a vital barometer for the “scalability of blockchain technology.” Industry experts have been concerned with the ability of blockchain to scale and meet the demands of consumers and creators of new coins alike. At the time of the dot-com bubble, Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, observed that investors were slaves to “irrational exuberance” surrounding the industry, and many believe this is the case with cryptocurrencies today. The price of bitcoin has been more erratic than a first-grader full of birthday cake, trading at $20,000 at its height and now selling for less than $7000. Many startups have looked into the viability of initial coin offerings (ICO) as a means for tapping into a liquid market without the need for intermediaries and funding their companies. Unlike IPOs, investors do not receive company stock. Rather contributors receive tokens that can be traded on crypto exchanges, according to the Brookings Institution. The future of cryptocurrency is dependent on the scalability of blockchain technology to meet the demands of consumers, as well as the commitment of long-term investors to see their investments in coins to the end. If the industry reveres Elon Musk as much as they do, perhaps his adoption of the coin as payment for The Boring Company is an indication that the crypto market is about to trend upwards. INT. Oval Office, President Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo enter the room, wearing matching “MAGA” hatsMnuchin: (delivering the punchline of a joke) And the bartender goes, “cookie, my favorite!”Trump: That joke was excellent. The best joke in the world. China doesn’t tell jokes. Pompeo: Good one, Mr. President. Now, Steven, joking aside, we wanted to tell you something.Mnuchin: Sure, I’m listening. Hold on, let me take these out of my ears (Mnuchin comically removes two coins from his ears)Pompeo: Not now, Steven, this is important. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard the news about Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist from Saudi Arabia?Mnuchin: Yes, I’m headed to an investor conference in Riyadh tomorrow.Sources can’t confirm that the above took place as described, but Treasury Secretary Mnuchin did announce Thursday that he was rescinding his participation in a “high-profile investor conference” in Saudi Arabia, likely because of the growing controversy over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. An administration official told CNN that no other government officials will attend next week’s summit in Mnuchin’s place. In response to the Treasury Secretary’s refraining from the conference, the recently jittery stock market took a turn down south. CNN reports that the Dow lost as many as 392 points, or 1.5%, on Thursday, as investors reacted to Mnuchin’s decision. Tech stocks followed suit, with Facebook (FB) and Alphabet () losing about 2% each, the Nasdaq falling 1.5%, and Netflix (NFLX) tumbling about 3%. Market volatility is in the air and residents of Wall Street are ready to cut their losses. Increasing fears of rising bond yields coupled with President Trump’s trade war with China sparked an onslaught of buyer’s remorse last week, the worst for all three major indexes since March, according to market analysts. Many believe Mnuchin’s announcement was based on rising tensions between the United States and Saudi Arabia over the situation surrounding missing Washington Post Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul several weeks ago to file paperwork in order to marry his Turkish fiancee. The journalist, who in recent months began critiquing the Saudi government, never returned to his Turkish wife-to-be. An audio clip, released by the Turkish government confirms that Khashoggi was drugged, killed, and dismembered while in the Consulate. Sources reportedly told CNN that a group of Saudi men, whom Turkish officials believe are in cahoots with those who planned Khashoggi’s killing, were led by a high-ranking intelligence officer, with one source saying “he was close to the inner circle of the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”Treasury Secretary Mnuchin was not the only government official in the geopolitical space to withdraw from participating in the event held in Saudi Arabia. UK Trade Minister Liam Fox elected not to attend as well.“The Secretary of State for International Trade has decided the time is not right for him to attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on October 23…The UK remains very concerned about Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. We encourage Turkish-Saudi collaboration and look forward to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducting a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation. ” –Unnamed UK government spokesman on behalf of Dr. FoxSeveral other government officials canceled their plans, including French finance minister Bruno Le Maire and Dutch Finance Minister Woke Hoekstra. In addition to the various nations’ “no-thank-you” RSVPs, the boycott of the country has spread to entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshai and other industry executives including C-level friends from Ford (F), Google (GOOG), and several others have decided against making appearances at Saudi Arabia’s annual “Davos in the Desert” event this month. Only time will tell as to whether the effects of the Saudi governments alleged involvement with Khashoggi will result in the pulling back of investments from Silicon Valley, as well as from the many nations who declined to send officials. Recent reports indicate that Richard Branson, founder, and chairman of Virgin Galactic, has temporarily suspended his $1 billion partnership with Saudi Arabia. “A shoe must be three things,” Nike (NKE) co-founder Bill Bowerman proclaimed. “It must be light, comfortable and it’s got to go the distance.” In the late 1950s, Bowerman was displeased with the current track shoe market. Shoes were made of heavy leather, metal, and were anything but soft and comfortable. As a track coach for the University of Oregon, revered both then and now as an elite running school, Bowerman was obsessed with helping his runners slash seconds of their times. He first began dismembering running shoes in the 50’s, when he wrote to several shoe companies with suggestions for improving their footwear to improve quality for runners and walkers alike. He received no responses, but Bowerman never slowed. One of the first student-athletes to try a Bowerman original was Phil Knight, the eventual founder of Nike (NKE). As to why Bowerman chose him, Knight admitted that “he wasn’t one of the best runners on the team. Bowerman knew he could use me as a guinea pig without much risk.” Bowerman made every shoe to the exact dimensions of a runner’s foot, measuring widths and noting individualities, such as extended heel or slim ankle. As for raw materials, nothing was out of the question. Bowerman used kangaroo leather, velvet, deer hide, snakeskin, and even fish skin, in pursuit of the perfect track sneaker. “Most American shoemakers are not interested in what we track coaches think about track shoes. The best shoes…at this time are made by the Germans. Their sole material is not too good and I can either replace their sole or I can make my own shoe. I don’t think there is any question, certainly, in my own mind there is not, that I now have the best shoe in the world — if I could just find some good American shoemaker to make it.”Bowerman would eventually find a good American shoemaker, or better yet, he would become the shoemaker he sought out. Partnering up with his former student-athlete, Phil Knight, the two running enthusiasts would eventually start Blue Ribbon Sports and years down the line, Nike. Fast forward fifty-four years and Nike (NKE) one of the most well-known brands in the history of retail. It’s legacy as a brand is built on decades of gold-medal athletes, unparalleled innovation for high-performance shoes, and a keen eye for the next big thing. “In our view, Nike (NKE) represents an already dominant, legacy global brand that is now aggressively embracing the power of digital to enhance most facets of its business,” analyst Brian Nagel said on Thursday. Nagel, an analyst for global investment firm Oppenheimer, upgraded Nike (NKE) to “Outperform” from “Perform” based on the firm’s rubric for investment success. Nike’s shares have been red-hot this year, soaring 23% in 2018. The brand’s stock is outperforming the S&P 500, which climbed a measly 6% in the same timespan. Bullish growth forecasts for the global sportswear brand are not without competition, as rival Adidas AG (ADDYY) reports that its last quarter sales in North America, a region where the brand is beating  Nike to the punch somewhat consistently, shot up 7% to nearly $1.3 billion.In an effort to stay fresh and keep moving forward, Nike commemorated the 30th anniversary of its legendary ‘Just Do It’ campaign by selecting Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback whose decision to kneel during the national anthem spurned nation-wide outcry. Kaepernick refused to stand in support of a nation wrought with police brutality and social injustice, and the very notion of challenging the norm is in Nike’s lifeblood.Despite various criticisms from the media and President Donald Trump, the 30th-anniversary campaign has generated an increase of 31% more online sales in the days following the ad, as well as 170,000 new followers on Nike’s official Instagram. Since the launch of the campaign, Nike’s shares have risen 6.5%, adding roughly $6 billion to the company’s market value. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman had a vision for their company. It was never about becoming a global icon, no, it was much simpler than that. Knight and Bowerman believed in investing in the future of athleticism. At the very end of Nike’s commercial featuring Kaepernick, the former Superbowl-winning quarterback leaves consumers with a line:“Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” Get stock alerts, news & trending stock alerts straight to your inbox!We keep all user information pricate & promise to never spam.* //

• $61.6 billion — Revenue from iPhone sales, up 13 percent from a year earlier.• 77.3 million — The number of iPhones that Apple sold in the quarter, down 1 percent and below the 80.2 million analysts expected, according to Bloomberg.• $796 -- The average sale price of an iPhone, according to Bloomberg.• $60 billion to $62 billion — Apple's revenue guidance for the current quarter, well below analysts’ expectations of $65.9 billion.• $285 billion — Apple’s big cash pile.Critics CornerRobert Cryan of Breakingviews:“Apple has long followed Mies van der Rohe’s design precept that “less is more.” Now it’s doing the same financially. The company sold fewer iPhones for more money in the last quarter, it reported on Thursday. That raises fears that the company is losing its innovation edge. But that’s OK – persuading customers to pay more arguably requires as much genius as getting people to adopt the technology in the first place.”Amazon• $1.9 billion —the e-commerce giant’s fourth-quarter profit, more than double its profit from a year ago and the first time Amazon’s earnings have surpassed $1 billion in a quarter.• $789 million —The boost to Amazon’s bottom line from a one-time tax benefit.• $60.5 billion — Amazon’s revenue in the quarter, up 38 percent and above analysts’ estimates of $59.8 billion.Critics cornerRobert Cryan of Breakingviews:Amazon.com is going gangbusters. But some of the nearly $700 billion internet retailer’s fastest-expanding – and most profitable – businesses could be ones that irritate users. Over time, that could sully the company’s image.Alphabet• $3.02 billion — The loss Alphabet reported for the fourth quarter.• $9.9 billion — The hit Alphabet took to its earnings related to the new tax law.• $32.32 billion — The search giant’s revenue for the quarter, up 27 percent from same period a year ago.Critics cornerJennifer Saba of Breakingviews:Alphabet is stuck at the letter G. The holding company of Google was created to safeguard against conventionality and let moonshot ideas, like self-driving cars, flourish. Almost three years in, it’s basically still just Google. Which means, in turn, that the A in Alphabet stands mainly for advertising. It wouldn’t hurt Alphabet to put more energy into revenue sources that don’t start with a G.CBS and Viacom are talking about getting back together.More than a decade after Viacom and CBS split, the boards of the two companies have formed a special committee to evaluate a possible merger. Why now• Shari Redstone, who along with her father, Sumner Redstone, controls the two companies, is pushing for a deal.Her previous effort to combine the two companies in 2016 faltered over the concerns of CBS’ directors and CBS’s chief executive, Les Moonves. According to media reports, Mr. Moonves may be more open to a deal, though the WSJ reports that he remains wary.• Walt Disney’s deal for much of 21st Century Fox late last year has sparked much strategic rethinking across the industry. Ms. Redstone believes that CBS and Viacom need greater scale to better compete with Disney, Netflix and Amazon.Critics cornerTara Lachapelle of Bloomberg Gadfly:“CBS isn’t safe from the industry’s broad ratings pressure and subscriber declines, which is why scale is important. Viacom won’t provide enough of it, but it will offer substantial cost-saving opportunities. Those synergies may amount to some $500 million based on what past deals have yielded, according to Geetha Ranganathan, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. That could create quite a lift for CBS’s earnings.” A shake-up in Airbnb’s C-suiteBelinda Johnson is moving up. Laurence Tosi is moving out. And don’t expect the company to go public this year.What’s happening: Ms. Johnson, who’s currently the home-rental company’s chief business affairs and legal officer, will become its chief operating officer. Meanwhile, Mr. Tosi, who had been Airbnb’s chief financial officer since coming over from Blackstone, will leave the company to focus on his investment fund.Airbnb has hired a search firm to find a new C.F.O. Ellie Mertz, the company’s head of global financial planning, will fill in that role on an interim basis.Between the lines• Ms. Johnson had been a rising star at Airbnb, often compared to Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg as the company’s business-minded grown-up in the room.• Mr. Tosi had been increasingly at odds with Airbnb’s C.E.O., Brian Chesky, over strategy. (The Information covered their disputes — which were over both strategy and tactics — in great detail.)The context Airbnb is heading ever so slowly toward an initial public offering. It hired Ken Chenault as its first outside director, for example, and promoting its most successful business mind to C.O.O. is another step in that direction. Still losing its C.F.O. — particularly one well versed in Wall Street — could set those plans back a bit. The company lineHere’s Mr. Chesky on Ms. Johnson:“She takes critical functions that might be seen as constraints in other companies, and clears a path so they can become competitive advantages and facilitate the growth of the business.”And here’s a statement from Eric Holder, the former U.S. Attorney General who has been advising the company on anti-discrimination policies:“Having worked with Belinda over the years and at Airbnb, I have been consistently impressed by her ability to anticipate issues and leverage strategic opportunities. She combines technical expertise with great care for her colleagues.”And here’s Mr. Chesky on Mr. Tosi:“He helped Airbnb establish a rigorous financial discipline, aided our expansion into new businesses including into luxury rentals, which is now one of our core businesses, and helped us develop new and innovative ways to grow Airbnb and our businesses.”— Michael J. de la Merced Why Europe matters for Facebook.Some of the most consequential battles in the world of technology are playing out in Europe, where governments are cracking down on tech giants like Google and Facebook.Facebook’s quarterly results, released Wednesday, provide crucial information for better understanding the balance of power between Silicon Valley titans and the democracies of Europe.The results clearly showed the importance of the European market to Facebook’s future growth. The company’s average revenue per European user in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $8.86, well below the $26.76 that Facebook rakes in per user in the United States and Canada.Facebook should be able to move that European number a lot higher in the coming years. Europe’s economy is only a bit smaller than the United States’, and the Continent contains prosperous nations whose citizens are just as addicted to social media as Americans. Indeed, Facebook has more daily active users in Europe than in the United States and Canada (277 million versus 184 million.) What is more, total European daily active users grew in the fourth quarter, while the United States and Canada number edged lower.All this helps explain why the growth in European revenue per user, at nearly 50 percent in the fourth quarter versus the year-earlier period, is significantly higher than the 35 percent rate for the United States and Canada.What does this mean for Facebook as European countries introduce measures aimed at protecting their citizens that may go beyond what the company is used to in the United States?Given how lucrative Europe is and will be to Facebook, it may be willing to spend what it takes to comply with new regulations, and even tolerate any inefficiencies the rules impose on its advertising business. Indeed, Facebook itself says it wants to make its network safer for users and democracies. But if there is any slip in that stance, Europe’s leaders, seeing how important their countries are to Facebook’s bottom line, arguably have considerable leverage to respond.— Peter EavisBitcoin’s slump continues.Its price on Thursday: $8,915Its all-time high hit on Dec. 18: $19,511.That’s more than a 50 percent slide, and it marks it lowest price since November. To put the Bitcoin’s recent slide in perspective, the cryptocurrency has lost $44 billion in market value last month, according to Bloomberg. The tumble has continued so far in February. Bitcoin is down 11 percent Thursday. New questions about Bitcoin’s priceRegulators are increasingly worried that Bitfinex, a widely used (and famously opaque) exchange, has been propping it up. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has subpoenaed the company, whose Tether digital token is often used to buy other virtual currencies.More from Nathaniel Popper of the NYT:Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new Tether were created; almost always when the prices of other virtual currencies were heading down. The Tether were used on the Bitfinex exchange to make big purchases of Bitcoin and other tokens, helping push their prices back up, according to multiple analyses of data from Bitfinex. “This became more and more concerning, because every time the markets went down, you have seen the same thing happen,” said Joey Krug, the co-chief investment officer at Pantera Capital, which runs several virtual currency hedge funds. “It could mean that a lot of the rally over December and January might not have been real.”Where we stand: According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is trading at $9,545, down almost 7 percent over the last 24 hours, Ethereum’s Ether at $1,099, and Ripple’s XRP at $1.05, down 7 percent.The digital money flyaround• How Goldman Sachs was rushed into supporting Bitcoin. (Bloomberg)• Meet Bibor, a proposed interest rate for lending Bitcoin. (Bloomberg)• Samsung is making specialist chips for mining virtual currency. (CNBC) Google and Aramco discuss building tech hubs.The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, is reporting that Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and Google’s parent, Alphabet, are in talks to build a tech hub within the kingdom.Details, including when and if a deal will come to fruition, remain scant at this point.The contextSaudi Arabia is seeking to diversify its economy away from oil, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has made developing Saudi Arabia’s tech sector a key part of his “Vision 2030” plan. In late 2016, he traveled to Silicon Valley to promote those reforms, and the kingdom has taken bigger steps in recent years into the tech investing world.That year Saudi Arabia poured $3.5 billion into Uber, and its Public Investment Fund put $45 billion into SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund, which is making eye-popping investments in tech companies.An interesting point, from the WSJ article:While a potential joint venture between Alphabet and Aramco isn’t necessarily connected to the latter company’s IPO, if a deal is struck before the offering, advisers to the company could pitch the pact as a way for investors to bake in technology valuations.It isn’t clear how setting up tech hubs could fundamentally transform an oil company into a tech company — and therefore command a higher multiple — but it’d be interesting to see bankers make that argument.— Stephen Grocer Michael Dwyer/Associated Press What Jeff Immelt will be doing at N.E.A.The former G.E. chairman and C.E.O. will focus on tech and health care companies in his new role as a partner at N.E.A., one of the biggest V.C. firms in the world (that isn’t named SoftBank). From the release:“I am excited to join NEA because they understand how to work with visionary entrepreneurs to build successful technology and health care enterprises,” Immelt said. “I have a passion for these sectors and I am eager to work with NEA and its partners to develop great businesses, nurture talented leaders and grow diverse teams.”and:“Jeff is deeply knowledgeable about the complex global innovation landscape we’re operating in today and he understands how businesses must evolve to compete and win in that environment, particularly across industrial and medical technologies,” said Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner, NEA.(Worth noting: Mr. Immelt’s successor at G.E. is struggling to turn that company around. See below.)Mr. Immelt is only the latest corporate chieftain to find his next act in venture capital. Earlier this week, Ken Chenault announced that he would become chairman of General Catalyst Partners.Mr. Immelt himself famously dallied with Silicon Valley last year, when he was in the running to become Uber’s next C.E.O.— Michael J. de la Merced Should investors worry about Facebook?The good news: Its fourth-quarter earnings handily beat expectations. The average price per ad went up 43 percent. The All-New DealBook Newsletter Our columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin and his Times colleagues help you make sense of major business and policy headlines — and the power-brokers who shape them. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. An error has occurred. Please try again later. You are already subscribed to this email. View all New York Times newsletters. The possibly bad news: Mark Zuckerberg said changes to the News Feed had cut 50 million hours a day from the time users spent on it (as Shira Ovide of Gadfly points out, that’s about 2 minutes less each).Here’s where our colleague Peter Eavis says investors should focus:Daily active users in the United States and Canada actually fell to 184 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 from 185 million in the third quarter of last year. But Facebook still managed to generate a huge amount of revenue from the United States and Canada. The region accounted for $6.4 billion of revenue in the fourth quarter of last year, a 40 percent jump from the same period in 2016. Another figure that might cause concern is the growth in capital expenditures, the money a company spends as it invests in new initiatives. Capex hit $2.26 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, a staggering 78 percent jump from the same period in 2016.Today’s a big day for tech earnings• Apple: Everyone wants to know how well the iPhone X has sold — well enough to start a new “supercycle”?• Alphabet: Will Google’s hardware sales make its nonadvertising business more than a tiny blip in earnings?• Amazon: Will Wall Street have finally got the fourth-quarter results right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯The tech flyaround• Is digital advertising what’s wrong with the internet? (NYT) • More than a million followers have disappeared from the accounts of dozens of prominent Twitter users in recent days. Funny, that. (NYT)• Microsoft’s cloud computing push continues to pay off. (NYT)• Uber is offering bicycle sharing in San Francisco. (NYT)• EBay will shift its payments business from PayPal. That pummeled PayPal’s share price in after-hours trading. (Bloomberg)• The Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and the Craigslist co-founder Craig Newmark are investing in a fact-checking start-up. (Bloomberg) Tom Brenner/The New York Times When will Congress raise the debt limit?Steven Mnuchin urged lawmakers to do it quickly, amid worries that the government could run out of borrowing capacity late this month. (The Congressional Budget Office has changed its estimate because of the tax cuts.)The Treasury secretary argued that the cuts would eventually pay for themselves, but conceded that it wouldn’t happen this year.In the meantime, the Treasury Department said that the size of Treasury auctions will increase. And Republicans are increasingly split over whether to keep supporting short-term bills to keep the government operating.The policy flyaround• Robert Mueller appears to be focusing on the White House’s initial statement about a June 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russian individuals over potential dirt on Hillary Clinton. (NYT) • The F.B.I. made an unusual public statement opposing the release of a secret House Intelligence Committee memo about surveillance of a Trump campaign aide. (NYT)• A federal appeals court ruled that the president could fire the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s director only for cause. (NYT)• The E.U. is preparing measures to stop Britain undercutting it on tax or regulation after Brexit. (FT)• The Treasury Department insisted that new sanctions are coming against Russian individuals close to Vladimir Putin. (Bloomberg)• Prosecutors have dropped corruption charges against Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. (NYT)• The director of the C.D.C., Brenda Fitzgerald, resigned after she was reported to have bought stock in a tobacco company. (Politico) Eric Thayer for The New York Times What will the Fed do at its March meeting?Yesterday’s meeting, Janet Yellen’s last as Fed chairwoman, left rates unchanged. But the accompanying statement hinted that higher inflation — and rate hikes — might be around the corner.Analysts’ takes:• Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch write, “This shows that the Fed is taking notice of the recent shift in market perception about inflation.” • Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics writes, “In short, the statement sets up the March hike, which will be followed by Jay Powell’s first press conference.”• Diane Swonk of Grant Thornton said, “Everything from stronger growth at home and abroad to debt-financed tax cuts have raised expectations for inflation.”The scene at the Fed yesterday, from Binyamin Appelbaum of the NYT:On Wednesday, some Fed employees wore shirts or jackets with the collars turned up, or popped, in a tribute to Ms. Yellen, who favored that look in public appearances. Could G.E. be dropped from the Dow?Analysts over at Deutsche Bank think so. They wrote in a research note yesterday:As the company’s absolute share price has continued to drop (and as the share prices of the other companies have been increasing), G.E. increasingly falls into the category of outlier and consequently a likely candidate for removal, in our opinion.G.E. is the last survivor of the index’s 12 original components from when it started in 1896, and has been in it continuously for more than 110 years.More on G.E.’s troubles in Bloomberg Businessweek’s cover story. Masayoshi Son, the founder of the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. The deals flyaround• SoftBank agreed to buy a majority stake in the cellphone service unit of Line, a Japanese messaging company. (CNBC)• Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to buy Forest City Realty Trust, a fellow real estate owner with a market value of about $6.2 billion, according to unnamed sources. (Bloomberg)• CVC Capital Partners has hired Morgan Stanley and UBS to lead an initial public offering of the antivirus company Avast Software, which could be the biggest ever in British tech, according to unnamed sources. (Reuters)• Meet the three-month old boutique investment bank that helped put together the Blackstone Group’s $20 billion deal for Thomson Reuters’ financial information unit. (Bloomberg)• General Assembly, the coding boot camp, may sell itself. (Reuters)• Tell us your memories of Xerox as the onetime corporate icon strikes a deal with Fujifilm of Japan. (NYT) The Wynn Boston Harbor resort, Stephen Wynn’s $2.4 billion casino project in Everett, Mass. What’s at stake for Wynn Resorts in Massachusetts’ inquiryThe state’s gaming commission is looking into the numerous, decade-spanning sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn. It has the power to revoke the operating license for Wynn Boston Harbor, the biggest single-phase development in Massachusetts history, which is expected to create thousands of jobs. More from Susan Pulliam, Jon Kamp, Chris Kirkham and Kate O’Keeffe of the WSJ:“We will be looking at how the company, from the board on down, handles the allegations,” said Karen Wells, who directs the investigations and enforcement bureau at the state gambling commission. She said allegations in the settlement agreement weren’t disclosed before the commission granted Wynn a license in September 2014, or at any point before The Wall Street Journal report.Shares in Wynn Resorts fell more than 3 percent yesterday.Revolving door• Stephen Cutler, who spent 11 years at JPMorgan, mostly as its general counsel, has joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a litigation partner. (Simpson Thacher)• The public relations firm Brunswick Group has hired Bob Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, and Pascal Lamy, the former director general of the World Trade Organization, as part of a new consultancy focused on geopolitical advice. (Brunswick)Is retirement for you or your kids?Our colleagues want to know how you’re thinking about retirement. They’ll use the best responses in a forthcoming special section.The Speed Read• U.S. prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas in an investigation into potential corruption at international sports bodies, and exploring bringing charges of racketeering, money laundering and fraud. (NYT)• BMW and Daimler said they had taken action against executives involved in an organization that sponsored emissions experiments on monkeys. (NYT)• Equifax began offering a free service on Wednesday that promised to let consumers lock their credit files using their cellphones. It didn’t work. (NYT)• Some of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s rapid moves on environmental regulation look vulnerable to legal challenge, experts say. (NYT) • SoFi is laying off dozens of employees in its mortgage division, according to people familiar with the matter. It used to highlight the area as a growth prospect. (WSJ)• Hong Kong developers and distressed debt and private credit funds are lining up to offer financing to HNA, bankers and property investors say. (FT)• David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital lost roughly 6 percent in January, extending a multiyear period of weakness. (WSJ)• Private equity heavyweights like K.K.R., Carlyle and Apollo have started issuing U.S. preferred shares, which pay higher interest than traditional bonds and can be a highly efficient way to raise capital. (FT)• Hedge funds have earned spectacular payoffs from bearish bets against companies like Steinhoff International and Carillion, but can accounting sleuths expect more wins on that scale? (FT)We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to bizday@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story

and closing another $6M round from tier one global VCs with billion dollar clients on most continents. Before building Markable’s world class team, Joy won a Gold Medal in Math Olympics in China at age 16 and was the TV anchor of a Chinese television program for ten years. Joy then attended MIT on a full scholarship, with majors in math and economics. Joy sold her first start up, a social media platform for international students built together with Berkeley students to a Chinese company in her last year of college. After college, she worked as a lead machine learning quantitative scientist for seven years that built financial high frequency AI trading programs generating a daily six-figure profit while causing traditional wall street to crash in 2008. Joy left high frequency trading to create Markable.ai, upon noticing a huge gap in the market between e-commerce and digital content. This gap inspired her to develop the AI technology to make all forms of visual digital content such as photos, videos and livestream content immediately shoppable. Markable.ai has a goal to deliver the ultimate shopping therapy for consumers; the future of AI driven fast e-commerce; and the future of AI driven green, user-engaged advertising. Mikko Ikola (Ambronite): Future of Food — Transforming Humans and Our Planet From Surviving to Thriving Mikko Ikola is CEO & Co-founder at Ambronite. Ambronite’s mission is to transform humans and our planet from surviving to thriving, through sustainable plant-based foods. In this keynote presentation, Mikko will take you on a journey through our broken food system, and presents a vision how we can turn it into a system that will make humans and our planet to thrive in the future Mikko Ikola is CEO & Co-founder at Ambronite. Ambronite’s mission is to transform humans and our planet from surviving to thriving, through sustainable plant-based foods. Ambronite’s first product, Complete Meal Shake, contains 100% of everything the human body needs and quenches hunger for 4 hours using only real foods. Ambronite is used worldwide by top performers and has customers in over 30 countries. Ambronite has been featured in publications such as TIME Magazine, Wired, and Wallpaper. Ambronite has raised USD$1.5m in funding from investors such as Jawed Karim (Co-founder at YouTube) and Lifeline Ventures. Besides nutrition and healthy lifestyle, Mikko has a tech-background in computer science and is inspired by topics such as leadership (Scaling Up Methodology) and minimalism. Teemu Suna (Nightingale Health): Founder Story of Nightingale Health Teemu Suna is CEO, chairman and one of the founders of Nightingale Health, a blood testing company aiming to solve the global burden of chronic disease. Suna has steered Nightingale into an established growing company with over 60 team members and customers in over 20 countries. In this session, Suna will share his story about how it all began. Teemu Suna is one of the founders, CEO and chairman of Nightingale Health, a blood testing company aiming to solve the global burden of chronic disease. A passionate advocate for disruptive health solutions, Suna has steered Nightingale into an established growth company with over 60 team members and customers in over 20 countries. Since late 2015, Suna has raised over €40 million to bring Nightingale’s technology to global healthcare. Prior to Nightingale, Suna spearheaded pioneering business ventures in healthcare IT, serving as Chief Technology Officer at Fujitsu Finland. Immersed in the field of computational medicine, Suna has authored scientific articles on applying artificial neural networks in medical applications. Determined to make preventive medicine a concrete reality for all, at Nightingale, Suna has united expertise from a diverse range of different backgrounds to further push the boundaries of the health industry. Fireside Chat with Danny Brown Wolf (Orbs) and Noah Sakamaki (COINPOST) Danny Brown Wolf is the Head of Strategy at Orbs, and on the founding team of Orbs Group USA. She was formerly the decentralization Director for Cool Cousin, a travel-tech start- crowned by the New York Times, L.A Times, The Guardian and National Geographic as a “must app for travelers”. Danny will be interviewed about his journey from Fintech to Blockchain by Noah Sakamaki. Click for more information about Danny brown Wolf and Noah Sakamaki. Noah is a News Manager and content writer for CoinPost, the leading Cryptocurrency media platform in Japan. Focusing on keeping Japanese viewers informed about what is going abroad with everything crypto-related, Noah frequently reports about the SEC and their decisions regarding Bitcoin ETFs and securities. Noah has also interviewed many key players in the industry such as Jed McCaleb, Max Kordek and Stefan Thomas. Born and raised in Tokyo as a Japanese American, Noah graduated from Abiline Christian University in 2017 while retaining his ability to read, speak and write in English & Japanese. Danny Brown Wolf is the Head of Strategy at Orbs, and on the founding team of Orbs Group USA. She was formerly the decentralisation Director for Cool Cousin, a travel-tech start- crowned by the New York Times, L.A Times, The Guardian and National Geographic as a “must app for travelers”. Her background is in Policy and International Affairs, having worked at the United Nations, the Israeli Parliament, as the Director of Policy at the IDC's Abba Eban Institute, and on projects dedicated to capacity-building of the Palestinian hi-tech industry and peace-building between Israelis and Palestinians through hi-tech initiatives. Building a Startup Community: Amarit Charoenphan (HUBBA), Tim Romero (Disrupting Japan), Paula Pärnaste (Lift99) Learn the secret of building a community from eco-system builders around the globe. Leading the discussion by Amarit Charoenphan co-founder of Techsauce media and Hubba, Thailand largest co-working space. Paula Pärnaste is on a mission of building a founders ecosystem across the Central and Eastern Europe at Lift99. Tim Romero is deeply involved in Japan's startup community as an investor, founder, mentor and host of the Disrupting Japan podcast. Click for more info about Amarit Charoenphan, Tim Romero, Paula Pärnaste CEO and Cofounder, HUBBA / Cofounder and Chief Connection Officer, Techsauce Amarit's passion and life's work is to create a better world where people work with passion, meaning, and purpose while actively supported by an inspiring community and ecosystem. He is the Group CEO & Cofounder of HUBBA, the Hub of Global Creators. HUBBA is Thailand’s 1st and largest coworking space and community. He is also the Co-founder of Techsauce Media, Thailand's leading tech media, which is best known for Techsauce Global Summit, Southeast Asia's 1st Global Scale conference. Tim Romero is a Tokyo-based entrepreneur, podcaster and author who has started four companies and led Japan market entry for others since coming to Japan more than 25 years ago. Tim hosts the Disrupting Japan podcast, teaches corporate innovation and entrepreneurship at the NYU Shinagawa campus and is CTO of TEPCO Ventures. Tim is deeply involved in Japan's startup community as an investor, founder and mentor. Entrepreneur herself, Paula is part of LIFT99 team building a founders ecosystem across the Central and Eastern Europe, and the world. LIFT99 is creating opportunities for the most ambitious founders in CEE, providing them with the supportive community, global network, know-how, funding etc. The community comes alive in the LIFT99 Founders2Founders app, and in the startup hubs – one in Tallinn, known as the home of Estonian startup culture, and the second one opening soon in Ukraine. Paula’s current responsibility is leading the launch of the LIFT99 Kyiv Hub. It will become another key location in the company’s mission to bring more startup success stories into the area. Miku Hirano (Cinnamon): Update your dream Recently closed Series B funding at 13.5M USD, Cinnamon is the rising star of AI startups in Japan. In this session, Miku will share her entrepreneurial journey and the founding story of Cinnamon. Serial Entrepreneur and Angel Investor. MSc, in Artificial Intelligence, from Tokyo University. Engaged in research on Recommendation Engine, Complex Network, Clustering. Won the Innovative Software Creation Program (Super Creator Award) under Information-technology Promotion Agency Japan (IPA) in 2005 and 2006. Started her first business to create the middleware which enables to develop iOS / Android / Feature Phone simultaneously, and sold the company to mixi.inc. Fireside Chat with Yat Siu (Outblaze) and Slush Team Yat Siu is deeply involved in Internet startup scene, he founded several internet and tech companies including Outblaze (acquired by IBM) and Animoca. In addition, he also launched Hong Kong's first internet provider. Yat will share his founding episodes on stage Chairman & Co-Founder, Animoca Brands and Founder & CEO, Outblaze A technology entrepreneur and investor based in Hong Kong, Yat Siu is the chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: AB1) that leverages gamification, blockchain, and artificial intelligence technologies to develop and publish a broad portfolio of mobile products. Yat began his career at Atari Germany in 1990. In 1995 he moved to Hong Kong to establish Hong Kong Cybercity/Freenation, the first Asian free web page and email provider. In 1998 he set up Outblaze, an award-winning pioneer of multilingual white label web services. In 2009, he sold Outblaze’s services business to IBM, and pivoted Outblaze to digital entertainment services and products. Outblaze is now a conglomerate of companies focused on cloud, AI, blockchain, and smartphone software. Yat is the CEO of Outblaze, and he is a director for TurnOut Ventures, a partnership between Outblaze and Turner Entertainment that brought to prominence the hugely popular emoticon character Tuzki. In 2017 Yat set up the Dalton Learning Lab, an afterschool lab environment that supplements Hong Kong students with skills not emphasized by the local education system, including divergent thinking and design thinking. He is also the founder of ThinkBlaze, the research arm of Outblaze investigating socially meaningful issues in technology. Yat has earned numerous accolades including Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the DHL/SCMP Awards. A classically trained musician, Yat is a member of the advisory board of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and a director of the Asian Youth Orchestra. Fireside Chat with Aya Miyaguchi (ETH) and Jun Hasegawa (Omise) The blockchain is now in action. Joining a conversation with Aya Miyaguchi, who leads educational and development efforts of Ethereum foundation and Jun Hasegawa, the CEO & Founder of Omise, an online payment platform. Click to find out more about Aya Miyaguchi and Jun Hasegawa. Aya originally became fascinated in the blockchain space for its potential to impact financial inclusion in emerging markets. In early 2013, she joined Kraken as Managing Director and has since worked to educate the public, VCs, and regulators on cryptocurrencies and blockchain innovation globally. As the Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, Aya leads the Foundation’s teams and supports the Ethereum ecosystem through core development and research activities, and educational efforts aimed at further expanding the world’s largest blockchain ecosystem. In 2019, she was appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Blockchain Global Council. Jun is the CEO & Founder of Omise, an online payment platform that provides online operations with a full-featured payment gateway, security & fraud protection models and cash management services —the complete infrastructure required to enable and streamline online commerce. He is a deep thinker and is no stranger to the startup world. Prior to founding Omise, he was involved in founding a series of tech companies in Japan. He brings over 16 years of professional experience in the technological field and has previously held several managerial positions. Jun has led his payment company through dramatic growth to become one of SEA’s leading online payment platform. He is passionate about delivering online payments for everyone and works to influence his team to do the same. Operations in Space Business: Helen Tung (NewSpace2060), Takahiro Nakamura (ispace) , Kazuo Ishigame (Infostellar) How does space business work? What are the stories behind rockets and satellites? Listen to the episodes from people behind groundbreaking startups. Takahiro runs i-space, a micro lunar robotic satellite company. Kazuo is a Co-founder of Infostellar, an Airbnb for satellites. Moderating this session is Helen Tung, a space legal futurist. Click for more info about Helen Tung, Takahiro Nakamura, and Kazuo Ishigame. Emergent Tech advisor and MINERVA fellow at the EU - Japan Centre Helen is an Emergent Tech advisor and MINERVA fellow at the EU – Japan Centre. Helen works with NewSpace and emerging tech startups and trains and mentors entrepreneurs. Helen’s mission is to empower individuals to make better decisions and find their voices. She has spoken widely on topics including AI, Robotics, decision making, autonomous systems, law and ethics. Her areas of interest include space applications, blockchain, data protection, cyber security, smallsat constellations, space law and policy and mindfulness. Helen is currently the Founder & Convenor of EU-Japan NewSpace2060 International Poetry Manga Poster competition 2019 and Writer and Editor of EU- Japan NewSpace2060 blog (Summer 2019 coffee table mag TBC) as part of MINERVA Fellowship. After receiving his M.S. in Planetary Science from both Kyushu University and the University of Tokyo on a full scholarship, Takahiro joined Accenture, where he spent 5 years as a management consultant, specializing in retail and high-tech industries. Joining Recruit Next (Japan’s largest information company) Takahiro launched 4 businesses – leading two of them – including SUMO, a moving service and business for elderly people. Takahiro joined ispace in 2011 after an initial volunteer role and is now the acting COO. With one startup exit already under his belt, Ishigame cofounded Infostellar, a satellite-antenna sharing platform for small, low-orbit satellites -- what he calls "an Airbnb for satellites." Infostellars' cloud-based service StellarStation helps ground stations to make money during their downtime. For satellite operators, it allows them to contact their satellites more frequently, without building more costly stations. In September 2017, investors led by Airbus Ventures put $7.3 million in Series A Funding into the company, which was established with two other cofounders, including aerospace engineer and CEO Naomi Kurahara. Ishigame was selected as one of the honourees of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018. Future of AI and Automation: Tsune Shirota (WiL), Hajime Hotta (Cinnamon, Zeroth.ai), Fred Almeida (Ascent Robotics) A conversation with investors and founders from AI and Automation. Tsune led WiL's investment in Auth0, Asana, and TransferWise. Hajime is a partner at Zeroth.ai and CTO at Cinnamon. Fred Almeida is the founder and chief architect of Ascent Robotics, a company that develops autonomous robots and vehicles. Click for more info about Tsune Shirota, Hajime Hotta, and Fred Almeida. Tsune focuses on investment in mid/late stage venture investments in rapidly growing software companies. Tsune led WiL's investments in Auth0, Asana, and TransferWise and actively worked on investments in Automation Anywhere and BirdEye. Prior to joining WiL, Tsune was VP of Business Operations and Strategy at Evernote. Tsune spearheaded analytics and was instrumental in improving the company’s revenue growth and financial stability through a series of monetization efforts. He has also worked for Blue Ridge Capital, analyzing publicly traded internet companies. Tsune holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo. Hajime is an AI technologist leading 65+ deep learning researchers to help corporates in Bank/Insurance/Manufacturer/Internet Services/Medical/Pharmacy sectors with AI solutions at Cinnamon. Active investor and community contributor in Asia: Organized Vietnam FrontierTech Summit with 1500+ delegates. Also Partner at Zeroth.ai (AI Investment Firm), Founder Institute KL Local Director. Fred is the founder and chief architect of Ascent Robotics, one of Japan's leading AI startups. Ascent develops autonomous robots and vehicles by leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms inspired by theoretical neuroscience. The company raised $18M in Series A in 2018 and employs engineers and scientists from over 20 countries around the world. In addition to founding Ascent, Fred has also founded two other AI firms and chairs Decoded, a Tokyo collective of AI and machine learning experts. Zac Prince (BlockFi): Bringing Banking to Crypto Founder of BlockFi, a company that with the most coverage in US market for providing crypto savings accounts and USD loans, Zac has led companies which have been previously acquired by Google and DunnHumby. He has also led business development teams at Orchard Platform, a broker-dealer and RIA in the online lending sector, and Zibby, an online consumer lender. Zac’s experience includes leadership roles at multiple successful tech companies. He started initially in AdTech, where he was a part of two successful acquisitions, Admeld (Acquired by Google) and Sociomantic (acquired by DunnHumby). Prior to starting BlockFi, he led business development teams at Orchard Platform, a broker-dealer and RIA in the online lending sector, and Zibby, an online consumer lender. BlockFi provides crypto savings accounts and USD loans and the company has the most coverage of the US market, currently operating in 48 states and also the only lender to raise institutional capital – with a 50M credit facility from Galaxy Digital and investors including Fidelity, Galaxy Digital, Susquehanna, Akuna Capital, and ConsenSys Ventures. Let's talk about the future: Monika Bielskyte (ALLFUTUREEVERYTHING), Suzana Ilic (MLT), and Alissa Miky (JIWA) A futurist with an artist’s eye and an inventor’s mind, Monika Bielskyte will discuss how we see the future with Suzana Ilić, Founder of Machine Learning Tokyo who is leading efforts in creating a community for studying, teaching and building Artificial Intelligence projects with Deep Learning. Alissa Miky is the Co-founder of the Japan Israel Women’s Association (JIWA). JIWA is a volunteer group that supports young people who wish to devote their energy to both work and home. Click for more info about Monika Bielskyte, Suzana Ilic and Alissa Miky. A futurist with an artist's eye and an inventor’s mind, Monika Bielskyte prototypes culturally diverse, socially and environmentally engaged future world designs for the entertainment industry, technology companies, and cities/countries.  A large part of her time is devoted to research and strategy in the immersive media technology space (Augmented, Mixed, Virtual Reality and AI). Monika's work consists in connecting bleeding edge technological innovation with some of the world's most original creative visions. As the Head of MLT, a non-profit group of Machine Learning Engineers and Researchers and a community of 2000 people in Tokyo, Suzana has been leading efforts in creating an open and collaborative engineering space for studying, teaching and building Artificial Intelligence projects with Deep Learning at its core. Co-Founder of Japan Israel Women’s Association (JIWA) Co-Founder of Japan Israel Women’s Association (JIWA) / Marketing Expert at Life is Tech, Inc Global division Alissa Miky is the Co-founder of the Japan Israel Women’s Association (JIWA). JIWA is a volunteer group that supports young people who wish to devote their energy to both work and home. The birth-rate in Israel is 3.11, and records #1 on the OECD. Furthermore, women’s social advancement ranking reached 9th place in OECD, and Israel’s percentage of women in high-tech industries is 35.5%, which is 1.4 times that of America's. Moreover, Israel excels at developing start-ups around the world and acquired 2.3 times as many funds as Japan in 2018. She believes that Israel’s philosophy, as well as their business strategy, will be the motivation for young Japanese people. She became interested in Israel when she worked at an Israeli trading company and met many Israeli people. There, she worked for the marketing, sales, and PR department as a new business development manager of EdTech, Health Tech, Connected Cars, etc. While she was at the Israeli trading company, she surpassed the sales record by twelve times the previous. Alissa Miky has received awards; Forbes JAPAN "100 women shining on earth" youngest recipient. Businesses Insider JAPAN "Game Changer" One of 46 people. Fintech Fireside Chat with Firat Isbecer (Commencis) and Jason Smith (FundBox) A conversation about Fintech from two industry veterans. Firat is an entrepreneur and an angel investor from Turkey. After exiting his previous company, Positron is now a CEO of Commencis. Prior to joining Fundbox as VP of Business Development, Jason spent 13 years at PayPal and helped the company to grow globally. Click for more info about Firat Isbecer and Jason Smith. Firat Isbecer is an entrepreneur and an angel investor. Isbecer co-founded Pozitron, one of Europe’s fastest growing mobile banking, mobile commerce and payments software companies which was acquired by London-based fintech star Monitise plc in 2014. After joining Monitise, Isbecer oversaw the company’s Eastern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa operations as the Managing Director of Monitise MEA. In 2017, Monitise plc was acquired by US-based a Fortune 500 financial services tech giant Fiserv Inc. After the Monitise-Fiserv acquisition, he left the company and founded Commencis. Commencis helps leading brands to grow and scale in digital by building purposeful products, powered by its Big Data, Analytics and Cloud solutions. Isbecer is also an active seed investor, he is a member of Galata Business Angels, Turkey’s first angel investor group. He has made over 40 seed investments in 11 different countries to date making him one of the most active investors in Turkey. After studying at Robert College in İstanbul, Firat received his Bachelor’s Degree from Galatasaray University, and his Master’s Degree in Geopolitical Studies from a joint programme by the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Isbecer briefly worked at a Paris based independent Euro-Mediterranean Think Tank as a research associate. He has been recognised in Fortune Turkey’s 40 under 40 list numerous times. Jason Smith is the Vice President of Business Development at Fundbox. In this leadership role, Jason is responsible for identifying and creating global partnerships to help Fundbox achieve its vision of building the world’s first AI-enabled B2B business capital platform.  As a growth leader, Jason brings a strong background and experience e-commerce, fintech, and technology into Fundbox.  Prior to joining Fundbox, Jason spent 13 years at payments and credit giant PayPal in various leadership roles. Most recently Jason was the head of PayPal’s Global Channel Sales business group which, under his leadership, scaled the business globally and grew revenue over 4X.  In addition, Jason was also a founding member of PayPal’s omnichannel business and a key member of the corporate development team where he was responsible for numerous investments, acquisitions, business development and sales initiatives across the eBay Inc. and PayPal portfolio.  Jason is a graduate of Washington State University. Marvin Liao (500 Startups): The Future of Work: A Venture Capitalist's View Marvin is a Partner at 500 Startups, a global Seed Venture Capital Firm & Startup Accelerator based in Silicon Valley. He runs the Flagship Accelerator program & invests in Digital Media, Enterprise SAAS, Marketplace, Fintech, Adtech, Digital Health, Internet of Things & Mobile startups across the globe. Marvin is a Partner at 500 Startups, a global Seed Venture Capital Firm & Startup Accelerator based in Silicon Valley. He runs the Flagship Accelerator program & invests in Digital Media, Enterprise SAAS, Marketplace, Fintech, Adtech, Digital Health, Internet of Things & Mobile startups across the globe. Formerly of Yahoo! Inc. (10.5 years), Marvin Liao has held roles in the various departments of Sales, Business Development, Ad Operations and Marketing & ran online marketing at a venture capital funded ecommerce start-up prior to that. He also serves on the boards/advisory boards of several internet advertising and ad technology companies. Investment in Southeast Asia: Kay-Mok Ku (Gobi), Soo Boon Koh (i-Globe), Kaspar Hadiyat (Koru Partners), and Slush Team As one of the rising region in startup scene, learn more about investment landscape in Southeast Asia with top investors like Soo Boon Koh from iglobe, Kay Mok Ku from Gobi Southeast Asia and Kaspar Hidayat from Koru Partners. Click for more info about Kay-Mok Ku, Soo Boon Koh and Kaspar Hidayat. Kay-Mok Ku is Managing Partner for Gobi Southeast Asia. He joined Gobi in 2010 and has invested in over 30 companies, including Carsome, Deliveree, Eko, Hermo and Salestock. He is a board member of the Singapore Venture Capital Association (SVCA). Prior to his career with Gobi Partners, Mok held the Vice President position in both Xinya Media and MediaCorp (Singapore). He was also part of the team that managed a $500 million fund at the Media Development Authority in Singapore, and is co-founder of Private Express, a crypto startup based in Silicon Valley. He started his career with the Infocomm Development Authority, and has a Computer Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from San Jose State University. Soo Boon founded iGlobe in December 1999 when venture capital (VC) first began experiencing the onset of globalization. As a veteran in the global VC industry with a specialization in technology investing, she has achieved consistent top-quartile fund return for her investments. Working alongside prominent VCs such as Sequoia Capital, IVP, RRE, Tencent and Qualcomm Ventures, she has since established herself as a prominent leader in the investing community. Soo Boon led some of the notable exits, including u-blox AG (SWX: UBXN), Telenav Inc. (NASDAQ:TNAV), Celestry Inc. (sold to Cadence), Aicent Inc. (acquired by TA Associates) and Anacle Systems Ltd (HKGEM: 8353). Currently, Soo Boon serves as board observer of several VC-backed companies based in San Francisco. This includes Nerdwallet Inc and Matterport Inc. Soo Boon is also a board member of The Great Room (Singapore) and Reach Robotics (UK). In late 2018, she oversaw two portfolios which targeted public listing, despite volatile stock market conditions: Twist Bioscience was listed on the Nasdaq (TWST) on Oct 31, 2018, and ACSL was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mother’s Board (TSE:6232) on Dec 21, 2018. Kaspar Hidayat is a Principal at Koru Partners, an early stage venture capital firm in Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Koru, he was part of the teams at 500 Startups and Venturra Capital that made Seed and Series A investments in many of Southeast Asia's leading companies in their respective verticals, including Grab, Bukalapak, Zilingo, Carro, Shopback and Carousell. Kaspar has also spent time as an operator as Country Manager and VP of Marketing at Pomelo, Southeast Asia's leading digitally native vertical fashion and apparel brand. Kaspar earned his B.A. in philosophy and economics at Amherst College. Going beyind the Pitch Contest: Tim Miskche (Artisense), Rumi Djalil (UltraCelsius), Wilson Chan (Buyandship) and Slush Team Three founders who were pitching last year will share advice for startups who wish to go overseas, challenges, and opportunity running early stage startups. Tim Miksche runs Artisense Japan, a 3D mapping startup. Wilson Chan is CEO of buyandship, providing an affordable international shipping service. Rumi Djalil is the CEO of Ultracelsius, a company developing sustainable freezing technology. More about Tim Miksche, Wilson Chan, and Rumi Djalil. More about Tim  Miksche, Wilson Chan, and Rumi Djalil. Tim is Representative Director and CEO of Artisense Japan K.K. and Winner of the SLUSH Tokyo 2018 pitch contest. Artisense is a deep-tech computer vision and AI startup specializing in dynamic 3D mapping and localization for autonomous vehicles and robots. The research-based company was founded in Palo Alto, USA and is using its proprietary know-how to build a new mapping standard that will enhance human life. Holding off competition in three consecutive pitching rounds, Tim took home the main prize of ¥ 5.000.000 to kick-start the foundation of Artisense in Tokyo. Having lived, studied and worked on three continents, Tim is an open- minded and self-motivated entrepreneur. With 20+ years of professional experience in automotive, digitalization and innovation management, he likes to build bridges and to foster creative exchange on the multinational level. Before joining Artisense, Tim was leading digital innovation and AR/VR within Audi Design at the carmaker’s headquarters in Germany. In 2017, he founded transferNET, a business consultancy supporting startups in market entry and business growth. Tim is co-ambassador and active startup mentor at World Innovation Forum Japan. Most recently, he was also nominated as representative for Japan of the German Startup Association. Rumi Djalil is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ultracelsius, a company focusing on creating cold chain technology in Indonesia. The company has developed a freezing technology that can keep food content cold even after 4 days without any power which saves energy and is perfect for remote areas. He was one of the finalists of Slush 2018. He has aspirations that Ultracelsius technology could one day solve important energy problems. He holds a law degree from the University of Indonesia and a Master of International Business from The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He started his career as an Investment banker at Citi during the verge of the 2008 sub-prime crisis. After that, he spent time as a Consultant at McKinsey where he got exposure to various industries. He was also heavily involved in corporate restructuring during the transformation of Indonesian Railways. Co-founder and CEO of buyandship, an integrated marketing and logistics platform for cross-border e-commerce connecting the world to Asia. Previously worked in private equity and management consulting in Hong Kong and Japan. W&W ✕ Kizuna AI ✕ TheWaveVR -XR Music Video Special Premier- Supported by Avex Future of Music TheWaveVR is unveiling their first digital concert for Japan, created in collaboration with Avex. Watch the world premier of Wave's XR video for W&W's new song - “The Light” featuring Kizuna AI - as a preview for live W&W concert in TheWaveVR in April. Wave is an an online music festival that never sleeps, allowing fans to view, host, and socialize in interactive concerts at anytime, from anywhere. TheWaveVR is based in Los Angeles, CA and Austin, TX; available on Steam, Oculus and PC desktop. Slush Tokyo Pitch Contest Winner Announcement and Closing Out of the hundred applicants and 40 companies who made the cut - here we will officially announce who will bring home the title of Slush Tokyo 2019 Pitch Contest Winner! Slush Tokyo 2019 Official Afterparty Annual Slush Tokyo Afterparty where you can loosen up, dance to some live music and meet other attendees! in decision making and inspire action, she earns a seat at the table wherever she serves.  She has over 18 years of experience in banking & financial services industry, manufacturing, IT, insurance and public accounting firms. Prior to joining DMM Group, she spent about 8 years in the investment banking industry where she rose through the ranks of Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., Ltd. responsible for Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis, leading business plan development, financial forecasting, financial analysis, and capital commitment planning, as well as competitive analysis. Esther drives on-going focus and efficiencies on cost optimization and expense management across the Asia Pacific segment of their Corporate Workplace Division. Born in Malaysia and migrated alone to Singapore at the age of 15. Esther receives her B.Sc. (Hons) with First Class Honors in Finance and Accounting from University of Salford in UK. She is also a Chartered Certified Accountant and now a fellow member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants ACCA. Teemu Suna is one of the founders, CEO and chairman of Nightingale Health, a blood testing company aiming to solve the global burden of chronic disease. A passionate advocate for disruptive health solutions, Suna has steered Nightingale into an established growth company with over 60 team members and customers in over 20 countries. Since late 2015, Suna has raised over €40 million to bring Nightingale’s technology to global healthcare. Prior to Nightingale, Suna spearheaded pioneering business ventures in healthcare IT, serving as Chief Technology Officer at Fujitsu Finland. Immersed in the field of computational medicine, Suna has authored scientific articles on applying artificial neural networks in medical applications. Determined to make preventive medicine a concrete reality for all, at Nightingale, Suna has united expertise from a diverse range of different backgrounds to further push the boundaries of the health industry. Slush Tokyo and Recruit are bringing together big names from the Blockchain scene for an exclusive night by the Tokyo Bay. The speakers will cover diverse topics within blockchain with the panoramic Tokyo Bay skyline behind them. Get ready for compelling discussions as well as food, drinks and quality networking. Think beyond borders: why digital entrepreneurs from all over the world become e-residents of Estonia. Estonia is creating a borderless digital society for global citizens as the first country to offer e-Residency. In 4 years, the programme has attracted + 50,000 citizens from +160 countries and they have created +6,500 companies in Estonia that they can run fully online from anywhere in the world. If you’re already an e-resident and/or wish to know more about Estonia’s digital society, join this casual networking event with representatives of the programme and Japanese e-residents. Location : Jinnan Cafe (1 Chome-17-5 Jinnan Shibuya-ku Tokyo) Registration -56486857712 Executive Breakfast is a casual networking event with key thought leaders and decision makers across various industry sectors from all around the world. Free Entrance for all Slush Tokyo 2019 Executive Pass holders. Join us for good food, coffee, music and talks! Click me for more information. Art Session: Relax with the Art within You Art has the power to represent your life - come and have a fresh look at yourself. This session will allow attendees to experience art in a new way. It’s not about what other people think, it’s about what you feel about yourself and what you're doing. It’s about that moment of trying something -- if it looks good or sounds good, that is what art is all about. Let’s find out what the art world gives you in this one hour. Target: Those who are interested in art, those who want to enhance your creativity and self-consciousness, you! Serial Entrepreneur and Angel Investor. MSc, in Artificial Intelligence, from Tokyo University. Engaged in research on Recommendation Engine, Complex Network, Clustering. Won the Innovative Software Creation Program (Super Creator Award) under Information-technology Promotion Agency Japan (IPA) in 2005 and 2006. Started her first business to create the middleware which enables to develop iOS / Android / Feature Phone simultaneously, and sold the company to mixi.inc. Chairman & Co-Founder, Animoca Brands and Founder & CEO, Outblaze A technology entrepreneur and investor based in Hong Kong, Yat Siu is the chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: AB1) that leverages gamification, blockchain, and artificial intelligence technologies to develop and publish a broad portfolio of mobile products. Yat began his career at Atari Germany in 1990. In 1995 he moved to Hong Kong to establish Hong Kong Cybercity/Freenation, the first Asian free web page and email provider. In 1998 he set up Outblaze, an award-winning pioneer of multilingual white label web services. In 2009, he sold Outblaze’s services business to IBM, and pivoted Outblaze to digital entertainment services and products. Outblaze is now a conglomerate of companies focused on cloud, AI, blockchain, and smartphone software. Yat is the CEO of Outblaze, and he is a director for TurnOut Ventures, a partnership between Outblaze and Turner Entertainment that brought to prominence the hugely popular emoticon character Tuzki. In 2017 Yat set up the Dalton Learning Lab, an afterschool lab environment that supplements Hong Kong students with skills not emphasized by the local education system, including divergent thinking and design thinking. He is also the founder of ThinkBlaze, the research arm of Outblaze investigating socially meaningful issues in technology. Yat has earned numerous accolades including Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the DHL/SCMP Awards. A classically trained musician, Yat is a member of the advisory board of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and a director of the Asian Youth Orchestra. Panasonic: Game Changer Catapult Business Creation Open Dialogue Session An interactive session focused on people interested in the startup scene as a whole. Masa Fukata, the director of Game Changer Catapult will welcome Masahiro Kotosaka, Associate Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, and Yuka Tanimoto, Senior Editor and Chief Producer of Event Production Group, Forbes Japan, to discuss innovation. We will also introduce the entrepreneur projects in collaboration with Avex and Keio SFC. Finally, we will demonstrate “cleaning as training” in order to share the new concept of housework. Target: startup company, involved health tech, electronic industry, you! Masa co-founded an internal innovation accelerator “Game Changer Catapult” in 2016, an initiative to transform ideas into reality to make the people’s wish through open innovation for a better life, a better world at the home tech division, Appliances Company in Panasonic Corporation. Also, he was appointed as Director in BeeEdge Co., Ltd. a joint-venture business incubation company with Panasonic, Scrum Ventures LLC, a US-based venture capital firm, and INCJ, Ltd.  He started his career in Panasonic, executed marketing communications for audio/video and digital imaging products, including launching of Lumix digital camera and DVD recorder with Hollywood film and music scene, after the participation of the international management program in Canada and the United States. Managed sports sponsorship contract including IOC and Organizing Committees of Olympic Games from 2004, technology operations and executing marketing strategy and communications, followed by a career as Director, Panasonic Canada Inc.  MBA, Kobe University, Japan. Associate Professor at Keio University, consultant and adviser to several start-up/multinational companies Masahiro Kotosaka is Associate Professor at Keio University. He is also a consultant and adviser to several start-up/multinational companies and was working for McKinsey & Company based in Frankfurt and Tokyo. He is an expert of strategic management of startups and international business of born global firms and spent four years running three profitable IT/Retail business before joining McKinsey. His recent publication includes The Element of Strategic Management (Toyo Keizai, 2018) and The Japanese Business in Evolution (Co-author, Routledge, 2017). Yuka Tanimoto earned an MBA in the U.S. in 2004 after gaining experience at a brokerage firm and serving as a financial and economic anchor for Bloomberg TV. She next worked as a newscaster for Nikkei CNBC and became the company's first-ever female commentator. After 2011, she became active as a freelance journalist. Through her career, Ms. Tanimoto has interviewed over 3000 VIPs from every corner of the globe including former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and Co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, Lynda Gratton, and founder of Starbucks, Howard Schultz. She has also appeared on numerous television programs including“Vivit”（TBS TV）, "Sunday! Scramble" (TV Asahi), "Your Time" (Fuji TV), “Morning Cross” (Tokyo MX TV), and commentator work on "AbemaPrime" (Abema TV). She currently serves as a column contributor to the media, as moderator of the economic symposium, as a corporate advisor. In February 2016, she became Deputy Editor and Web Editor for Forbes Japan. In April of that same year, she also became a part-time lecturer at Atomi University. Yuka Tanimoto's literary works include “Active Listening The Art of Listening for Success”（Diamond, Ine.）,”Time Mastery of 1000 Top World Leaders”（Kadokawa/Chukei Publishing）, and “The Habits of Leaders Who Create Followers without Trying”（SB Creative）, “Why World Top Leader Get Partiality”(Discover 21) Aya originally became fascinated in the blockchain space for its potential to impact financial inclusion in emerging markets. In early 2013, she joined Kraken as Managing Director and has since worked to educate the public, VCs, and regulators on cryptocurrencies and blockchain innovation globally. As the Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, Aya leads the Foundation’s teams and supports the Ethereum ecosystem through core development and research activities, and educational efforts aimed at further expanding the world’s largest blockchain ecosystem. In 2019, she was appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Blockchain Global Council. Jun is the CEO & Founder of Omise, an online payment platform that provides online operations with a full-featured payment gateway, security & fraud protection models and cash management services —the complete infrastructure required to enable and streamline online commerce. He is a deep thinker and is no stranger to the startup world. Prior to founding Omise, he was involved in founding a series of tech companies in Japan. He brings over 16 years of professional experience in the technological field and has previously held several managerial positions. Jun has led his payment company through dramatic growth to become one of SEA’s leading online payment platform. He is passionate about delivering online payments for everyone and works to influence his team to do the same. After receiving his M.S. in Planetary Science from both Kyushu University and the University of Tokyo on a full scholarship, Takahiro joined Accenture, where he spent 5 years as a management consultant, specializing in retail and high-tech industries. Joining Recruit Next (Japan’s largest information company) Takahiro launched 4 businesses – leading two of them – including SUMO, a moving service and business for elderly people. Takahiro joined ispace in 2011 after an initial volunteer role and is now the acting COO. With one startup exit already under his belt, Ishigame cofounded Infostellar, a satellite-antenna sharing platform for small, low-orbit satellites -- what he calls "an Airbnb for satellites." Infostellars' cloud-based service StellarStation helps ground stations to make money during their downtime. For satellite operators, it allows them to contact their satellites more frequently, without building more costly stations. In September 2017, investors led by Airbus Ventures put $7.3 million in Series A Funding into the company, which was established with two other cofounders, including aerospace engineer and CEO Naomi Kurahara. Ishigame was selected as one of the honourees of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018. Future experience with LEXUS: The Concept of Value Changes In a world full of AI and big data which has dramatically evolved our lives with efficient services, we want to hear your ideas. In this session, we will talk about value creation in this new era by providing experimental value with the guidance of industry experts. So come and share your ideas! Rika lives in Silicon Valley and recently transitioned from the role Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships at Atheer into a role as Atheer's Advisory Board Member, and joined the founding team of a new Silicon Valley startup delving into AI (Artificial Intelligence) on the Edge (edge-computing).  She also is the founder of a not-for-profit helping women advance on corporate boards.  Born in Japan to a German mother and Japanese father, and trilingual in Japanese, German and English, Rika graduated from International School of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo and went to the US to attend Princeton University, and has worked internationally over the past two decades. She is a technology industry veteran and serves on the Advisory Boards to ventures in the Extended Reality (VR/AR/MR) ecosystem as well as AI startups, and is an active advocate for advancing women's leadership in technology and business across industry verticals and global lines. At Atheer she forged go-to-market programs with technology, OEM, and Solution Integration partners that built and delivered best-of-class Augmented Reality (AR) solutions for the Enterprise.  Having held leadership positions in strategy and business development disciplines at hardware/software and services enterprises and startup ventures globally - from NVIDIA, Sony, Accenture, American Express, china.com among others - Rika embraces the opportunity we have to shape the next 50 years of computing, and her work focuses on driving innovative experiences where human, digital, and physical intersect. Global Head of Brand Management and Marketing of LEXUS As the Global Head of Brand Management and Marketing, Spiros leads the development and deployment of Lexus’ brand strategy, metrics and research, global marketing communications, partnerships and activities throughout the brands worldwide network covering over 90 countries. He is also responsible for defining the future vision of the luxury brand in a time of rapid industry change. Prior to his current role, Spiros was the Head of Brand, Marketing, Consumer Experience and the Lexus Academy for Lexus in Europe overseeing 40 markets. He helped guide the brand to record levels of awareness and consideration. In addition, he has served as Director of Marketing for Toyota & Lexus operations in Spain as well as Head of Brand & Communication Strategy for Toyota Europe. Spiros has a track record of marketing and digital innovation having received several awards such as the Marketing Rising Star by the industry’s leading publication. He also serves as a mentor and coach for the MIT Enterprise Forum which supports promising start-ups. In addition, he is a board advisor to two start-ups in the Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare areas. He also acts a mentor for the US Marketing Academy and was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the world’s most influential CMOs in 2018. In his free time, Spiros plays ice hockey, DJs, rides his motorcycle and cooks. Spiros has worked and lived in North America, Europe and Asia. He is currently based in Tokyo. Chief Business Development Officer of Axelspace Corporation Experienced Marketing, Branding and Corporate Access professional with extensive global financial sector exposure. At Daiwa Capital Markets, originated fundraising road shows, organised and hosted various corporate access initiatives. Prior to that, at Lehman Brothers, developed marketing solutions and worked as a strategic advisor to the business heads to increase revenue. Nurtured marketing and branding experiences at McCann-Erickon, Saatchi&Saatchi and Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Contributed in planning and executing integrated marketing communications to build Brand Equity for iconic brands, including P&G, Adidas, Levi’s, Unilever and Virgin Atlantic. Participated in Axelspace in August 2017 and serves as a Brand Manager. Tsune focuses on investment in mid/late stage venture investments in rapidly growing software companies. Tsune led WiL's investments in Auth0, Asana, and TransferWise and actively worked on investments in Automation Anywhere and BirdEye. Prior to joining WiL, Tsune was VP of Business Operations and Strategy at Evernote. Tsune spearheaded analytics and was instrumental in improving the company’s revenue growth and financial stability through a series of monetization efforts. He has also worked for Blue Ridge Capital, analyzing publicly traded internet companies. Tsune holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo. Hajime is an AI technologist leading 65+ deep learning researchers to help corporates in Bank/Insurance/Manufacturer/Internet Services/Medical/Pharmacy sectors with AI solutions at Cinnamon. Active investor and community contributor in Asia: Organized Vietnam FrontierTech Summit with 1500+ delegates. Also Partner at Zeroth.ai (AI Investment Firm), Founder Institute KL Local Director. Fred is the founder and chief architect of Ascent Robotics, one of Japan's leading AI startups. Ascent develops autonomous robots and vehicles by leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms inspired by theoretical neuroscience. The company raised $18M in Series A in 2018 and employs engineers and scientists from over 20 countries around the world. In addition to founding Ascent, Fred has also founded two other AI firms and chairs Decoded, a Tokyo collective of AI and machine learning experts. Zac’s experience includes leadership roles at multiple successful tech companies. He started initially in AdTech, where he was a part of two successful acquisitions, Admeld (Acquired by Google) and Sociomantic (acquired by DunnHumby). Prior to starting BlockFi, he led business development teams at Orchard Platform, a broker-dealer and RIA in the online lending sector, and Zibby, an online consumer lender. BlockFi provides crypto savings accounts and USD loans and the company has the most coverage of the US market, currently operating in 48 states and also the only lender to raise institutional capital – with a 50M credit facility from Galaxy Digital and investors including Fidelity, Galaxy Digital, Susquehanna, Akuna Capital, and ConsenSys Ventures. This stage is for everyone! If you have a cool idea or if you want to share some thoughts or a current project you're working on, this is your time to shine. Let’s take small actions here - an action that will give you a chance to explore infinite possibilities. A futurist with an artist's eye and an inventor’s mind, Monika Bielskyte prototypes culturally diverse, socially and environmentally engaged future world designs for the entertainment industry, technology companies, and cities/countries.  A large part of her time is devoted to research and strategy in the immersive media technology space (Augmented, Mixed, Virtual Reality and AI). Monika's work consists in connecting bleeding edge technological innovation with some of the world's most original creative visions. Mobile platforms such as Google Play and Android have reached global scale and are bringing billions of people online. They facilitate innumerable connections between users, developers and nonprofits that together create social impact around the world in areas such as health, education, financial inclusion and personal safety. Learn about the social impact needs and interests of global smartphone users to better understand this massive opportunity from a developer’s perspective. We will share best practices and real life examples that will help you build better social impact focussed apps and games. Let’s get creative! Social Impact and Accessibility Partnerships at Google Play Maxim Mai leads Social Impact and Accessibility Partnerships at Google Play. His mission is to amplify the positive impact created by apps and games in communities around the world and to empower their developers to find success on Android and Google Play. He also helps NGOs tap into Google Play to raise awareness and funds for their causes. Part of the Google Play team, Maxim is an expert on app strategy, distribution and revenue models. He has consulted top developers and startups in Europe and North America on how to build and grow sustainable mobile businesses. Maxim has been with Google for six years. Prior to joining Google Play, he worked with strategic online publishers to grow their advertising businesses. Pre-Google, Maxim worked in strategy consulting. He is based in New York City and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honours from The University of Sydney. Co-Founder of Japan Israel Women’s Association (JIWA) Co-Founder of Japan Israel Women’s Association (JIWA) / Marketing Expert at Life is Tech, Inc Global division Alissa Miky is the Co-founder of the Japan Israel Women’s Association (JIWA). JIWA is a volunteer group that supports young people who wish to devote their energy to both work and home. The birth-rate in Israel is 3.11, and records #1 on the OECD. Furthermore, women’s social advancement ranking reached 9th place in OECD, and Israel’s percentage of women in high-tech industries is 35.5%, which is 1.4 times that of America's. Moreover, Israel excels at developing start-ups around the world and acquired 2.3 times as many funds as Japan in 2018. She believes that Israel’s philosophy, as well as their business strategy, will be the motivation for young Japanese people. She became interested in Israel when she worked at an Israeli trading company and met many Israeli people. There, she worked for the marketing, sales, and PR department as a new business development manager of EdTech, Health Tech, Connected Cars, etc. While she was at the Israeli trading company, she surpassed the sales record by twelve times the previous. Alissa Miky has received awards; Forbes JAPAN "100 women shining on earth" youngest recipient. Businesses Insider JAPAN "Game Changer" One of 46 people. Jason Smith is the Vice President of Business Development at Fundbox. In this leadership role, Jason is responsible for identifying and creating global partnerships to help Fundbox achieve its vision of building the world’s first AI-enabled B2B business capital platform.  As a growth leader, Jason brings a strong background and experience e-commerce, fintech, and technology into Fundbox.  Prior to joining Fundbox, Jason spent 13 years at payments and credit giant PayPal in various leadership roles. Most recently Jason was the head of PayPal’s Global Channel Sales business group which, under his leadership, scaled the business globally and grew revenue over 4X.  In addition, Jason was also a founding member of PayPal’s omnichannel business and a key member of the corporate development team where he was responsible for numerous investments, acquisitions, business development and sales initiatives across the eBay Inc. and PayPal portfolio.  Jason is a graduate of Washington State University. Firat Isbecer is an entrepreneur and an angel investor. Isbecer co-founded Pozitron, one of Europe’s fastest growing mobile banking, mobile commerce and payments software companies which was acquired by London-based fintech star Monitise plc in 2014. After joining Monitise, Isbecer oversaw the company’s Eastern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa operations as the Managing Director of Monitise MEA. In 2017, Monitise plc was acquired by US-based a Fortune 500 financial services tech giant Fiserv Inc. After the Monitise-Fiserv acquisition, he left the company and founded Commencis. Commencis helps leading brands to grow and scale in digital by building purposeful products, powered by its Big Data, Analytics and Cloud solutions. Isbecer is also an active seed investor, he is a member of Galata Business Angels, Turkey’s first angel investor group. He has made over 40 seed investments in 11 different countries to date making him one of the most active investors in Turkey. After studying at Robert College in İstanbul, Firat received his Bachelor’s Degree from Galatasaray University, and his Master’s Degree in Geopolitical Studies from a joint programme by the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Isbecer briefly worked at a Paris based independent Euro-Mediterranean Think Tank as a research associate. He has been recognised in Fortune Turkey’s 40 under 40 list numerous times. Special Guest Speech by Yuriko Koike (Governor of Tokyo) Yuriko Koike is the current Governor of Tokyo. Previously she served various roles in the government including Minister of the Environment and Minister of Defense. Click me for more info about Yuriko Koike. Governor of TOKYO, Former Minister of the Environment, Former Minister of Defense Yuriko Koike was inaugurated as Governor of Tokyo in August 2016. Koike served as Minister of the Environment from 2003 to 2006. Later she held two other cabinet posts- Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for National Security Affairs, appointed in 2006, and Japan’s first female Defense Minister, in July 2007. In 2008, she ran for the head of Japan’s ruling party - the first female candidate to ever run for prime ministership. After graduating from Cairo University, Koike began her journalistic career as a TV Personality. She has written books and articles on Japanese politics and international affairs. Fireside Chat with Jenny Lefcourt (Freestyle) and Alice Lloyd George (RRE) Jenny Lefcourt is Partner at freestyle, one of the most successful SF based a seed-stage investor and mentor behind startups like Airtable, 9GAG, and Narvar. Alice Lloyd George is Partner at RRE, a New York-based venture capital behind companies like Venmo, BuzzFeed, and Business Insider. Jenny and Alice will share their experience working in the investment scene. Click for more information about Jenny Lefcourt and Alice Lloyd George Jenny Lefcourt brings 20+ years of technology start-up experience to her role as General Partner at Freestyle, a $90M seed stage fund in San Francisco whose partners are all serial entrepreneurs. Freestyle has has led investments in companies such as Airtable, Intercom, Patreon, Narvar, Wag, and Digit. Jenny is also a founding member of All Raise, a non-profit dedidcated to diversity in funders & founders. Prior to joining Freestyle, Jenny cofounded WeddingChannel.com (sold: XOXO) and Bella Pictures (sold: CPI). She was an angel investor and advisor in many technology companies including Discord, MainStreetHub, StyleSeat & Minted. Jenny earned her B.S. in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and attended Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She lives in Marin with her husband and three children. Alice Lloyd George loves working with entrepreneurs on the frontier of innovation and helps RRE invest in emerging technologies including blockchain, machine intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and NewSpace, as well as consumer and healthcare startups. She appears on Fox Business, was Forbes’ 30 under 30 (2016), and Marc Andreessen calls her “one of the unknown rockstars in tech.” Before joining RRE Alice worked in investments at Bridgewater Associates, and in a prior life lived in Beijing conducting research as a Brookings Institute fellow. Alice hails from the UK, graduated with a BA from Princeton, and began her career at The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, where she reported on business and politics across Asia. She is the founder and host of the hit podcast Flux, a series of conversations with founders at the frontier. You can follow her latest musings on Twitter @amlg23 Chika Terada (Sansan): Be your own rival Chika is co-founder and CEO of Sansan, and IT venture to provide business card-based contact management services. Sansan has now grown to over 6,000 corporate clients and 2.5 million individual users, making it the largest database of its kind in Japan. In this session, Chika will talk about his concept of rivaling himself and how it has helped him to keep growing his business. Prior to founding Sansan in 2007, Chika worked in IT at Mitsui & Co., where he was involved in importing computer equipment, developing systems, and working on joint ventures. In 2001, he was transferred to Silicon Valley, where he dealt with cutting-edge U.S. ventures as they developed their business links with Japan. Upon returning to Japan, he sold database software he brought back from the U.S., and then became a manager at Mitsui, handling corporate planning and management at security-related companies. In May 2007, Chika left Mitsui and together with four friends started Sansan, an IT venture providing business card-based contact management services. Sansan has now grown to over 7,000 corporate clients and over 2.5 million individual users, making it the largest database of its kind in Japan. In 2011, Chika received the U.S. Ambassador’s Award at the Entrepreneurs' Awards Japan. This honor recognizes entrepreneurs who start companies with high growth potential, and devote themselves to becoming market leaders. Fireside Chat with Genki Shiota (Akatsuki) and Yuji Maeda (SHOWROOM) Change the world through the power of entertainment. Join our conversation with Genki Shiota, Co-founder of Akatsuki Japan's Leading Mobile Gaming Company Akatsuki Inc., and Yuji Maeda, the CEO of SHOWROOM Inc., a live streaming platform for hidden talents all over the globe. Click for more info about Genki Shiota and Yuji Maeda. Genki Shiota is the co-founder of Akatsuki, a global entertainment company producing a wide range of entertainment, including globally-popular mobile games, eSports, soccer, films, and VR/MR/AR. Located in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Taiwan and LA, Akatsuki strives to provide the best entertainment experience with excellence by combining digital and real elements and utilizing its knowledge of cutting edge technologies. Akatsuki's vision is to create "A Heart Driven World", or in other words, creating a world where everyone wants to make things which will bring happiness to all. Its mission is to "Make The World Colorful" by making the world shine with entertainment. These vision and mission statements were written and conceptualized by Mr. Shiota himself. Now enjoying its 8th year in business, Akatsuki accelerates investment to support the growth of next-generation start-ups through two CVCs: the AET Fund, and the Heart Driven Fund. Yuji Maeda joined UBS Securities Japan in 2010 after completing his bachelor degree in political science and economics at Waseda University. In July 2011 he was transferred to UBS Securities LLC in New York and began covering institutional investors who were based in the USA and Canada. After three years of his career as a Japanese equity salesperson, he met Tomoko Namba, the founder of DeNA (Japanese internet / social gaming company), which made him join DeNA afterward. He launched "SHOWROOM" in late 2013 as an internal corporate venture of DeNA, which ended up in being spun off into a separate company in 2015. Now he leads the whole business as the CEO of SHOWROOM Inc. Fireside Chat with Yukiko Muto (Uber Eats) and Slush Team Prior to joining Uber, Yukiko co-founded ProTrade (acquired by Rakuten in 2000). She led Japan's business in some of world's top startups including OpenTable and Travelzoo. She was the Head of New Business Sales in Japan before becoming President of Uber Eats, Japan. As a key member of Uber’s Japan Leadership Team, Yukiko is responsible for overseeing the Uber Eats business in Japan. Yukiko joins Uber from Google, where she was the Head of New Business Sales in Japan. Prior to Google, Yukiko was the President of OpenTable overseeing its operations in Japan. Previously Yukiko was the President of Travelzoo Japan and an Executive Officer of Travelzoo Asia Pacific for more than 6 years and also held various senior roles at Rakuten, including Managing Director for Rakuten Dining, where she was responsible for restructuring the business units and managing the special task force projects. Yukiko began her career with Andersen Consulting (Accenture) before co-founding ProTrade. (ProTrade was acquired by Rakuten in 2000). Yuki Kanayama (ZOZO Technologies): What Comes After Exit ? Yuki Kaneyama founded VASILY and developed fashion application a named IQON in 2008 which was later acquired by ZOZO Inc. Now he is running ZOZO Technologies Inc. as Chief Innovation Officer. He will share his founding story, current challenges, and visions for the future. Yuki Kanayama is the founder of VASILY, the company behind Apple and Google’s award-winning fashion application, IQON. In October 2017, the company was acquired by ZOZO Inc. (former START TODAY CO.,LTD.), the owner of ZOZOTOWN, the largest fashion online shopping website in Japan. After the acquisition, he became the Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) of ZOZO Technologies Inc. He is now in charge of operations and new business development of “ZOZO Research”. He is also the author of the book “いちばんやさしいグロースハックの教本” (The Simplest Guide to Hack Growth). Fireside Chat with Evgeny Tchebotarev (500px) and Masaru Ikeda Started from a passion in photography, Evgeny Tchebotarev created 500px, a photosharing community before Facebook and Flickr. After 500px's exit, Ev is now working as VP of Growth Asia at Skylum. Joining Evgeny on stage is Masaru Ikeda, a well-known editor in Japanese start up scene. Click me for more info about Evgeny Tchebotarev and Masaru Ikeda. In early 2004, before Facebook and photo-sharing sites, Evgeny Tchebotarev created a community for photographers to meet, share photos and information. He initially developed this on top of a LiveJournal platform and then founded 500px as a company. As Founder and COO, Chief Product Officer, and later Chief Photography Officer (CPO), Evgeny was responsible for bringing the 500px vision to life through operational excellence, product innovation, community engagement and maintaining a strong link between photographers and 500px team. Originally from Moscow, Ev has earned a BA in Commerce and Finance from Ryerson University in Toronto, graduating with honours in 2007. He began photography in 2002 and immediately became a fascinated with it when he sold three photos to magazines from his first roll of film. Since then he has spent the entirety of his professional career dedicated to the betterment of visual creativity, focusing on photography and design. Ev remains an active photographer and community member, and has been honoured to judge many world class photo contests, including Red Bull Illume, Photo Life, and Sony World Photography Awards. Since 2016, after leaving 500px, Ev travelled to Asia to consult companies, where for 2 years he was focused on helping companies to build Silicon Valley-style product management expertise. In July 2018, Ev joined Skylum as VP of Growth Asia, applying years of hands-on expertise of working with Asian companies to expand Skylum’s award-winning products to Asian markets. Masaru Ikeda writes for many publications and media outlets covering the startup scene in Japan and the rest of the world. He started his career as a programmer/engineer, and previously co-founded several system integration companies and consulting firms. He’s been traveling around Silicon Valley, Europe, and Asia exploring the IT industry and prominent startups. Fireside Chat with Hironao Kunimitsu (gumi) and Reed Stevenson (Bloomberg) Hironao Kunimitsu, founder, and CEO of gumi, Japan's leading gaming startup. He will share his experience running a business in various industries like gaming and blockchain. Joining his talk is Reed Stevenson, Deputy Technology Team Leader of Bloomberg. Click for more info about Hironao Kunimitsu and Reed Stevenson. In 2007, Hironao Kunimitsu founded gumi Inc. which is now a public company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In 2015, he established Tokyo VR Startups Inc. Additionally, in 2016, he led the investment in VR-focused venture capital fund “The VR Fund, L.P.”, and gumi became a general partner. He continued to help nurture the global VR community through co-founding “Seoul VR Startups” in 2016 and “Nordic VR Startups” in 2017, incubation program in Seoul and Nordic respectively. Since mid of 2017, he started to pay attention to the blockchain and cryptocurrency area, then founded Crypto Investment Fund – gumi Cryptos. Reed is a journalist with more than two decades of experience. He returned to Tokyo in 2016 as technology editor at Bloomberg. His previous stint in Japan was reporting for Reuters from 1996 to 2002. In between, Reed's bureau chief assignments with the news agency took him to Seattle, Amsterdam and Dubai. He joined Bloomberg in San Francisco four years ago. A graduate of an international school in Yokohama and the University of Pennsylvania, Reed has reported on business, politics, technology and a variety of stories for print, television and radio. Yoshiki Yasui (Origami): Pioneering a Cashless Society through an Open Platform Mindset With a vision to shape the future of money, payment, and commerce, Yoshiaki Yasui founded Origami. Since 2012, Origami developed Origami Pay, QR-code payment service to create a cashless society in Japan. Born in Toronto in 1985, Yoshiki spent his childhood in Toronto and New York until moving to Japan at the age of 10. For post-secondary education, Yoshiki studied at the University of Sydney and later graduated from Waseda University. Upon graduation, Yoshiki first began his work in the Investment Banking Division for Lehman Brothers. Later he worked at DCM Ventures, a major venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, where he was responsible for investments in the US, Japan and China. Yoshiki founded “Origami” in 2012. Currently, Yoshiki is also a committee member of the Payments Japan Association, as well as the New Industrial Structure Committee of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. Making Social Impact: Maxim Mai (Google Play) and Satoko Kono (ARUN) An enterprise and an investor discuss how to make the world a better place. At Google, Maxim helps app and game developers to create a positive impact. Leading ARUN, Satoko invests in social entrepreneurs in developing countries with capital funds from individuals and businesses in Japan. Click for more info about Maxim Mai and Satoko Kono. Social Impact and Accessibility Partnerships at Google Play Maxim Mai leads Social Impact and Accessibility Partnerships at Google Play. His mission is to amplify the positive impact created by apps and games in communities around the world and to empower their developers to find success on Android and Google Play. He also helps NGOs tap into Google Play to raise awareness and funds for their causes. Part of the Google Play team, Maxim is an expert on app strategy, distribution and revenue models. He has consulted top developers and startups in Europe and North America on how to build and grow sustainable mobile businesses. Maxim has been with Google for six years. Prior to joining Google Play, he worked with strategic online publishers to grow their advertising businesses. Pre-Google, Maxim worked in strategy consulting. He is based in New York City and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honours from The University of Sydney. Her inspiration to promote social investment emerged from her 10 years of experiences in Cambodia. Prior to establishing ARUN, she worked with NGOs and international aid agencies such as JICA and World Bank through which she gained critical knowledge and personal networks in social development in Asia and Africa. Through social investment, Satoko hopes to establish a new international cooperation scheme that contributes both to the empowerment of the people and sustainable development. She has a MSc from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a BA from International Christian University (ICU). She currently serves as ARUN’s president. Pocket Sun: Redefining Next-Gen Women Entrepreneurs and Investors Pocket Sun is the founding partner at SoGal Ventures, one of the world’s largest communities of diverse entrepreneurs and investors. Sogal invested in 50+ startups with world-class founders in the US, Asia Pacific, and Europe. She will talk about a new approach to venture capitalist Pocket Sun is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and global keynote speaker. She founded SoGal, one of the largest global entrepreneurship and venture capital networks for women, with 13 chapters worldwide. Together with her business partner Elizabeth Galbut, she founded SoGal Ventures, the world’s first millennial venture capital firm to invest in early stage companies in the US and Asia led by diverse teams. As millennials themselves, Pocket and Elizabeth invest in the future of how the next generation lives, works, and stays healthy. Since 2015, they have invested in 50 startups, of which two have been acquired. From Israel and Silicon Valley Startup Ecosystem Synergies: Alexander Zaidelson (Beam), Maki Kaplinsky (NFT) Maki Kaplinsky, a serial entrepreneur, co-founder, and CEO of NFT Inc, a Silicon Valley-based start-up, developing a door-to-door, electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing flying car. Her previous startup, IQP Corporation was acquired by GE. Prior to Beam, Mr. Zaidelson spent over 2 years in CIRTech Venture Capital Fund invests in growth and late-stage technology companies in Israel. They will be joining the stage talking about cutting edge technology and innovations and Israel startup scene. Click for more information about Alexander Zaidelson (BEAM) and Maki Kaplinsky (NFT). Alexander Zaidelson is the CEO of Beam. Prior to Beam, Mr. Zaidelson spent over 2 years in CIRTech Venture Capital Fund investing in growth- and late-stage technology companies in Israel. Before CIRTech, Mr. Zaidelson served as Vice President of Product Management at WeFi Inc., a network connectivity and customer behavior analytics company. While at WeFi, Mr. Zaidelson spearheaded the company’s pivot to customer behavior analytics, overseeing creation of leading data products that are unique in the industry. The products created by the team helped WeFi win major clients in mobile application space. WeFi was ultimately acquired by TruConnect Inc. Prior to WeFi, he co-founded Nareos, a mobile peer-to-peer file sharing company that pioneered content and video sharing on smartphone in the pre-iPhone era. Mr. Zaidelson also founded Wikitup, a visual desktop dictionary company that was acquired by iMesh. An entrepreneur at heart, in the course of his career he also served as co-founder or adviser to a number of start-up projects. Mr. Zaidelson holds an MA in Applied Linguistics from St. Petersburg State University and an MBA from Tel Aviv University. Maki Kaplinsky is a serial entrepreneur, Co Founder and CEO of NFT Inc. NFT is a Silicon Valley-based start-up with main R&D in Israel, developing a door-to-door, electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) flying car that drives like a car on the road, and flies like a plane. Maki's previous start-up IQP Corporation, was an early innovator in the Internet of Things and sold to GE in 2017. Fireside Chat with Liu Weichun (KKDay) and Phoebe Amoroso Liu Weichun, co-founder and COO of KKday: Asia’s leading tours, and activities e-commerce platform. Recently KKday closed Series B+ funding co-led by LINE Ventures and the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund. Weichun will share her founding story in an interview with Phoebe Amoroso. Click for more info about Liu Weichun and Phoebe Amoroso. Liu Weichun, co-founder and COO of KKday, is in charge of KKday’s global product management and operational strategies. After graduating from New York University, Liu worked as an investment banker. Afterwards, she joined Dell and served as a supply chain manager. During her time at Dell, she had the opportunity to meet a lot of Taiwanese “invisible brand champions” who excelled technology-wise, but lacked brand management savvy. From this experience, she decided to play a leading role in helping Taiwanese brands establish highly visible positions in the global markets. Knowing that high quality products and good customer service are what make brands influential, Liu Weichun is dedicated to improving KKday’s product development, supply chain management, and user experience. Her goal is to facilitate the ease of booking complete travel itineraries which enable travelers to enjoy more local experiences. She hopes that one day, booking a complete, traveler-customized trip will be as easy as buying a movie ticket Phoebe Amoroso is a multimedia journalist and reporter hailing from the UK. After 2.5 years as a market reporter for NHK World’s Newsline, she joined the channel’s business show Biz Stream as a newscaster and director. In addition to assisting with documentary production, she travels around Japan as a journalist with a focus on cuisine, travel and human stories. A graduate from Cambridge University and the London School of Economics, she moved to Tokyo in 2014 on a Daiwa Scholarship, through which she studied Japanese and worked as a video journalist for Thomson Reuters, making a variety of news and features. Koichiro Yoshida (CrowdWorks): Why You Should Fail Learn from the story of Japan's biggest crowdsourcing service. Koichiro Yoshida, the founder, and CEO of CrowdWorks will share personal episodes and what he learned from his entrepreneurial journey. Koichiro is the President and CEO of CrowdWorks. After his experience at a leading manufacturing company, has been a part of the listing of IT company as one of executives. Later on, founded Crowdworks Inc in 2011 which provides Japan’s largest crowdsourcing service and has taken the lead in crowdsourced equity offerings. The company was listed on TSE Mothers in 2014 and provides services to over 2.24 million crowd-workers which includes,12 government institutions and 290,000 companies as of October, 2018. In 2015, he was awarded the Workstyle Innovative Award in Japan’s Venture Company Award from the Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry proposed by Shinzo-Abe Prime Minister. In 2016, he has taken a position as a director of the Japan Association of New Economy which has membership of around 500 companies and is led by Hiroshi Mikitani (Rakuten). Joy Tang (Markable.ai): AI Innovation for the New Generation Joy Tang is the founder and CEO of Markable.ai, the leading AI computer vision company for the retail sector. It has raised over $5.2M and closing another $6M round from tier one global VCs with billion-dollar clients on most continents. Joy created Markable.ai, after noticing a huge gap in the market between e-commerce and digital content. This gap inspired her to develop the AI technology to make all forms of visual digital content such as photos, videos and live stream content immediately shoppable. In this session, Tang will share her view on the future of fashion with AI. Joy Tang is the CEO and founder of Markable.ai, the leading AI computer vision company for the retail sector. It has raised over $5.2M

Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. Token Black and Token Crip. The Token Minority is a character designed to get more minority groups into the plot. This serves several purposes: Allows the producers of the show to broaden the appeal of the show by giving more viewers protagonists they can identify with. Is useful for bringing in discussions of racial issues, gender issues or homophobia into the plot. Helps the producers feel a little better about using a Scary Minority Suspect in every other case. Allows the producers to make race jokes related to minority without any shame. Allows the producers to avoid criticism from minority groups. Fulfills the executives' desire for the show to be more ethnically respectful. Depending on the setting, it can merely be an accurate representation of demographics in that region or industry. In some casts of animal, alien, or monster characters, World of Funny Animals or not, there is a majority species and one or more minority species. Often the majority of the animal cast is made up of mammals and there is a token non-mammal. Usually, the token non-mammal is a bird, but reptiles, amphibians, and even invertebrates are certainly not unheard of. Sometimes, there are token Petting Zoo People in a group of Funny Animal /Civilized Animal tier animals. Sometimes, there are token animals, aliens, or monsters representing ethnic minorities in a group made of supposedly "white" ones. You might see this term used derisively in most contexts. This isn't out of contempt for minorities; this trope simply causes problems with representation, where, for example, the single black guy is forced to be exemplary of his entire race. This is very likely to lead to Positive Discrimination and make him The Scrappy . If there are instead four minorities (assuming a sizable cast), they can all have different strengths and flaws which round them out and make them generally equal to the rest of the cast. Taking this approach, Unfortunate Implications are unlikely to happen unless you somehow subject them all to the same stereotypes. You can even have one be explicitly antagonistic. However, this can be Truth in Television in cases where the prevalence of the minority, combined with the size of the cast and the demographics of the setting make it genuinely unlikely that there will be more than one member of the minority present (not that this would justify stereotypes, but it would justify having only one minority). For instance, a show set in rural Maine would strain credulity if its cast of five main characters included multiple racial minorities (simply because rural Maine is overwhelmingly white), and a show set in the American Bible Belt would have a hard time convincingly justifying multiple self-professed atheists in a cast of ten (unless a major theme of the show is nonconformity or religious/atheist tensions). Compare Captain Ethnic , Token Nonhuman , Token Human , Token Enemy Minority , Token Minority Couple , Token White , Twofer Token Minority , Five-Token Band , Informed Judaism , Black Vikings , Black Best Friend , and The Smurfette Principle . Examples: open/close all folders Advertising TV Ads in Australia sometimes have this (especially in "hip" young thing products like Coke). May have 1 Asian Woman, 1 African Woman, 1 White Girl, 2 White Guys and 1 Aboriginal or Middle Eastern Male. Target ads are particularly well-known for this. There will always be one blonde white girl, one brunette white girl, one Asian girl and one black girl. Always. University brochures also do this. You'll always see at least one black person and Asian person for every two white people. In brochures for traditionally black schools, there's a token white on every page. Further proof that Covers Always Lie. A controversy erupted after it was revealed that a photograph used to adorn the front of a University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate application booklet for the 2001-02 school year was altered to add the image of a black student among a sea of white faces. A Veet ad has this. When they state that eight out of ten women were happy with the product, they showed a lineup of eight women with one of them being black. Curiously, they are all dubbed over with the same voice. Anime & Manga Poor Hans, in The Daughter of Twenty Faces, is seemingly the only non-Japanese member of a group of burglars led by Gentleman Thief "Twenty-Faces" that is ostensibly a globe-trotting organization. He often uses Gratuitous German, to boot. Super Dimension Fortress Macross/Robotech had Claudia Grant/Claudia LaSalle, apparently the only black woman on the entire ship. Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross had Bowie Emerson, seemingly the only black man on the entire planet Glorie. In Robotech, he was re-written to be Claudia's nephew (and given a new surname of "Grant"). Rakshata and Viletta of Code Geass, as they're the only Non-white/Chinese/Japanese characters of any plot importance, and of the two, Rakshata is the one who gets played in a more positive light. Of the others, we have a supposedly elite pilot who dies mere seconds after she first appears on screen, and King. And Nunnally fits in to the paraplegic category. Mobile Suit Gundam 00: In the first season of Gundam 00, Daryl Dodge has the honor of being the only black person at all. He's also killed off in episode 23. Season 2 does introduce another black man as president of the Earth Sphere Federation, although that might be more to reflect the real world than tokenism. However, he has little impact on the plot. A minor example with Setsuna F Seiei-whilst he does appear to fit this trope both within Celestial Being and in the wider Gundam metaverse in regards to protagonists, his middle eastern homeland forms a two episode story arc in the first season and plays a large role in his interactions with the princess of a neighbouring country. However, the middle eastern aspects of the story only serve to represent the region and 21st century problems to Japanese audiences, and beyond that, has no real importance to the story as the series progresses. Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket has Professor Lunland as the sole black character, and Gabriel as the sole Latino. Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ has the black Shinta and Ambiguously Brown Qum, but that's about it. Later in the show, Judau ended up befriending a young pilot from Africa, but his time on the show was very brief. Simon is the only black character in Durarara!!, though a black gangster is also seen in the episode "Heaven's Vengeance". It's also implied that minor character Tom Tanaka might be part black, though it's never clarified either way. Sailor Moon: Elza Gray was the only black character in Sailor Moon. There was also the Ambiguously Brown Sailor Pluto, depicted as noticeably dark-skinned in comparison to other Senshi, and moreso in the manga. Some say she's of Romani descent. Indian student Akira is the only non-Japanese member of the main cast of Tsuritama. Kate, the grandmother of one of the other protagonists, is French, while several black and Arabic members appear in the show's villainous Cosmopolitan Council. Bob from Tenjho Tenge would count as this. He's the sole black member of the otherwise Japanese cast. Similarly, Central High's Vice President is the only black character in Daily Lives of High School Boys. Understandable since the series is set in a small Japanese town, and usually it tends to be large cities that take part in student exchange programs with other countries. Yasutora "Chad" Sado in Bleach is half-Japanese, half-Latino in an otherwise manga-typical all-Japanese cast. Jun Hono, the half-black, half-Japanese pilot from Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser. Jose Rodriguez, the nerdy Afro-Latino doctor from Kyo Kara Maoh! Mikasa from Attack on Titan is one of the very few Asians alive, if not the last one, at the time of the story. She serves as a deconstruction; she's a token minority because her mother's people have been nearly wiped out. The fandom sometimes jokingly speculates that she's the beneficiary of Conservation of Ninjutsu because of this, resulting in Positive Discrimination. It's ultimately subverted when we find out that Levi's surname is Ackerman, indicating that Mikasa's badass qualities are inherited from her European father's lineage, not her Asian mother's. Choe Gu-Sung from Psycho-Pass is the only Korean character in a series that takes place in Japan. In Saki, an inversion happens for Rinkai, whose mahjong team is otherwise composed of transfer students. Satoha, the vanguard player, is the only Japanese member of the team, partly because of the rules requiring a Japanese player as vanguard, and partly because she is the ace. Played straight with Aislinn of Miyamori's team, who is from New Zealand and is on an otherwise entirely Japanese team. Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa takes place in early 20th century Germany. Of the main characters Noah is the only non-white character, being Romani. Audio Play Lampshaded in The Firesign Theatre's "High School Madness" sketch, from the album Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers, where Mexican-American students come out of nowhere just to ask the white protagonist for advice (then promptly disappear). Comic Books Adam Brashear, the Blue Marvel who featured in the eponymous mini series of 2009, represents a rather awkward representation of this trope. He is for all intents and purposes (in the context of the story) a Black Superman from a time when the adjective was quite emphatically capitalized. And applied as a noun. It doesn't help that even without his powers, Brashear is a super-man - an athlete, military hero and scientific genius who gained ultra-super-powers when the experimental anti-matter reactor he was creating exploded. For about a year, he was the primary hero of the Marvel Universe (perhaps coincidentally around the same time the Sentry was supposedly very successful), but then it was discovered he was black, which immediately led to outrage and uproar among both black and white communities, until the President (JFK) gave the Blue Marvel the Congressional Medal of Honor and told him to quit being a superhero. Which he did until the present day. He is now a member if the Mighty Avengers. Under the "women as minorities" category (which, in superhero comics, they definitely were until much later and in many books still are) every superhero team used to have exactly one female member. The Avengers had The Wasp (later replaced by the Scarlet Witch), the Fantastic Four had the Invisible Girl (later Invisible Woman), the Justice League had Wonder Woman (or the Black Canary, depending on when you asked), the Teen Titans had Wonder Girl, the original X-Men had Marvel Girl, and the second team of X-Men had Storm (who was also, for quite a while, the only black X-Man. She joined the team along with Sunfire, a Japanese man who left almost immediately, and Thunderbird, a Native American man who died almost immediately, making her also the only active non-white X-Man for a good while). All those teams except the FF tend to have more female members these days (though the JLA goes through periods of focusing on D.C.'s "Big 7" wherein Wonder Woman is the only female member) and some have gone through stretches where the women outnumbered the men. Blindside in the comic series Relative Heroes. Notable in that the series was about a family of superheroes, and Blindside was explained as having been adopted in order to justify having a black kid as part of the main cast. The Justice League goes back in forth on this, with some eras (such as the Meltzer and McDuffie years) having very diverse casts, while others, like the James Robinson run, were criticized for having no minority members whatsoever. During the New 52 relaunch, Cyborg was retconned into being the sole non-white founding member of the original team, presumably to make up for the extended periods of whiteness. Lampshaded in Grant Morrison's JLA run. Plastic Man jokingly states that Steel can't quit the Justice League because then the team would lose its only minority member. Archie Comics: In order to keep up with changing American trends, the comic added some ethnic characters in the 70's: African-Americans Coach Clayton, his son Chuck (who, like many Africans of the day, sported a righteous 'fro) and Chuck's girlfriend Nancy, as well as the Hispanic Frankie Valdez & his girlfriend Maria. As of 2010, the former three continue to appear quite regularly (and Chuck has naturally lost the 'fro). The latter two, not so much. The company later introduced Kevin Keller, the first gay character in the series. Kevin was met with backlash by some conservative Christian groups but his debut issues sold very well and he was even given his own mini-series. Later Archie comics have also introduced some other minority characters, including Ginger Lopez (who works for a teen fashion magazine) and Raj Patel (an Indian student interested in film). Ginger shows up fairly regularly (moreso than Maria). In Archie Comics (2015) Jughead is asexual. He's the only known ace character. Debuting in 52, Batwoman managed to provoke a Broken Base even before this due to press releases touting her as DC's first lesbian hero, who would be receiving DC's full support. Then DC promptly didn't do anything with her outside the series for over a year (and even in the series, she received little attention, as she was more supporting cast for her girlfriend, Renee Montoya). In all that time, she had very little storyline, so her characterization was mostly as a closeted lesbian and a Jew. When she came back in her own series, she was retconned into having a much more butch look and having come out several years before her first appearance. The Falcon was this in-universe. He was added to The Avengers because Gyrich insisted that the team should have more black members; he didn't actually want to join. According to Christopher Priest, Falcon's nickname in the Marvel offices throughout the 70s and early 80s was "Fal-coon". No, Priest wasn't alright with it, though being a lowly intern at the time, he didn't raise a big stink. In his blog, he refuses to name the co-workers who used it for fear of burning his bridges. Years later, Triathlon served the exact same role (again, in-universe) during Kurt Busiek's run. Later iterations of the team were thankfully more diverse. Rage also had bits of this in his debut story. He was given a spot on the Avengers line-up after picking a fight with Captain America over the lack of minority heroes on the team. Empress was the sole minority member of the original Young Justice team, and was added relatively late into the run after some complaints about the Monochromatic makeup of the cast. Lampshaded in Peter Milligan's X-Force run with Anarchist, a black superhero who opposes the decision to add another black member to the team. His reasoning? Since most superhero teams rarely have more than one minority member, another black guy on the team means that one of them will inevitably die. Averted in the X-Statix series that followed, which has an additional black member (Venus), plus a Latino member (El Guapo), and two gay members (Vivisector and Phat). In the 2005 Marvel comic Wha...Huh?, one of the stories reimagines Black Panther as a white man from South America, who is upset when he learns that The Avengers just want a token black superhero in their team and thought he was misrepresenting his race (also, Black Widow is just there to fill the "woman quota".) Though Runaways had a more diverse cast than most other mainstream comics, the team has only ever had two black members, neither of whom stayed until the end of the series, and one of whom was actually a Skrull. Superman comics Ron Troupe started as the only black recurring staff member working at The Daily Planet. Jem and the Holograms: Jetta, the token British character. She was the only non-American until The Stingers showed up. Jetta's also the only non-white member of her band, but this is downplayed as the series has a diverse cast. Blaze is the only confirmed transgender character thus far. Fan Works The "black guy in the corner" from Sherlock Season 4. The author even explicitly states that he added him so his story wouldn't be racist. In the early days of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom, Twilight was often portrayed the only POC in Ponyville when the cast was "humanized" in fan works, usually as black or Indian. Nowadays, more diverse interpretations are becoming more popular in the fandom, such as Middle Eastern Fluttershy and Rarity, Black or biracial Pinke Pie, Applejack and/or Rarity being trans mares, varying sexualities amongst the Mane Six, and Rainbow Dash being a black or latino lesbian showing up sometimes. Film Parodied by Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle with posters advertising the first movie as starring "That Asian guy from American Pie" and "That Indian guy from Van Wilder". In terms of film, equally well parodied/referenced by the "Token Black Guy" in Not Another Teen Movie. Named Malik Token, the Genre Savvy token helpfully explains the joke to the audience by introducing himself as the person that stays out of conversations and says "Damn!", "Shit!", and "That is whack!" At a party later in the film, he sees another black guy, played by Sean Patrick Thomas, Token Minority from Cruel Intentions, and tells him that he was at the party first and the other man apologizes and leaves the party. Malik's Crowning Moment of Awesome was when he got to say, "Damn, that shit is whack!" There's also the musical number: "I'm only in this song because I'm a black guy" Star Wars After Episode IV became a blockbuster, numerous people noticed that an entire galaxy of humans were all white. (Which was not entirely true; it was just that the main characters were all white.) Episode V introduced Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, the Token Minority Black. Samuel L. Jackson in the prequels may also be a example of this, as his character serves as little more than a background character until Revenge of the Sith (excluding his excellent use in the Clone Wars shorts). Casting Temuera Morrison, who is a Mori, as Jango Fett and by retroactive consequence, his clone Boba Fett and every single clonetrooper reduces all other characters in the series (black, white or green) to token minorities by sheer weight of numbers. The initial casting announcement for the first episode of the third trilogy included another black actor, but not Billy Dee Williams. Meaning, as of this writing there are now three black guys in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, but in accordance with this trope, only one is allowed to be alive at any one time. Since then, they've also added Lupita Nyong'o to the cast of Episode VII (but she voices an orange-skinned alien, so the actress's race is not visible). While the 2006 historical film Flyboys was already heavily criticized for its historical inaccuracies relating to its World War I setting, one of the more amusing ones came from the film's fictional Token Minority, Eugene Skinner, a black boxer who joined the squadron to 'pay back' his adopted homeland. Mainly because the end of the movie showed a picture of the real-life squadron which was composed of exactly zero minorities. A rare moment where a film actually seems proud to reveal when it didn't do its research. The Other Wiki's entry on the film points out that the film confuses the Lafayette Escadrille with the Lafayette Flying Corps with whom Eugene Bullard (the real person Skinner was based on) actually flew. Harvey Weinstein loved using this trope for his productions back in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Starting with Scream 2, nearly all of his teen-aimed productions had at least one token black character (often played by a rapper) solely to bump up the box office. He seemed to stop this after Shall We Dance?, which had an Advertised Extra in the form of Ja Rule (who appeared in one concert scene and had no purpose to the plot). Mercutio is a black Drag Queen in the Baz Luhrmann film of Romeo & Juliet. Also a case of Black Dude Dies First. Rochelle in The Craft, the only black girl of the four member witches' Coven, not that it make her more sympathetic than the rest at the end though. Both versions of Stephen King's It, the Made-for-TV Movie It (1990) and the theatrical It (2017) have the character of Mike, the only African-American kid of the Losers' Club, who is also in the novel. Literature The Animorphs series was actually pretty groundbreaking in its handling of minorities. In the '90's, it was extremely unusual for a middle-grade novel to have a minority protagonist at all, let alone four of them. (Rachel and Jake were Jewish, Cassie was black, and Marco was hispanic). It also got away with discussing prejudice a few times, a biracial relationship (and it was even acknowledged a couple times), and a little racism portrayed when the ultimate message wasn't about the evils or racism (specifically, the society at the beginning of the third Megamorphs, and the racist guy Cassie meets when she travels through time). They even acknowledged the existence of gay people, which was almost never done. Oh, and there were two female protagonists, and they weren't treated any differently than the males in terms of their ability to kick ass, making the series one of the first middle-grade series to have a cross-gender appeal. All in all, it was one of the most inclusive series of its day. And in later books, K. A. Applegate proved even more that she was dedicated to diversity without stereotypes. One of those later books was the Remnants series, which had several black, Hispanic, and Asian characters, a character who had a messed up face because it was burned in a fire (2Face), and Noyze, who grew up deaf. They even tried to put a lesbian in this kids series from 2001, but sadly, it didn't quite work as planned. Invoked in a short story "Papanin's Mauser" by Michael Veller. It depicts a drift-ice research unit of four people. Three of them are Russians and Communists and the last one is a nonpartisan German. According to the Soviet laws three Communists is enough to constitute a Party cell, so every day they have to conduct a Party meeting, for members only. During these meetings the German has to leave the "meeting room", that is the tent where they all live and spend time tramping around it in the bone-chilling cold. Eventually he applies for membership in the Party to end this nightmare but is rejected on the following ground: as he is he symbolizes the international nature of the Soviet people and the unbreakable ties between partisans and nonpartisans. Jessi (black), Claudia (Asian), and Abby (Jewish) in The Baby-Sitters Club. Lheorvine is the only black man in Black Legion, and one of precious few in Warhammer 40,000. Before Matt Ward retconned their dark skin into a "mutation" the Salamanders space marines, and the people of their homeworld, Nocturne, were an entire planet of token blacks. Post-Ward, it's assumed that the denizens of Nocturne are white, but "turn black" when they become Salamanders. In How to Build a Skydeck, fish-out-of-water protagonist Stan realizes that all his co-workers avoid him for being a Token Minority. Specifically, being the only white guy on the construction crew. Lord Wulfston in The Savage Empire books by Jean Lorrah is the only black person we see in the first five books or so. On the other hand, nobody makes a big deal about it; he just has a hard time being anonymous. Harry Potter's school Hogwarts has a few, including the very Irish Seamus Finnegan (although there may be others who are less obvious), the Indian Patil twins, the Jewish Anthony Goldstein, the Chinese Cho Chang, and the black Dean Thomas, Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Blaise Zabini. To Mrs. Rowling's credit, no ado is made of any of these characters' ethnicities, nor are they ever described as such. In fact, Word of God has been needed to identify some of the black characters in the series. Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels: Yoko Akia is the Token Asian, and Alexis Thorne is the Token Black of the Sisterhood or the Vigilantes. The other women are white. The two characters' nationalities definitely play a role in the series. Oddly, Alexis reveals in her thoughts that she knows that she was framed for crimes she did not commit because she was a poor black woman, but in the book starring her called Lethal Justice, that was not brought up at all! Gone has a very large and very diverse cast, with multiple black, Asian, Latin, and gay characters, and even one character with severe autism. The Mortal Instruments: Simon is Jewish, Maia is biracial, and Magnus is part Asian. The House of Night: Kramisha is the only black Red Fledgling. She is portrayed as a Soul Sister who speaks mostly in jive. Shaunee, the only black member of the "nerd heard" (and the only black lead for the first several books) and who we're constantly reminded is black. In the book "Come a Stranger" by Cynthia Voigt, the main character gets to be the only black girl at an exclusive summer camp. After the camp gives her a lame reason for kicking her out, she gets asked "How does it feel to be an ex-token minority?" Both Jem Carstairs and Magnus Bane from The Infernal Devices are part Asian. Radar from Paper Towns; he even lampshades this by referring to himself as the "token black friend" of the group. Mike in Stephen King It (see the film version). Live Action TV Teen Wolf seems to maintain a slot for a recurring gay extra (Danny in seasons 1-3, Mason in season 4). These characters are usually only in about half the episodes in any given season, onscreen for less than two minutes if they do appear and may not have any actual dialogue. They occupy the roles of best friends of secondary characters. If they have dialogue, it almost invariably contains some reminder that they are gay. The tokenism appeared to be broken in Season 3 with the introduction of gay werewolf Ethan. But he also occupied a minor role, did not always have lines and was only present for the one season. 30 Rock Lampshaded when, to call attention during a GE exclusive lunch, Jack calls out, "Gentlemen... token ladies." The character Toofer is named for the Twofer Token Minority trope. In a transparent attempt to say "we had a gay regular on the show," Law & Order had Serena Southerlyn come out as lesbian to the audience in the last minute of her final episode. Worth noting that actress attended the same school of Mona Lisa Smile as listed above. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit lampshades it when Detective Fin replaces Detective Jeffries (both are black). The show also averted it in later seasons with the addition of M.E. Warner and Dr. Huang to the regular cast. As of Season 15 this trope is entirely averted, as of the five members of the main cast two are Latino and one is black. Rajesh "Raj" Koothrappali of The Big Bang Theory was born and raised in New Delhi, a reference to his actor, Kunal Nayyar, having spent most of his life growing up in the city. Averted in Grey's Anatomy, in which almost half the regular cast is non-white. The production team is, however, very aware and tellingly proud of the fact. The GA staff used racial-blind casting, when you start auditions without picking the ethnic background of the characters. However as the show continued and a load of new cast members were added, the majority of them were white. Brooklyn Nine-Nine averts this trope. Of the seven members of the main cast, three are female, two are Latina, two are African-American, and one is Jewish. Captain Holt, is both African-American and gay, though neither he nor his partner fall easily into stereotypes. Argentine-born actress Stephanie Beatriz said that when she and Cuban-American Melissa Fumero realized they were both members of the main cast, they were sure there had been a mistake and that one of them was going to get fired Subverted on The Red Green Show, with the character of Edgar K.B. Montrose, played by First Nations actor Graham Greene. Greene himself approached producer Steve Smith, asking to be on the show after enjoying it on TV. The role they gave him was essentially colour-blind - that of an explosives "enthusiast" who can't really call himself an expert, since experts have the proper license and permits, and more training in handling dynamite than just watching a lot of Road Runner cartoons. Edgar was Too Dumb to Live, but that also described everybody else on the show. The only reference to Greene's ethnicity in his time on the show was a humorous Shout-Out in his first appearance, when Edgar commented about the film Dances with Wolves, and stated that the "Native guy" (Greene himself), should have gotten the Oscar. Similarly, the only non-white main character on Corner Gas is Davis Quinton, the Sergeant of Dog River's two-member police force. He (and the actor who plays him, Lorne Cardinal) is a member of the Cree Nation, hardly a rarity in Rural Saskatchewan. However, this is incidental to his character; it's only brought up once, at the end of the first season, when Karen suggests going to a ticket scalper and he acts offended. Also, both bartenders (Phil and Paul) appear Cree. One of them speaks some Cree, enough to know the original name of Dog River. Referenced in Star Trek: Voyager (itself a very racially diverse show) where Janeway and Chakotay discuss the issues involved in a ship crewed by both Federation members and Maquis separatists. Janeway notes that by making the Maquis Chakotay her second in command she hopes she has already shown that she can be tolerant of them, and Chakotay responds, "I have no intention of being your token Maquis." Back in the original series, the creators had to fight Executive Meddling to get two Token Minorities, Sulu and Uhura, on the bridge, and some nonwhites among the extras. The original pilot pushed further with a female second in command, and Spock was considered to be radical at the time as an Alien, especially with the original plans being for Spock to have either green or red skin. Also notable that both lead characters of Spock and Kirk were played by Jews. Then there's the gutsy move of creating a Russian main character at the height of the Cold War. Deep Space Nine, with a somewhat varied cast itself, has an odd class example. Miles O'Brien is heavily played up as a Closer to Earth blue-collar NCO in a staff of implicitly elite Officer and a Gentleman types, complete with a labour-movement martyr in his ancestry. (Granted, one can call Captain Sisko upwardly-mobile, as the son of a restaurateur, but this was revealed much later and never emphasised). Though the Federation is supposed to be truly egalitarian, classless meritocracy, so the whole issue is a little murky. Star Trek: The Next Generation of course had Worf as an in-universe example, the only Klingon in all of Starfleet, having been adopted by humans in his youth. Quite a bit of Character Development resulted from his dealings with born-and-raised Klingons who variously failed to live up to his idealized image of Klingon honor or disapproved of his choice to stay with the humans instead of returning to his people (where his family was disgraced anyways). Another in-universe example would be Data as the only Android of the Starfleet (and one of the very few Androids of the whole universe). In The Class Kyle's boyfriend Aaron is introduced as a secondary character to counteract the Monochrome Casting. Averted in the original Battlestar Galactica, especially in the episode "Fire In Space" which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Boomer and Tigh's extensive roles. Pete Ross from Smallville is an especially funny example, as his comic book counterpart is white. Both radio experts on Hogan's Heroes were token black characters. Given that they were all prisoners and obviously not all from the same unit, WWII segregation wasn't really an issue. Sgt. Kinchloe (played by Ivan Dixon) was more than the radio expert - he was second-in-command. He also had at least three episodes showcasing him. And his role was prominent enough that the practice of cutting out the black characters for the "Southern Version" (practiced up to the late 1960's) wasn't usually possible. Sgt. Baker (played by Kenneth Washington) was a better fit when he took Kinchloe's place, having previously been the one black guy in the mob of line-less background prisoners. It is still notable that most of Kinchloe's spotlight episodes were the only ones to feature a black Girl of the Week (an African princess and an old high school girlfriend respectively). Saturday Night Live has been guilty of this at multiple points in its run. Garrett Morris in the 70s. Eddie Murphy in the early 80s. While certainly nobody would question Murphy's right to be there, the fact remained that the show felt no obligation to have another black in the cast as long as Murphy was there. (In fact, Robert Townsend, who was originally hired to be the token black guy, was let go once Murphy showed up.) In the early 90s, the show for a change had multiple blacks in the cast. However, when SNL turned over most of its cast in 1995, they kept Tim Meadows on primarily to avoid giving the impression that the show was trying to rid itself of all its black performers. For the past few years it's been just Kenan Thompson. Season 35 introduces Jay Pharoah alongside Kenan. As a matter of fact, he's beginning to take some precedence over Kenan, especially to play the skinnier, more handsome African-American celebrities such as Denzel Washington. But it helps that his impressions are spot-on for nearly anyone. However there's also the non-black but non-white characters, like Nasim Pedrad, who is Iranian (notwithstanding the controversy over whether Iranians should be lumped in with Arabs and other Semitic peoples, or whether they are "dark whites"), or Fred Armisen who is part German, Japanese and Venezuelan. He is both the second Asian and second Hispanic cast member of SNL. The first Hispanic cast member was Horatio Sanz, a white Hispanic from the looks of him. He was often cast as Italian characters. In late 2013, SNL received a lot of criticism for their relative lack of black female cast members throughout their almost 40 year history. They held a casting call and ended up casting Sasheer Zamata, who is only the fifth black female cast member in the history of the show and the only one on the show since Maya Rudolph's departure in 2007. Benson from Soap (made in the 70s, mind) was the only black character in the show for the first three seasons and he was the butler. He was never used to put across any racial message and if anything he was the Only Sane Man in the entire show. When Benson got replaced in season three, there was Saunders the Expy, also black. In season three only there was Polly Dawson, a black woman who dates Danny who was there to try and push a racial message around. They do get some racial attacks and eventually Danny gets paranoid about everybody staring at the two of them in public. MADtv was guilty of this with Bobby Lee, the only Asian on the show. He even played a stereotypically Asian recurring character. Ricky and later Junito (Latino) of Noah's Arc, which has a predominantly African-American cast. In fact, they are the only non-African-Americans of the cast. A sketch on Dead Ringers lampshaded this with the Schwarzenegger film Shooting Lots and Lots of Bad Guys with my Very Big Gun- Arnie shouts "Noooooo! Token Black Buddy!" after his sidekick is killed by Token British Bad Guy. Dreama (black) in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Both subverted and played straight. Instead of bringing a token gay character onto the show, the writers had one of the three central characters turn out to be a lesbian. On the other hand, it wasn't until the seventh season that there was an important character who was black, and when he did show up he was the token black guy. Season 3 had the Genre Savvy (and sadly under-used) villain Mr. Trick, a modern black vampire who commented on the fact that there were very few people of color in Sunnydale. There were also a few other black characters, like Absalom and Olivia, as well as Rona in season seven. Before coming out as Lesbian, Willow was already the Token Jewish Girl. Of course after her outing she became Twofer Token Minority. The U.S. black music program Soul Train had some token white dancers in the audience. The character of Charlie Young was added to The West Wing just because the NAACP was criticizing the show for not having a Token Minority. Charlie's "token minority" status is particularly interesting in this case, as the only two of the shows main characters are white and Protestant (and that is if one guesses on Sam, whose religion is not mentioned but can be presumed not to be Catholic or Jewish). Two of the main characters are Jewish, four are Catholic, making the show's main cast far more diverse than the actual US population, even without Charlie in the mix. Star Trek: Enterprise, unlike the previous shows (which were such aversions of Humans Are White they were often accused of being Five Token Bands by some), has a black guy, a Asian woman, and everyone else is white. And also note that, in order to make it obvious to the audience he was only on the show so they could say they had a Token Minority, the black guy was a glorified extra... Subverted on ''Sue Thomas F. B. Eye" where the main character is a deaf female FBI agent. Scrubs had the great feature of JD and Turk's College Brochure. Turk is photoshopped in twice to make it appear more diverse. Lampshaded in the episode My Long Goodbye when Turk struggles to think of other black members of staff. He gets himself and Nurse Roberts (whom he is speaking to), Snoop Dog Attending, and Leonard the Security Guard... Turk:This is a white-ass hospital. He then adds that if this were a horror movie, he'd be getting nervous. Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati, although the show made a strong effort to depict him as a well-rounded individual. Parodied in an episode of The Real Husbands of Hollywood where George Lopez guest-stars as himself, with his introduction caption stating "Helping attract Latino audience." On House, Omar Epps was the only series regular of color for three seasons, until House hired three new underlings, at which point Kal Penn became the token South Asian guy. Having said that, Wilson, Cuddy and Taub are all Jewish to varying degrees of obviousness. And Thirteen is bisexual, and House is an atheist. And his atheism is portrayed... well, not negatively, at any rate. They do okay. Robin Hood has David Harewood as a black Friar Tuck in 12th century England. Van-Pires had Snap, who is really blatantly this (just look at that nickname!) Bonnie Bennett in The Vampire Diaries TV show. She has her own storyline for a bit, but it turns out to exist only to facilitate the (white, male) lead vampire's storyline. She was white in the books - but they completely erased the existence another extremely prominent female character who was Latina and definitely minimized Bonnie's personality and agency. Joss Whedon's Firefly Zoe, the second in command on board Serenity, is both black and a female in a position of authority. And she's badass! Shepherd Book is black, old, religious and badass! There are, however, no Chinese people. The villain from the Big Damn Movie, a Wicked Cultured black Well-Intentioned Extremist with a katana who avoids every Scary Black Man trope apart from being both black and fucking terrifying. Showtime's Dexter manages to avert this. In adapting from the book, the producers were given the liberty to change the ethnicity of any character based on the actors they wanted to hire. Instead, they hired a genuinely racially diverse cast and nobody got a Race Lift. However, the issue of tokenism is addressed; LaGuerta got her position based on her ability to spin things to her advantage and her Twofer Token Minority status (black Hispanic woman), and when she pisses off her boss, he very carefully replaces her with a second twofer-token (a black, Haitian woman) who got her rank as an officer the hard way. Captain Matthews: (referring to LaGuerta's replacement) Turns out she's an actual hero. Khaleel "Kenny" Al-Bahir is the Token Middle Eastern in The War at Home. Also token gay. In Flashpoint, we have Lewis Young, Winnie the dispatcher and after Lewis's death Leah Kerns as the Token Minorities. Spin City had Carter Heywood, a Twofer Token Minority who averted both Positive Discrimination and plain old discrimination by being a well-rounded character. Michael Boatman was the only regular black cast member. Lost, despite having a huge cast from a diverse range of backgrounds, only ever had one gay character, Tom Friendly. And his sexuality wasn't even confirmed until after he'd been killed off. Some Disney Channel shows include a rich, intelligent, yet conniving and selfish Latino as a token minority character. Some examples: That's So Raven, The Proud Family and Hannah Montana. Earth 2 had a token black character who was a violent criminal whose "reform" consisted of a chip in his brain when the chip malfunctioned, he tries to kill everybody. Carrusel has a few. Cirilo is Black. David is Ashkenazi Jewish. Kokimoto is Japanese. Bibi is North American of English Ancestry. Jim Carrey launched his career being the only white guy (most of the time) on the predominantly black In Living Color!. Modern Family has Gloria and her son Manny, who fit Hispanic stereotypes perfectly. They are also used as an excuse to use Hispanic jokes shamelessly. There are also two gay men who are raising an adopted Vietnamese child. Boy Meets World had two separate token blacks a different points: Eli Williams in season 3 and Angela in seasons 5-7. Angela lampshades this a few times: "Gosh I got to get some black friends." Transparently present every single time a British channel is presenting Association Football. The usual line up is "old white managernoteCoach, for American audiences.", "middle-aged white recently retired ex midfielder/defender/goalie", "just-retired black forward/midfielder". Sometimes they even try to claim "Scottish" as equivalent to "black." Infrequently but annoyingly, the channel ends up with someone from Francophone Africa whose grasp of the English language simply isn't up to the job, making the tokenism at play especially obvious (and presumably depriving Francophone viewers of the much better standard of commentary he could offer in his native tongue). The modern Charlie's Angels revamp adds a black Angel in order to appeal to modern audiences. Stockinger, the spinoff of the Austrian show Inspector Rex, has Antonella Simoni, a cheerful Italian-Austrian cop and the first female cop to appear in the Inspector Rex franchise. A few Australian cop shows have had a single token Polynesian cop - Water Rats, Rush, and East West 101 are good examples, although East West 101 had a Muslim Arab-Australian cop as the main character, so in that case 'token' would be stretching it. Regardless, whether this represents a trend in the Real Life Aussie police force, or just actor availability, is unknown. All 3 CSI series had one black character each. CSI had Warrick first and then Ray Langston, though with his departure, there aren't any. CSI NY had Sheldon Hawkes. CSI: Miami had Alexx (season 1-6), Tara (season 7), and Walter (season 8-10). There are quite a few black characters on Supernatural, but somehow none of them come even as close to being core cast as the women. In fact, the only one who managed to be seriously recurring was the psychotic Vampire Hunter who eventually became a vampire. His Scary Black Man traits were played with initially in that Dean thought he and his badass attitude toward decapitation was awesome, and then the guy turned out to be a hateful extremist who'd offed his own little sister after she was vamped, which pushed Dean's Berserk Button, and who didn't make any distinction between Friendly Neighborhood Vampires and the dangerous kind. The archangel Raphael, the one who never really does anything or gets much characterization, is the one linked to a bloodline of black people. He never even wears the same black person for more than a couple of appearances, because after he burns them out and dumps them they're in no condition to consent again. That poor family. Also, those poor actors. The guy who he wore in 'Free to be You and Me' was pretty impressively creepy. There was a married black couple of hunters, one of whom was British, who were rude and overconfident. The husband died in their first appearance, and the wife was not very useful and never came back. First-season psychic character Missouri Moseley could have been useful on a number of occasions since when they've been desperate for allies, including on a couple of occasions specifically a psychic, but has never even been referenced, even when they went back to her town, although it was too late for help by that point. In seasons two and three there were a few appearances by hard-assed Cowboy Cop Victor Hendriksen, the black FBI agent assigned to the Dean Winchester case. He had an Enemy Mine when the station in which he was holding the boys fell under demonic siege, and after they left he was killed. He reappeared as an angry ghost at the beginning of season four. There's also Bobby's old partner Rufus Turner, gruff old bastard with a taste for fine scotch. Minorities other than black generally don't even get token appearances, though there were some hot Asian fanservice girls, at least one with a small speaking part. The longest running non-white character is probably Kevin Tran, who showed up at the very end of season 7 and made sporadic appearances throughout seasons 8 and 9. His mother, Linda, also premiered around the same time, but has been in even fewer episodes than him. And as of the mid-season 9 finale, Kevin has been killed off. He showed up as a ghost a few episodes after that, and left with Linda. Neither have been back since. This is a show about two white guys, with the addition of up to two other white guys, where a supermajority of women with speaking roles are blondes. Everything but white males appear only as token, although a couple of white women have gotten to the level of supporting cast before dying. Or, in one case, being given Laser-Guided Amnesia so they wouldn't be traumatized by their kidnapping, or miss Dean after he left them for their own good. Initially played straight and later subverted in The Walking Dead with T-Dog, who is the only major character in the series not to have any sub-plots and little dialog. Extremely apparent in Season 2 episode "Judge, Jury, Executioner" in which the group deliberates whether or not to kill Randall, the episode focuses on the opinions of every member of the group except T-Dog whose one line of dialog is cut off by Dale. Also played straight in Season 3. T-Dog is killed off, shortly after they gain a new black cast member. The new black guy is then killed off later, just as Tyreese, another black guy, shows up. Later, Tyreese and his sister Sasha join the main cast, though Tyreese died in the episode after Beth. Add in Michonne at the start of Season 3, and she is easily one of the most prominent female characters on the show, being an undeniable badass with a sword. Additionally, both Michonne and Sasha are still alive and important to the show, as of the mid-season finale for Season 7. Angel had Charles Gunn as the only black guy, though Doyle and Lorne might count as token demons. In Chuck, it's lampshaded that Morgan only manages to keep his job at the Buy-More because of his Hispanic descent, fulfilling the ethnic that she's a transgender. She does this before providing little else in the context of the game. In StarCraft, the only black fellow in the entire Colonial/UED Marine Corps drives the SCV. I get that Terrans are space hillbillies, but wow... Ace Combat series' Constructed World of Strangereal seems to have no equivalent of Africa or East Asia, yet some token characters obviously representing those regions' ethnic groups come included: The most egregious case is the Series Mascot Kei Nagase, who has appeared in some form (i.e. as one of mostly unrelated women who just happen to have exact same name, looks, and similar personalities) in Ace Combat 2/Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy , Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, and Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War despite being the only apparently-Japanese person in world where no Japan exists (she also pops up in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon and Ace Combat Infinity but those are set on alternate Earths, making her appearance more plausible, if still token). As noted, no equivalent of Africa exists in Strangereal, so Keith Bryan from Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere and Marcus Snow from Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War seem to be the only black guys in the world so far. Harvest Moon occasionally has a few. For example, Harvest Moon 64 has a black fisherman and Ambiguously Brown Kai in a town full of mainly white (and a few Asian) people while Story of Seasons introduced the first explicitly gay character in the series. Body Blows: The British boxer Junior is the only black guy among the human characters. Though Junior does make up for this somewhat as being a prominent character in that he is one of the only two characters to be in all of the games of the series. Web Comics Alice in the Loserz strip. As she says in one strip, one of the few black kids in school. The character of Kay Wheeler in Misfile exists solely to try and crack open Emily's Transparent Closet. Missi Fuller's ethnicity, while lampshaded in her intro comic, serves no plot purpose other than to bring a bit of variety to the cast and the sole black character who's particularly recurring, Eponine, only in later times started getting attention. Grace and Nanase in El Goonish Shive. Sort of. Sensei Greg too, but he's become a Brother Chuck. And Nanase doesn't even look very Japanese. Clark is probably this in Shape Quest. Subnormality: Lets not forget to always give them One Award. Homestuck: The Webcomic within the MS Paint Adventure Homestuck, Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff has the most pointless of Token Minority characters with Geromy. Introduced as "The new friend", he has never moved, spoken, or been aknowledged by another character. He's even called the token black friend in the theme song! Amusingly enough, he is actually the third black character introduced after Barack Obana and The Big Man, with both actually having at least a minimum of a role in the comics. Interestingly, in Homestuck itself, Word of God has given a similar, though less cynical, rationale for having Jade, Nepeta, and Equius be furries. Hilariously subverted in Errant Story by Bani, who's well aware of her status and doesn't want to become the black dude who dies first. Axe Cop does it with as crazy a twist as everything else: When asked whether there will be "members of other races" in Axe Cop's team, they introduce a merman team member. Parodied in a Shortpacked! strip dealing with the controversy around Michael B. Jordan being approached to play the Human Torch. An irate comic fan complains to Jacob about this development and states that this would likely make the Invisible Woman (Torch's sister) black as well, and when Jacob doesn't see a problem with this, the fanboy responds by claiming that having two black people in the cast would be "unrealistic". The fanboy then runs off screaming when Lucy, the strip's other major black character, shows up. Web Original Satirized by The Onion, after the embarrassing event of University of Wisconsin-Madison (see Advertising folder). Invoked/parodied in the third episode of Corrupting the Classics with Contemporary Crap. "Project Playwright" has five contestants: David Mamet, Harold Pinter, Anton Chekhov, Nol Coward, and For Colored Girls author Ntozake Shange. Celebrity judge Oscar Wilde implies that Shange is only there because she is a black female, which Shange doesn't take kindly to. Hilarity Ensues. The Channel Awesome sites: Krissy Diggs, a.k.a. That Chick With The Goggles, was the only black person on any of the sites (doesn't help that her video postings are extremely sporadic). That is until The Rap Critic was added. Krissy is now (as of January 2011) off the site, leaving Rap Critic as the Token Black. Angry Joe was the only Hispanic member as well, and Benzaie is the only open bisexual. He's now joined in the Hispanic representation by The Blockbuster Buster. Ma-Ti, the only non-white hero in Suburban Knights. The Gaming Pixie and Mike Maverick are the only two black people on Reviewers Unknown. Inverted in Funday Night Gaming's cast, as all but one of the main cast is gay. Achievement Hunter had Ray Narvaez Jr. as the only Hispanic member, being of Puerto Rican descent. Lindsay Jones (ne Tuggey) is the only woman who commonly appears on camera and for awhile was the only woman in Achievement Hunter, but they have since added Steffie as an off-camera helper. There's also the very British Gavin Free. The Ultimate Sidemen have Vikram Barn (Vikkstar123) as their only member who is neither white or black; he is of Indian descent. Vik is also the only member in the group who does not play FIFA on a regular basis; it's Minecraft and Call of Duty for him. DC Superhero Girls has Bumblebee (who is black) and Katana (who is Japanese) as the two non-white main characters. Western Animation Parodied in Token Black (formerly named Token Williams), the only black kid in South Park. Part of the joke is that all the other characters think he's the token rich character the only one to regularly call attention to Token's blackness is Cartman, who has been shown in other contexts to be quite racist. And his parents own the Hooters expy restaurant Raisins. Which is done as a deliberate subversion of this trope. For some reason, the Vampire kids have one Angry Black Man among their group, which leaves the goth kids slightly confused. Superfriends was notorious for that kind of character, with a bunch of obviously non-white superheroes; Apache Chief (Native North America), Black Vulcan (Black), Samurai (Asian) and El Dorado (Latin American). The final season tried to address the black issue by replacing Black Vulcan with Cyborg of the Teen Titans, a character that Marv Wolfman and George Perez worked hard to create as a legitimate original character. Justice League: John Stewart, the black Green Lantern. Less "token" because not only does he have the same nom de guerre as a major member of the original team, but he has worked with the League in a number of stories in the comics when he was Hal Jordan's backup, thus giving the character's inclusion some credibility. Furthermore, in the Unlimited phase of the series, the producers strove to dilute the issue by bringing in many of DC's other minority superheroes like Mr. Terrific, Vixen, Steel and Doctor Light. Note that, save for Batman and Superman, both of whom had a previous series unto themselves in the DCAU, John Stewart is the most featured character in the DCAU, having the most Limelight episodes on Justice League and getting a good amount of plot in Justice League Unlimited. In addition, the second season of Unlimited featured the Ultimen, straight (and far better done) versions of many of the Superfriends token characters. Shayera Hol (Hawkgirl), from the planet Thanagar, was deliberately given a Hispanic voice actor as well. Out of the Original Seven, Batman is the only one without super powers. But who needs that when he's Batman? Superman is Kryptonian, Martian Manhunter is Martian, Hawkgirl is Thanagarian, Wonder Woman is Themysciran. The only people who aren't minorities on the team are Batman and Flash. Superman: The Animated Series had Angela Chen, who was essentially a race-swapped version of Cat Grant from the comics, right down to being a catty gossip columnist and Lois Lane's rival at the Daily Planet. Beware the Batman looked to be doing this by using Katana as Batman's sidekick instead of Robin or Batgirl. Noticeable in that she was explicitly touted as "the new Robin" in press releases. Seeing how the show was canned after a mere 26 episodes, forbidden from being aired after September 28, 2014, and written off by the company we will never know. In order to have some racial diversity in the cast of Bionic Six (despite the main characters all being related), the Bennetts were given two adopted sons who were African American and Japanese respectively. Clerks: The Animated Series also added a token minority, Lando (named for the only person of color in the original Star Wars trilogy), who rarely did anything other than show up to showcase his non-whiteness. This was expressly parodying this trope, however. Black Johnathan Reed in Davey and Goliath was added by the Lutheran Church to make the series more diverse in post Civil Rights 1970s America, followed by the Hispanic Cisco, Mr. Lee, an Asian barber, and George Soaring Eagle, a boy of Native American descent, to name a few. The Extreme Ghostbusters team was compiled of all minorities. Roland a black man, Eduardo a Hispanic, Garrett a white guy in a wheel chair and Kylie a "Goth" chick. Egon was the only non-minority but he didn't always go out with the team, but held a figure head position. Their receptionist, Janine Melnitz is Ambiguously Jewish (considering her last name). The original animated series, The Real Ghostbusters, had the movie version of the team so there is only a token black guy instead of a whole token team. Also parodied in Family Guy, in which the TV newscast's (a Show Within a Show) on-site reporter is consistently referred to by the anchors as "Asian Reporter Trisha Takanawa." One episode also introduced us to "Hispanic Reporter Renee Jimenez." Interestingly, though, she's depicted as an otherwise baseline white woman who speaks with a slight Spanish accent. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.... And then there's Cleveland Brown, the token black guy who in the later seasons becomes a portmanteau for black stereotypes that had nothing to do with his established personality. And you can't bring up minorities on the newscast team without talking about "Blackuweather forecaster Ollie Williams." Another episode, perhaps unintentionally, provided an explanation: most black residents of Quahog are disguised as whites to avoid police harassment. One example when Cleveland is in the golf course the second time with a Richard Nixon mask. Another parody in Futurama, where the characters sometimes watch the soap "All My Circuits", which features a cast of robots and a single token human. Fry: What's he do? Bender: Eh, the usual human stuff. He laughs, he learns, he loves. Fry: Boring! In Daria, Jodie Landon and Mack Mackenzie seem to be the only black students at Lawndale High, and they are apparently the only people (other than possibly Andrea) who Daria and Jane respect in that school. Jodie and Mack are painfully aware of their status and are uncomfortable being effectively examples of their race; for instance, Jodie complains how she has to be "Queen of the Negroes" at school. This includes when they were dubbed school parade King and Queen consecutively over multiple years, which they suspect is possibly in part because it disguise how little real diversity there is at the school. However, Jodie notices a little black girl looking awestruck at her being so honored, and decides she can put up with it for the greater good of inspiring other minority kids to dream. On the other hand, Jodie's parents are a pair of jerks, Tiffany of the Fashion Club is an Asian Airhead, and the school's principal, Angela Li (also Asian ethnicity) is a strutting self-important dictator. Spyke in X-Men: Evolution is not only the token black member of the team, he's related to the only other black person in the cast. Spyke was so unpopular that he was written out of the series and made to live in the sewer (no, really). His eventual guest-star role as a vigilante was more well-received by the show's fans than his entire run as a cast member. By that time they had balanced things out a bit by adding a few other minority kids to the cast, notably Sunspot (Afro-Brazilian), Magma (Race Lifted into a dark-skinned Brazilian) and Jubilee (Chinese-American). Though of course Jubilee herself was also Put on a Bus until the finale. Transformers Armada had token Hispanic Carlos. The fact that his catchphrase was "holy frijoles" should tell you how badly that turned out. Alexis was also supposedly Vietnamese, according to Word of God. Uh huh. Animaniacs has Dr. Scratchansniff who is German, The Goodfeathers who are Italian and Flavio and Marita who are Spanish. Averted amongst the humans in Transformers Animated, where there are a number of prominent nonwhite characters. However, it's notable that when the Autobots turn human in "Human Error", there's one black kid - and it's Bumblebee. This is because of the voice actors - Bumblebee is the only main-cast Autobot with a black voice actor (Bumper Robinson). The children's television series Dragon Tales has a dragon in a wheelchair, he can't fly either. Most of the plot of the episode where Lorca is introduced, "A New Friend", hinges on this. John Thunder, the Native American member of the Centurions. Maybe one of the best out there. Orange Blossom and Ginger Snap of Strawberry Shortcake, though later seasons introduce more characters. Doozy Bots, the attempt to adapt Gundam to American audiences in the early 90s (That thankfully never got past a short 5 minute preview video) featured the Black Kid of the gang who also happened to be in a wheelchair. To make matters worse (or funnier, depending on how you see it) when the main characters all transform into the eponymous super-deformed chibi Gundams/Mobile Suits, he gets stuck being the Guntank - which is the top half of a Mobile Suit attached to a set of tank treads. In Teen Titans there is Cyborg as the only African-American in the team and Robin who is Romani even though he looks white. Raven is an apparently white Half-Human Hybrid and the other two have orange and green skin (though Beast Boy was born white before turning green). Herald and Bumblebee are black while Mas y Mens are Hispanic. The Simpsons episode "A Streetcar Named Marge" mentions "Token black panelist, Drederick Tatum!" Subverted in Mucha Lucha!, where the whole main trio is non-white. Rikochet is somewhat dark-skinned, and Buena Girl and Flea's skin looks sort of Mest Indian. However, many secondary characters are white. The show is set in Mexico (or at least a Mexican-American community), where everyone is perceived to be "foreign" and "exotic" in some way. Phineas and Ferb: Baljeet is Indian, the Fireside Girl Holly is African-American, Stacy and the Fireside Girl Ginger are Asian, and Buford seems to have some kind of Dutch heritage. The show in general obviously tries to be very cosmopolitic. Isabella Garcia-Shapiro is Mexican (ethnic minority) and Jewish (religious minority) so she's both this trope and Twofer Token Minority. Though one episode has the cast visiting the "Mexican Jewish Cultural Festival" so Danville might just have a particularly large population of Mexican-Jews... The Famous Five were reimagined for a Disney cartoon series, starring the children of the original Five. George's daughter Jo (Jyoti) is half-Indian. Compare the extremely white originals with the next generation. Frosty the Snowman: Sarah from The Legend Of Frosty The Snowman is African. Mostly averted in Challenge Of The Go Bots, where A.J. and General Newcastle are both black, and Anya Turgonova is Russo-Chinese. Anya didn't show up as often after the Five-Episode Pilot, but A.J. was a main character and Newcastle was the most important human supporting character. Spoofed in the Robot Chicken sketch 12 Angry Little People, when the lone black juror points out that not every black person needs to be a positive role model. The whole main cast of The Weekenders. Though Tino's race isn't mentioned, Word of God states hes Italian American who is probably Pagan. Lor's Scottish American, Carvers African American and Tish is an Eastern European Jew. Averted in Young Justice. As of the end of season one, four of the core cast members are people of color (Aqualad and Rocket are both black, Robin is Romani, while Artemis is half-white and half-Vietnamese). In season two, Blue Beetle (Mexican American), Bumblebee and Mal Duncan (both African American) join the team as well. While they don't join the team, that season also adds recurring characters Virgil Hawkins (African American), Ed Dorado (Latino), Asami Koizumi (Japanese), and Tye Longshadow (Apache). Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats was black. Of course, she was this in the comic book beforehand. The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! has Black Panther, an African king who's proven himself a very competent fighter and quite knowledgeable about science and magic. However, he sometimes goes whole episodes without saying anything. Some unused production art shows that at some point before the series finally aired, Black Goliath was apparently supposed to take Giant-Man's spot on the team. The short-lived The Avengers: United They Stand had Falcon as the sole minority member of the team. Somewhat funny since in the comics, Falcon was added to the team to fill a diversity quota and quit when he decided he didn't want to be included simply for being black. Perhaps in response some of the complaints about the racial and gender disparity in the live-action movie, Avengers, Assemble! has The Falcon added to the film's Avengers roster, making him the sole person of color. However, he has a very large role in the show, and is the Audience Surrogate of the team. Jonny from Ed, Edd n Eddy is implied to be black. Rolf may count, as he's Ambiguously Brown. Mee Mee and Lee Lee (Dee Dee's friends) in Dexter's Laboratory are black and Asian respectively. They might even be a light parody of this trope. Freight Train from Where's Huddles?. The only non-white Color Kid from Rainbow Brite is Indigo. She is Indian. Everyone in Bertha is white, except for the Indian Panjid. Plastic Man's sidekick Hula Hula in The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show is Polynesian, whilst Plastic Man and his girlfriend Penny are white. Elena of Avalor: Elena's best friend Naomi Turner, a pale, blond-haired, blue-eyed girl with an English name in the Spanish-style Kingdom of Avalor; almost everyone else is dark-haired and tan. The Loud House has Lincoln and his family being white except for Lucy who has pale skin resembling a light shade of gray, Clyde being black with a black dad and a white dad, and of course, the Casagrandes as a Hispanic family with CJ having Down Syndrome. Token Non-Mammal Examples: Animated Film Jiminy Cricket and Cleo the goldfish from Disney's Pinocchio Abigail, Amelia, and their uncle Waldo (three geese) from The Aristocats Verne the turtle on Over the Hedge. Inverted in Rango, where most of the inhabitants of Dirt seem to be anything but mammals. Literature Lowly Worm from Richard Scarry's books. Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows Toys The Fabuland toy line by LEGO only had one crocodile and three birds among an otherwise all-mammal cast. My Little Pony: G1 had every princess with their own pet baby dragon: Spike, Prickles, Smokey, Fiery, Flash, Spiny, and Sparks. Majesty's dragon, Spike, is the most famous due to his use in adaptations such as the My Little Pony TV Specials, My Little Pony 'n Friends, and the British My Little Pony comics. Most of the dragons were scrapped in future generations though Spike returned in G3 and G4, where he is a main character in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Of the "Pony Friends" Cutesaurus the Dinosaur is the only non-mammal. Princess Silverswirl from G2 has an unnamed pet dragon, which fans have nicknamed "Spike" despite the completely different design. Western Animation Looney Tunes: An inversion in the 1936 Merrie Melodies short I Love to Singa, Jack Bunny is the only mammal, the rest of the characters are birds. Inverted in SpongeBob SquarePants. Sandy Cheeks (a squirrel) and Pearl Krabs (a sperm whale) are the token mammals among the main, major, and supporting characters. Donald Duck started out like this, though his love interest and many family members were introduced later on. Inverted with Sleepy Bat in Birdz, the only reoccurring non-avian. Care Bears: Cozy Heart Penguin is the only avian member of the Care Bear Cousins. Arthur: This unnamed crocodile/alligator. There were also anthropomorphic ducks in "Arthur's Almost Boring Day". Several episodes of The Get Along Gang included a turtle named Braker as an ancillary member of the Gang, with the Cartoon Over-Analyzations blog describing him as "the Furry equivalent of a Token Minority," as he was the one reptile in a group of mammals. Token Minority Species Examples: Animated Film Ratigan, Fidget the bat, Felicia the cat, Toby the dog, and a lizard from The Great Mouse Detective among a cast made mostly of mouse characters. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are this in A Goofy Movie, being a mouse and a bird amongst dogs and cats. Zootopia has this as a significant part of the plot, with Judy Hopps being the first rabbit police officer of Zootopia and has to struggle against the label of being the Token Minority. Comics In Paperinik New Adventures, Angus is clearly meant to be a Funny Animal kiwi bird, the only one in Duckburg. He is not only explicitly said to be from New Zealand but also a Maori. Web Original In the cat video series The Six Cats Parade, Rico is the only black cat (and the only without white color) of the group in contrast with his three black and white and one siamese siblings and his mother, which is a gray and white cat. Western Animation Pete and P.J. are this in Goof Troop, A Goofy Movie, and An Extremely Goofy Movie are token cats, despite being treated like Dogfaces in those worlds. Also, Waffles and Chainsaw from Goof Troop are a token cat and dog in a world of Dogfaces. In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the majority of the population as well as the main six characters seem to be evenly distributed among unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. However, there are several other intelligent species in the world. Cattle, sheep, donkeys, mules, buffalo, zebra and possibly goats are all people just as much as ponies, and the same goes for some mythological beings like minotaurs and griffons. However, these beings only have short gag cameos or one-shot appearances. The only exception is Zecora the Zebra. Token Petting Zoo People Examples: Film Beans the lizard and Angelique the fox from Rango Literature Stuart Little is far more anthropomorphic than the other animals in all his book and movie appearances and in the TV series. Note that in the original book he's human by heritage; his parents are his actual parents. He just happens to have been born with the approximate form of a mouse. How anyone worked out he was a viable life-form, let alone that he had the potential to grow up intelligent, when he was born so mutated and looking like a miscarriage is left to the imagination, because it is a children's book. Video Games Rouge the Bat from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, as far as games are concerned. Western Animation Minerva Mink from Animaniacs. Also, Wilford B. Wolf is this when he transforms into a werewolf. Mousey Galore from Pinky and the Brain. Julie Bruin, Margot Mallard, Binky Bunny, and Bimbette the skunk from Tiny Toon Adventures. Lola Bunny, Melissa Duck, and Hatta Mari (a pigeon from "Plane Daffy") from Looney Tunes, and Tina Russo from The Looney Tunes Show. Ren's parents from Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon are far more human-shaped than either he or Stimpy are.

Jill Lepore deserves an award for her New Yorker essay against the gospel of disruption. The last paragraph alone is a sufficiently fine piece of writing to warrant reading the whole thing. For those of you blessedly unfamiliar with the theory of disruptive innovation, it goes like this: Everyone, every institution that is superb at providing a product or service is in truth a Goliath, merely waiting for a little innovative David to topple him with a better way to do his job. Why work up your muscles to carry a cudgel if you can deal death with a slingshot? Amazon has disrupted book-selling. Online commentary has disrupted journalism. MOOCs will disrupt the university (people swear). You who are merely doing your job exceptionally well and profitably – you are a complacent fool. In her essay, Lepore beats the tar out of the scholarship that gave rise to this preaching. Apart from pointing the article out to you, I want to comment briefly on how she says what she says. In truth, Lepore gives two arguments for the price of one, and it’s the second that I find more fetching and worth a little extra remark. Mainly, and entertainingly, she points out the entire theory of disruptive innovation is bunk on its own terms. It neither explains what it’s meant to explain, nor predicts what it’s meant to predict. It’s a fable that comforts the comfortable, by depicting their rapacious waste as the inevitable manner of capitalism’s progress. I won’t try to summarize what Lepore says about the embarrassing failures of the theory, because she already says it well. But Lepore makes a secondary argument you could almost miss. She notes that even if the theory of disruption were sound, there are certain human activities to which it should not be applied. Innovation and disruption are ideas that originated in the arena of business but which have since been applied to arenas whose values and goals are remote from the values and goals of business. People aren’t disk drives. Public schools, colleges and universities, churches, museums, and many hospitals, all of which have been subjected to disruptive innovation, have revenues and expenses and infrastructures, but they aren’t industries in the same way that manufacturers of hard-disk drives or truck engines or drygoods are industries. Journalism isn’t an industry in that sense, either. Lepore says all this, but spends little time on it; having noted that people aren’t disk drives, she spends most of her essay observing that the theory of disruptive innovation doesn’t really apply to disk drives anyway. I’d hazard a guess Lepore knows her essay works better this way. A significant portion of her readership would find it tedious to be told less briefly that we need to remember, or revive, the language of public trust, public interest, public service. Lepore’s choice of emphasis reminds me of the origins of American liberalism in a different age. Back in the early 1900s, Charles Beard noted that merely to tell Americans that their factories were injuring workers more wantonly than those of any other country would fail to move a nation so fixated on profit. You had, he said (and I’m paraphrasing, because I’m not able to look it up at the moment), to tell the American people that it was inefficient to keep killing workers – that it was a waste of human capital, an unproductive use of resources. This rhetorical tactic aims at moral ends by appealing to a venal calculus. Like the commuter who rescued his fellow-citizen from a train track because he didn’t want to be late to work, maybe we will rescue our public goods from disruption – not because it’s the right thing to do, but because we won’t profit if we don’t. William Timberman 06.24.14 at 6:02 pm I’d hazard a guess Lepore knows her essay works better this way. Framing again. Game theory again. Do I reveal my antediluvian origins if I say I regret the necessity? Well, so be it. Fortunately for all concerned, irony has no power whatever against the inevitable. (That roar you hear in the background is the sound of a global intelligentsia outsmarting itself yet again — a sound very like that, if memory serves, which attended my own intellectual individuation.) What’s driven me crazy from the start about the gospel of disruption is that on one reading it commits the naturalistic fallacy–we should change everything because this thing is happening. Even if it were true, there’s no evidence that we would know how to predict and act on the disruptive process. Or that we should act on it. But if you don’t assume that, you can’t make the money on disruption. Note that the New Yorker put Christiansen out there as some kind of profit earlier, which was extremely irksome. I literally cackled with glee about 2 paragraphs in. I’ve been desperately waiting for someone to puncture this balloon. Another glorious thing about her piece was that she really shows how the capacity to do actual historical analysis is necessary for these wanna-be gurus. (Well, necessary if they want to make claims approximating truth. It’s not necessary for them to make absurd ideological claims and make money doing so. Thomas Friedman’s house is proof of this.) And they don’t have a clue how to do history. You will not believe how hard it is for people to understand that secondary argument. Jaysus. Ah, I should explain just a bit more: The problem with intelligent people is that they can create elaborate arguments to buttress weak sentiment, e.g. Charles Murray. Because people are complex and contrary, such gossamer arguments usually depend on talking about essential aspects, where there aren’t any, of people. The arguments are constructed that way because it slants the playing field anytime the axiomatic stuff isn’t blasted to smithereens. Adversaries thus tend to find venally neutral terms in place of acid and evisceratory rhetoric, of course, in the name of decorum. We all then start talking as if capitalist utilitarianism is here, natural, and always the best dictionary and thesaurus, no matter how crazy the bland is… Quite a long article, so I’ll have to come back to this. There’s still a couple things I can say here: One, how did all the “Innovator’s Dilemma” discussion totally miss the phenomenon of the Hidden Champions (or the Mittelstand, as it was once called in Germany)? When these companies are “disrupted” it seems plain to me that we are likely looking at an opportunity for data point-picking, but the bulk of Hidden Champions continue along for the long run. Has there been a sustained critique of the idea before now? This blog post has some commentators already moving in the direction of questioning the possible value the “innovator’s dilemma” could have in, say, a discussion of healthcare. Jill Lepore mentions a facet of this that wasn’t immediately obvious to me: Not only are some types of job not ripe for innovation, but there are in fact many types of job those ethics are betrayed by the mindset of disruptive change. There is a great exchange here between Timothy Geithner and NPR host Robert Siegel, where Geithner argued that “banks are different.” The whole exchange is noteworthy, as Siegel presses Geithner with the point that the apparent complexity of banking looks like an innovation. Geithner denied this, stating that it was essentially a regulatory and scale problem: This was not a crisis caused by financial innovation on a massive scale. It wasn’t a crisis caused fundamentally by a set of new fancy things that, in retrospect seem very risky. It was a crisis caused because we had a long period of confidence that it was safe to lend a lot of money, safe to borrow a lot of money relative to income, that your house prices would never fall, that recessions would be short and shallow. We can believe Siegel, and we say that banking and innovation don’t mix. We can believe Geithner, and we still must say that innovation and banking don’t mix. In truth, how many bankers likely told their bosses at review that they “weren’t in the business of innovating?” How many shareholder packets claimed that? One final note. How much misplaced faith are people putting in “the innovator’s dilemma” as the answer to inequality? My guess is – a whole lot. I’m not sure how much it can do in most industries, where abuse of the patent system and high capitalization simply close off opportunities for prospective competitors. Yet this is probably likely to be presented as “the good part” of destroying established companies. Great post, Eric. Thanks particularly for the quote/paraphrase from Charles Beard. When you find or remember where it’s from, would you mention in a comment or update? Interesting. Maybe the way to sell gun control to Americans is to point out that massacres of schoolchildren result in the destruction of potentially valuable human capital, which is uneconomic. Wall Street spends 58 minutes of every hour trying to predict which technologies will prove to be disruptive and which will make little difference. History has proven definitively that despite all of energy and motion they can do this correctly exactly 50% of the time (less fees and expenses of course). (Before anyone asks, the other two minutes are spent pilaging innocents, maiming adorable puppies and otherwise causing global mayhem, unless of course they are simply wasted.) The Temporary Name 06.24.14 at 7:59 pm A sort of embarrassing response, I think: sponds-to-new-yorker-takedown-of-disruptive-innovation But Christensen understands a key point: Well, in the first two or three pages, it seems that her motivation is to try to rein in this almost random use of the word “disruption.” The word is used to justify whatever anybody—an entrepreneur or a college student—wants to do. And as I read that, I was delighted that somebody with her standing would join me in trying to bring discipline and understanding around a very useful theory. I’ve been trying to do it for 20 years. As regards Lepore’s secondary argument, in Systems of Survival Jane Jacobs argued at length that applying the values and goals of business to enterprises whose values and goals are different is problematic. Jacobs said that doing so produces “monstrous moral hybrids”. I’ll resume my role of third-grader here and ask: Didn’t Marx write ‘The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. … All that is solid melts into air,’ etc. So is Lepore and her fans here arguing against Marx, or is disruption different from revolutionizing the means of production? I’ve generally found that observation of Marx repeatedly confirmed in daily life, especially amid the corps, and it certainly seems to be functioning well to immiserate that part of the working class who still have jobs. I recently read a sort of biography of Western Electric, and while it was modest in its style, diction, and intellectual penetration, it chronicled a history of constant creative destruction well enough, right up to the point where it was finally creatively destroyed itself. No doubt the money men crawled out on top and went to infest some other wreck-to-be. That’s the way we do things, isn’t it? Stephenson quoter-kun 06.24.14 at 9:01 pm I always thought that “disruption” was something about how you can’t beat the local maximum by starting from the local maximum (because someone else is there already), so you have to start somewhere else (“downmarket” is the typical example); in turn, the occupier of the local maximum won’t be able to compete with you once you’ve found a higher maximum. Of course, that’s also pretty much tautological if you assume that incumbent businesses occupying the local maximum will refuse to leave it – you just need to assume that some greater maximum exists elsewhere, then start climbing a bunch of hills until you find it. It certainly makes a neat model. The problem is that Clay Christensen picked the aggressive-sounding word “disruption” for this concept, and people now think that calling their crummy new business “disruptive” makes them sound edgy and exciting. Rich middle-aged white men exhorting their naive proteges to be more “disruptive” is not a pretty sight for anyone with a modicum of self-awareness. These people are certainly distasteful. It does not follow, however, that they are necessarily wrong. Maybe the top of the hill that the MOOCs are climbing right now is going to turn out to be higher than the hill that traditional universities are sitting on. It’s probably worth finding out if that’s the case. In the abstract, the idea that new interactive and communicative technologies ought to change how we educate ourselves (and how much that costs) does not seem particularly outlandish. I can’t feel terribly upset that some people are trying it, even if I think they’re occasionally a tad obnoxious about it. Is being “disruptive” good for business? In a way, probably not. It rests on the assumption that the path less traveled does actually lead to a pot of gold, which probably isn’t true in most cases. Trying to disrupt an industry is hard and most of the time it won’t work. Most plans to disrupt existing, proven business models are simply going to fail. It might be better in most cases to aim lower and make some existing business a little bit more efficient. The flip-side is that improving existing institutions might be even harder. There’s good evidence that most improvements in productivity come about through the entry of new firms rather than the sudden improvement of existing ones (whatever Bain Capital might say otherwise). Hierarchical organisations really don’t like listening to the tier 7 functionaries even if they have a much better idea for how the business should work than the people who are in charge. It’s probably a good thing that some firms get disrupted, and the ones we should be really afraid of are the ones who seem to be immune to it. I’m not sure I get Eric’s point about why, then, some organisations – those consisting of “people”, as opposed to the soulless droids who start, own, operate or work for other organisations – ought to be immune from disruption. The example institutions were, in some cases, disruptive themselves once. Churches have pretty much always been in the business of disrupting each other, and using technology to do so. I’m going to hate myself for typing this, but many religious movements start off as downmarket outsiders, being dismissed as cranks by the establishment, which they eventually infiltrate and take over. At a sufficiently abstract level, that’s disruption in action. There’s no obvious reason why organisations of people cannot, or should not, be disrupted. I can understand people saying that they don’t like the specific disruptions on offer: disrupting education is simply not possible as universities represent a centuries-old tradition that cannot be improved upon by a team of Silicon Valley 20-somethings on caffeine drips; or, if it is possible, it will lead to education that is worse, not better, and therefore we must now allow it; or, even if it is possible to deliver better education by some measure, the wider costs make it undesirable. The problem is that if you’re picking your arguments from The Rhetoric of Reaction, you’re probably not making very good arguments. Sitting athwart history shouting “stop” has never worked very well, least of all in America. If I’ve understood correctly, the argument is that, since disruption isn’t the only way to improve things, we could profitably attempt to rediscover some of the other ways. To borrow from Hirschman again, we could use a bit more Voice and a bit less Exit. To which I would wholeheartedly agree, but I would point out that here the disruptionists have an advantage: they’re well-organised, well-funded and have a clear and ambitious program of action. Those of us who think that we could make institutions run better by, say, making them more democratic, are sadly reduced to carping about the excesses of the other side most of the time. Stephenson quoter-kun 06.24.14 at 9:05 pm (“…must not allow it…” in the middle of my penultimate para) The problem is that if you’re picking your arguments from The Rhetoric of Reaction, you’re probably not making very good arguments. Sitting athwart history shouting “stop” has never worked very well, least of all in America. The trouble is that that line of argument can be used to push any brand of snake oil or hucksterism or just plain bad idea under the sun. “There’s no point in sitting athwart history shouting ‘stop’; in the future everyone will be ordering their pet food online. You might as well get on board with the inevitable and buy as many shares of pets.com as you can…” I should probably re-read the Lepore article because on my first reading I thought “some good points, but it could have been a so much better article, with a bit more focus and details…” but then, innovation theory is something I’ve spent plenty of time with… 1) I think the point is that sometimes the theory of disruption breaks down and is effectively snake oil. For example, a lot of the stuff in healthcare about “using technology to overcome Baumol” is actually just about selling people on a lower, less effective service. Christensen would point out that it’s not real disruption if the original low-end product never gets better, but that rarely stops the hype machines… (And indeed, he also distinguishes the “good enough” low-end product due to tech advance as a separate case.) 2) If you look at studies from the US/UK you get mislead into believing productivity advances come from entry/exit. In Germany/S. Korea, pretty much the opposite. The evidence for exit is mostly sentimental trash from glibertarian romantics who like to believe in some non-existent underdog economy in the USA… “This rhetorical tactic aims at moral ends by appealing to a venal calculus. Like the commuter who rescued his fellow-citizen from a train track because he didn’t want to be late to work, maybe we will rescue our public goods from disruption – not because it’s the right thing to do, but because we won’t profit if we don’t.” This could very well work, and sometimes does; but then the problem is of course, what happens when we are faced with a situation where the right thing to do is not efficient, and does not save resources? 100+ years (at the least) of liberals making this tactical decision in terms of argument makes sense in the short term — it’s a good strategy — but is disastrous in the long term, as we actually feel awkward, queasy, and annoyed by argument about the public good and the ethical society. Since not enough people go ahead and make that argument, we lose the capacity to even make it a viable option, strategically speaking. The key to ‘disruption’, and what distinguishes it from the ‘creative destruction’ thinking which it draws on, is the premium it puts on the cheap and nasty: quality is the enemy, because mediocrity is cheaper and hence will outsell it. This in turn means that the people you want to empower are not the people doing the work – least of all if they’re doing the work because they believe in it – because they’ll just drag you down with their professionalism and their belief in a job well done. Disruption is explicitly anti-worker, and (incidentally) anti-Tom Peters and anti-Peter Drucker into the bargain. (Argument borrowed from here.) The primordial Real in which a (pre-Oedipal) human subject is born is differentiated from the real which a subject integrated into the symbolic order experiences. In the former, the real is the continuous, “whole” reality without categories and the differential function of language. Following the mirror stage, however, and the eventual entrance of the imaginary and the symbolic (the split of the subject between the conscious imaginary and the unconscious symbolic), the real may only be experienced as traumatic gaps in the symbolic order. An example of this are traumatic events such as natural disasters, which effectively break down the signification of everyday life and cause a rupture of something alien and unrecognizable, without the usual grammar of the symbolic that conditions how to make meaning of something and how to proceed. But that’s a little narrow and technical. We come into being as speaking subjects by means of a disruption in the Symbolic. And of course, what Anarcissie said. And also, the proletariat comes into class consciousness-for-itself by means of a rupture with the prevailing hegemony. Revolution is a rupture with atrophied institutions. Etc It is very bourgeois liberal to be frightened of a discourse of discontinuous change. And I didn’t even mention RBC theory and real shocks. Or Naomi Klein. The Lapore article is a great example of the kind of sensible writing that enforces and maintains an ontological hegemony. Phil’s comment, not surprisingly, is insightful (and his link foregrounds some things Lepore herself says (not all of which I agree with)). But the point of disruption, and you see this is you read Lepore’s article, is not that employees hold back companies from surviving. It’s that non-survival is a foregone conclusion. Disrupted companies can hold on for years, sometimes, but not forever, and they never come back to where they once were. That doesn’t mean–and no one says, except the kind of people who were chanting “paradigm shift” twenty years ago–that everyone is disrupted. It does mean that once no one wants minicomputers anymore, you can’t just make better minicomputers and still play in the big leagues. Back in 1990, companies were dealing with two disruptions: the PC and Microsoft. We are down to exactly one company that existed in 1980, out of a dozen or more, still making a good amount of money on state-of-the-art computers (and IBM and a few others in smaller markets). On the other hand, in 1995 it had been “decided” that nobody could compete with Microsoft and they’d have 100% of every software market, and that did change. 1) I think the point is that sometimes the theory of disruption breaks down and is effectively snake oil. For example, a lot of the stuff in healthcare about “using technology to overcome Baumol” is actually just about selling people on a lower, less effective service. Christensen would point out that it’s not real disruption if the original low-end product never gets better, but that rarely stops the hype machines… I don’t think it’s about selling people on a less effective service, although it can be about selling them a cheaper one. If you look at stuff like the increased use of robotics in surgery and IBM’s Watson as a diagnostic tool, the eventual hope is that you might be able to make health care cheaper and more reliable, especially if you don’t need doctors for a whole bunch of medical tasks. There’s definitely a “snake oil” element, although that’s mostly with the use of “disruption” as a selling point. It’s just a way to make startups that are usually too risky for banks to touch and too expensive for the entrepreneurs to self-finance to appeal to the vanity of rich would-be investors. There’s plenty of precedent for that – British banks in the late 18th century usually wouldn’t touch factories as investments because of the risk and perceived tawdriness of them, at least from what I remember of reading Peter Stearns. 2) If you look at studies from the US/UK you get mislead into believing productivity advances come from entry/exit. In Germany/S. Korea, pretty much the opposite. The evidence for exit is mostly sentimental trash from glibertarian romantics who like to believe in some non-existent underdog economy in the USA… South Korea had plenty of entry/exit, including among the Chaebol Conglomerates. That was something that Joe Studwell pointed out in his book about how East Asia industrialized while talking about South Korean industrial policy – most of the giant conglomerates around today are not the same ones that existed back in the 1960s and 1970s in South Korea. I’m not sure what the Marx quote has to do with disruption in this case, but it’s a point worth pursuing. The “innovators” really don’t care about the relationship between business or workers – hence SN’s mention of the naturalistic fallacy. The author’s focus on capitalism in America at a particular period in time does not mean that we can’t apply these same categories to relationships between workers. It’s an interesting omission. This Amazon review by Kartick Vaddadi of The Innovator’s Dilemma says the book contrasts three types of change. All of them are useful for consumers. Then there is a discussion of how it is that responsiveness to protecting particular kinds of change is useful and gets enshrined in companies, and where it isn’t. Kartick Vaddadi’s statement that SSDs in computers are “disruptive” over regular hard drives is right – if we mean what the difference is for consumers. If we’re talking about the difference to manufacturers, though, patent portfolio sharing and cross-licensing, as well as the expiration of many fundamental research patents, mean that there are a large number of companies that manufacture them. Many other recent technologies that are arguably “disruptive” have been developed within a notably stable industry. Take the video space: sedTV and FED could have been disruptive for providing great new displays, but cost ruled them out years ago. Digital coin miners have kept graphics hardware manufacturers nVidia and AMD well in the black for a period, though that party is now over. It’s not just external events that push these changes, though: AMD and nVidia seem to mirror each other when they roll out DX12 (from nVidia, in collaboration with Microsoft) after Mantle, or when AMD decides it needs FreeSync after nVidia announces G-Sync. These are two technologies (and standards) that provide that experience of a “disruptive” improvement to consumer technologies, and they appear to have been done through cooperation, instead of winner-takes-all strategies. Both companies are paying very close attention to ways in which they might be able to catch up their competitor dipping into forbidden secrets, in hopes of forcing a disruptive exit from the marketplace. But it’s not clear that this is anything more than just churning on. Even in the case where some company can force such an issue through the courts, the government has been cautious of throwing an established company overboard (when such a large part of the economy could trail behind it). At this scale, companies are more likely to settle for patent cross-licensing and royalties to evade criticisms of monopoly (which is basically one result of directionless “disruption” taken to the extreme), as with Intel and AMD. Yet the idea of disruptive technological development isn’t all bunk. Onto quoter-san’s point: The “local maximum” sounds close to saying that there is an upper bound of some type, like ‘how pure can we refine our materials,’ ‘how precise are the production processes,’ ‘which metallurgy and crystallography textbooks do we read.’ All these things can improve over time. But at every step the level of research and understanding is far less than it could be, so we never actually do what is “optimum” (or among the optimal choices) when imagining a complex piece of technology. Only relatively recently (I think in the mid-80s) did we really start moving computer modeling of technology to incorporate physical modeling. And of course there is a limit to how far we can spend calculating what is best. Electrical engineering textbooks state as standard that you can use a “lumped load” model for many tasks, and below certain frequencies you don’t need to pay close attention to RF effects and the like. The latter is an omission by design; the former is omitted by accident. The idea of “disruptive technologies” is best when it points out that not only do we somewhat lag behind achieving what is possible, but in fact whole fields of discovery often go unnoticed due to accidents of history, physiology, and everything else. Start thinking of “what would aliens value in technology?” or alternative histories (wouldn’t Neal Stephenson approve?) and this becomes clearer. What if IBM researchers hadn’t stumbled across the eclectic raft of insights (spin-coating, the analogy to vinyl discs) that made the magnetic rotary hard disk a reality in 1956? “Disruption’s” place in advancing technology seems way overrated. We can find Usenet posts from the early 1990s with people accurately predicting how much RAM people would have. Moves away from 2D manufacture to more 3D manufacture were known and used by Seymour Cray when his computer company was relatively young, even though only recently have such ideas started to be developed for consumer products. The basic problem seems to be a simple human one: It’s easy for bureaucracies to get too focused on things that are entirely extraneous to the decision making, and even if they try to do everything right, there’s still the possibility somebody else will find that low-hanging fruit first. The key, I think, is trying to figure out whether we actually need companies to become immortal institutions – are HP or IBM immortal? GM or Ford? – and also how it is that we can make sure that companies with the expertise and the people get rewarded. I’ll just end up by mentioning one of the all-time technology whoppers: Sight-shorted businessmen looking for something like the next “disruptive change” gave away one of the crown jewels of 20th century display technology, because the grass was greener on the other side. From the piece: The four Jewish men who worked in an almost-secret division called Autometric for Paramount Pictures on the project then called Chromatron—which after a handshake became the Japanese “invention” the Trinitron—are barely a footnote on Wikipedia, while the engineers at Sony live on in glory. Nobutoshi Kihara, who in 2011 died in Tokyo at eighty-four, was as celebrated in Japan for his role in the Trinitron’s invention as he was for inventing the Walkman. The project was sold for a mere one million dollars in a deal cooked up at a cocktail party. Within a few years it made billions, the Trinitron dominating the world market. Sony tweaked five years of research for sure, but in this daughter’s opinion they should share credit. Even if in my father’s opinion: “Who cares? I don’t think about it, only you.” The story as I have it so far, is that the stores wouldn’t stock color sets because the picture was so unsteady. Engineers were under fire to produce a bankable consumer model. The head office was always breathing down their necks. Someone was going to make a killing. If a man at RCA made the breakthrough, it would reestablish his company as the leader. The big executives visiting the floor would say things like, “That Tokyo fellow put SONY on top of the map with the transistor radio. Out of nowhere, they led the world.” Or: “Think bigggg. New ideas saved Ford, the ’49 Sedan was introduced in ’48 and saved the company from bankruptcy.” Finally, prediction #4 off this list should sound pretty familiar today. And sure, “big leagues” begs the question. If popularity doesn’t matter, and you think IBM’s or Honeywell’s product (whatever those are) are higher quality than a Lenovo laptop–and they probably are, in a lot of ways–pointing out that IBM doesn’t make PCs anymore and whatever acquisition of Honeywell’s, which used to do so doesn’t, either, is irrelevant. Sometimes I work hard to agree with you; more often I have difficulty getting past my initial “Oh, FFS.” If I say, “don’t think of a pink elephant!”, can you avoid imagining a pink elephant? The Lapore article is a great example of the kind of sensible writing that enforces and maintains an ontological hegemony. If I say, “don’t think of an ontological hegemony”, can you avoid imagining an ontological hegemony? “Ontological hegemony” is one of those big green things they put around large British estates, isn’t it? They used to hunt people in them. Hey! No fighting in the War Room more disruptions of the disruption thread! I have surely reached my quota for this thread Don’t want to derail substantive discussion here. But do want to note that the principle triumph of Reaganists is the invidious creep of market think into all aspects of life. I immediately thought of this thread when reading: ml The point about how hard the business press focuses on the non-normal-ness of Tesla sharing its patents is very applicable. We are encouraged to think of disruption in antagonistic, competitive ways. We are encouraged to think of cannibalistic business plans as being dangerous. It’s all about who’s winning and who’s losing in the papers, when disruptive change is fundamentally about the rewiring of networks and the construction of new networks of more modern conceptions. When Tesla wants to do a little mutualism, patent lawyers stand agape. They will not be disrupted. Schumpeter tried to reason out how it was that there were so many obvious market inefficiencies and so much obvious waste in the economy, when the invisible hand ensures that there will be hardly any waste or inefficiency. He argued that each industry inevitably approaches monopoly, and this makes it easier for innovators to come up with alternative technology. The old established industry has had a long time to improve on their learning curve, they will be somewhere near their local optimum. The innovators will be far from their own local optimum, but they must get better than the established approach before they can compete. Monopoly lowers the bar, and so helps to increase the rate of innovation. He argued that business cycles are a good thing because in recessions the least productive businesses fail and so release the resources they were inefficiently using to be available for new purposes. People see the inefficiency of recessions, but they don’t see the higher efficiency they cause. Left to itself, everything the economy does encourages creative destruction which improves the economy in the long run. Schumpeter made JustSo stories to explain the contradiction between observed facts versus the theory of efficient markets. Anyway, apart from the hoopla there is something important about the disruptive concept. If you are running a business in a particular market niche, and you get an innovation which results in that’s very good. Like, customers get improvements they are willing to pay more for, and also those improvements let them use your product more. Even after your competitors catch up with you, you get a slice of a bigger pie. But what if instead you get an innovation which results in 1. Lower costs 2. Lower or same sales. Then you can sell cheaper and increase market share. But when your competitors catch up, you get a slice of a smaller pie. If you already have a significant market share, you benefit from the first kind of innovation and you suffer from the second kind. But if you start out with no market share, you benefit either way. Assuming you have sufficient resources to actually break into the market with your cheap innovative product. There are various ways to assign importance to this. It’s a concept that has some uses. I don’t see that it has a lot of moral significance, unless you are in the market for moral justifications and you think this is a better fit to your needs than competing intellectual products. William Timberman 06.24.14 at 11:40 pm Bob, it’s no use. Ontological Hegemony, Inc. doesn’t need a standing army — there’s never any shortage of volunteer defenders both savage and genteel. Maybe if you called it Maggie’s Farm instead you’d seem closer to the soil, and therefore more trustworthy, more the sort of person they’d like to have a beer with. And then they’d listen, right? For what it’s worth, way back here in the last row, me, I’m listening, and I prefer it as it comes, if you please, without all the customary hail fellow well met. (It’s hard enough to think about these things as it is without the added burden of appearing respectable — let alone chummy — while I’m doing it.) Business is boring and discouraging for most of those participating. There’s a market for preachers, who can feed the spiritual need. Clayton Christensen, I’m sure, imagines himself a scholar and a theoretician, but what he is, is a coach-at-half-time of a losing game for dispirited salesmen, wishing they were doing anything half as meaningful as playing a high school basketball or football game. For this reason, the strongest parts of Jill Lepore’s essay, for me, concerned the concept of disruption as a cultural phenomenon, expressing the intense anxiety of the times. (And, bob mcmanus, with all the incisiveness of the impenetrable Nagel, may have been addressing this, I don’t know.) I wanted her to make the connection between the depth psychology of the faith in disruption and the yawning vacuum where public purposes and ethical commitment should be in the political and business discourse. I wanted her to make that connection and explain it, and I feel disappointed. She did try to challenge the pretension with which Christensen transforms his “case-studies” into just-so stories, decorated with bumperstickers masquerading as analytic concepts. It is kind of mean to challenge Christensen’s enthusiasm for “disruptive” innovation with the fact that Seagate, a focus of one of his first studies, is still the largest hard-drive maker, after more than 40 years. And, I like mean. But, it was not clear to me what her point was. Ditto, for the observation that U.S. Steel is a unionized workplace. And, for the record, journalism is a profession; journalists work for businesses that publish stuff. @30 So much of public discourse gets confused by the fact that journalists think journalism is a pure public good. The Temporary Name 06.24.14 at 11:58 pm For this reason, the strongest parts of Jill Lepore’s essay, for me, concerned the concept of disruption as a cultural phenomenon, expressing the intense anxiety of the times. I may not be a cheery and content person but I don’t recall the times that weren’t anxious. Maybe “disruption” is the Late, Great Planet Earth for suits. J Thomas @ 28 I agree, Christensen’s ideas do seem to be a recycling of Schumpeter’s in some ways. Schumpeter could use the term, economic rent, in a sentence and hope to be understood. He understood that the economy had a structure, and economic rents marked out power in that structure. Christensen’s ideas have evolved in the direction of emphasizing the business model, and the potential of a new technology to enable or require a different business model. Schumpeter would have understood “disruption” in terms of capturing or diverting sources of economic rent. Early Schumpeter celebrated the entrepreneur as a hero of wild spirit; late Schumpeter was very impressed by the organizational resources of the large American business corporation, with its R&D labs and planned obsolescence. In Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, when “Socialism” was closely associated with central planning, Schumpeter wondered aloud whether planning by giant corporations would not come close to driving what we would call start-ups — the founding of wholly new enterprise on new principles and producing new products — toward practical extinction. Schumpeter did not foresee just how far the processes of incremental improvements would carry us. Nor do we fully appreciate how very different the world of work and business seems as a result of the progress of incremental innovation in the processes of making things. The business model for building a railroad wasn’t so hard to figure out: you bought land along the route, in anticipation of the effect building the road would have on property values. And, once the railroad was built, the railroad had considerable advantages in speed and cost of transport with which to bargain over rates, though many roads went bankrupt discovering that merchants gained considerable leverage as well, knowing that the railroad was stuck with its sunk-cost investments and sizeable overhead. Still, the business model, so to speak, had tangible elements forming a visible outline. Did you know that a television network was originally based on ownership of a high-capacity transmission line connecting member stations? That was the eponymous “network” and its costs were considerable enough to form part of what economists used to call a barrier to entry, along with factors like the limited number of television channels in each market — there were only 12 on the VHF dial back in the day, and less than half of those available in any given city — and the huge costs of esoteric devices like cameras, not to mention the highly trained, unionized technicians. Now what’s a television network? A website and a Roku app? One of the biggest sunk-cost investments might be the marketing concept and the logo design. That’s an extreme example, but it’s the outcome of a general trend. The unit costs of manufactured goods has become remarkably low, and the proportionate effect of investments in intangibles like “brand” very large. Christensen is haunted, I understand, by a missed prophecy regarding the iPhone and Nokia, which he tries to explain away by a reference to smartphones competing with (disrupting) personal computers. But, personal computers are disrupting themselves, by becoming so cheap, that you cannot build a company with the overhead of a Dell or H-P around them. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone get their religion from the Harvard Business School, but I can see why businessmen might feel the need for one. The world must seem fragile, indeed, when business rests not on tangible brick-and-mortar and the quasi-rents of expensive machines or the expertise of loyal workforces, but on brand names, clever graphics and intellectual property claims. Temporary Name: I don’t recall the times that weren’t anxious. Yes, of course. To every age, etc. I thought Lepore was fairly clear, though, in tying this particular concept of disruption to the particular character of our anxieties, in contrast to other times. Ed Herdman 06.24.14 at 10:09 pm @ 20: ‘I’m not sure what the Marx quote has to do with disruption in this case…’ My thought was that disruption was not a novelty, but inherent in capitalism. Lepore says, very generally, well, it didn’t really happen, a lot of the old companies are still around, a lot of the new disruptive ones disappeared, and so on. The focus is on companies. However, to take one example, the PC didn’t disrupt the computer world; it disrupted the office, the workplace. In 1960, business offices were full of people typing, running mechanical calculators, running copiers, receiving and sending and carrying mail around and so forth. A lot of the jobs required a certain amount of skill and knowledge and were sometimes paid accordingly. Thirty or forty years later, most of those people were gone because their jobs were gone. Some of them wound up programming computers and some of them wound up as associate assistant manager of the produce department in the local Safeway. A good many of them went on Welfare or Disability or retired early. So the PC and related equipment were the means of chopping out a significant section of the middle working class, the substance of many communities. It was part of stopping the mill that turned immigrants, internal and external, into worthy citizens; it was part of the turn where ‘we’ started going down, although our companies and their leaders were continuing to go up. That is how this particular phase of disruption worked. The Temporary Name 06.25.14 at 1:00 am I thought Lepore was fairly clear, though, in tying this particular concept of disruption to the particular character of our anxieties, in contrast to other times. It does occupy a funny space as a manual for and justification of self-immolation. A lot of them went into administration and management and “services”. A kind of Jevons effect took over, but one with darker motives than just wasting paper on the long, long way to the paperless office. Administration began to busy itself with very complex administrative tasks, the better to make itself essential and valuable, re-organizing for the brave new world. “Disruption” could be a friend to a certain sort of administrative busywork. Isn’t that part of the message of Lepore reflecting on her early temp career? The growth of Administration drove out-sourcing, for example, and the use of temporary workers on contract. Administration began to eat the University alive. And, it’s goal is the MOOC, the equivalent of my television network qua Roku app, where all that’s left to do is administer the revenue stream. In 1960, business offices were full of people typing, running mechanical calculators, running copiers, receiving and sending and carrying mail around and so forth. Heck, in 1975 my Highlights magazine came with an address label written out longhand! In 1959 the US Government and General Motors sent out payroll checks engraved on rock–true fact! Seriously, trying to drum up sympathy for the person who lost their job saying “we need this in triplicate” and “that was a computer error” like they did in 1970, by claiming other industries not only caused their problems but that other industries didn’t have job losses themselves, seems to me terribly misguided. The Temporary Name 06.25.14 at 1:05 am Seriously, trying to drum up sympathy for the person who lost their job saying “we need this in triplicate” and “that was a computer error” like they did in 1970, by claiming other industries not only caused their problems but that other industries didn’t have job losses themselves, seems to me terribly misguided. Should sympathy be drummed up for that person? Should sympathy be drummed up for that person? The Temporary Name 06.25.14 at 1:10 am One kind. Do you figger that person deserves sympathy? Is that a question you really think the answer might be “no” to? What a craptastically insulting thing to say. The Temporary Name 06.25.14 at 1:20 am My apologies then. But why would sympathy from that angle be terribly misguided? I think I reached close to the same conclusion in my second overlong post, roughly. If you’re saying that there is a disruption inherent in capitalism and that focusing only on one aspect of it causes a disconnect with reality – then probably, yes, that appears to be the case. Not sure that it’s quite accurate to the history of IBM to say that the PC didn’t disrupt things – but it’s really beside the point (for reference, I remember an IBM insider saying “IBM at the time had the people, had the technology, everybody was ready to go…and the company just didn’t.”) The PC, and the Microsoft/IBM split, really was disruptive for IBM. The bigger story behind that, though, is this: IBM’s still around, and they’re still selling services and computers that would look fairly familiar to people who sold System 360s back in the day. So it turns out that protecting that market actually has kept IBM in good stead. They weren’t beating the world with software development, during the heyday of Microsoft, but they didn’t need to be. I’ve seen stacks of old printing plates used by IBM to print their punched cards. You can probably find them on eBay still. It’s not a stone tablet – but close enough, right? Interesting point on shifting blame. In this discussion, you often hear people say “we have to spin off a company to protect the main company (and also isolate the spinoff from entrenched staid corporate culture you paid 70% on income over $600k (2012 dollars) and yet, with no incentive, executives ran companies that invented everything that gets called “disruptive” and had the economy at full employment. The rich and poor abuse drugs at equal rates. More prime age French people get off their ass and go to work everyday than in America. At a more macro level, there’s all the incremental progress discussed above. The bottom line is this: disruption is neither a force for good or evil, but the belief that progress would never happen or that people would never get out of bed *but for* disruption, that idea is evil and it was put in our heads, against the evidence of our own eyes, by unpleasant self interested people. Somewhat counterfactually, “disruption” could be public entrepreneurship on behalf of expanding the scope of the commonwealth, using or reviving “the language of public trust, public interest, public service.” It doesn’t always have to be in the direction of “privatizing” wealth and socializing losses. We don’t have to look on, as at a car wreck, and say, oh well, accidents will happen. We could greet a financial crisis, for example, with a determination to exercise the bob mcmanus option. I find I agree with almost everything Plume says. I don’t think we can actually do away with hierarchy in the economy or wipe social domination out of the genome, but we can oppose it, and in opposing, tame it. The political pathology of our times isn’t the strength of the right so much as it is a product of the weakness of the left. Many of the impulses that seem to threaten the survival of civilization do so, only because they are so little constrained. They are part of a natural ambivalence in human nature, and useful when constrained and compromised. “Here’s a high-paying job. We estimate there will be 2000 new people hired doing this work by the time you are trained, so we will train 5000 unemployed people to do that job. The best of you will take jobs away from people who’re doing them now, by getting lower pay.” You’ve nicely identified one of my pet peeves. I love (hate) this variation even more: “I taught myself computer programming from a library book and now I make 6 figures. If your working conditions suck or you’re unemployed, you should just do what I did.” This is a Klein bottle of callous stupidity. If everyone could write decent software with the aid of a library book and a year of plinking away on a computer every evening, then it wouldn’t be a desirable job niche. “Software developer” would near-universally become a low-pay low-stability job like freelance journalist. Of course the pontificating adviser doesn’t really fear that the millions of unemployed can swoop into his role after a year of retraining or self-study. The only reason to give “advice” of this sort is to tell a story about how awesome you are, and to leave the idea unsaid but hanging out there that anyone whose job prospects are terrible deserves it. “The only reason to give “advice” of this sort is to tell a story about how awesome you are, and to leave the idea unsaid but hanging out there that anyone whose job prospects are terrible deserves it.” @151 It turns out that libraries were created by Andrew Caenegie for exactly this purpose. He extorted communities to commit future tax dollars to support the buildings that he built. If building learning palaces cured poverty, then Afghanistan would have it made! Europe has no libraries and more social mobility, we have billionaires comforted by the ability to point to buildings that could serve a million better purposes. 142, the history of the development of the graphite club seems to me to be a classic instance of incremental innovation. First you have wooden shafts, then in the twenties you have steel shafts which simply replace wood and do not call for any redesign of the club, then in the seventies you get the flex, parallel tip shaft which is especially designed for metal – which means that wood and steel shafts are no longer inter-substitutable – and finally you get experiments with less weighty shaft materials, like aluminum, until the kinks were worked out of graphite. There wasn’t, in the meantime, a whole lot of change in the courses or the game. According to wikipedia, the number of people playing golf twenty five times a year has actually decreased since 2000. The result of incremental change can be largescale change, but the problem with the disruptive model is it picks one event out of a series of events and ignores the other events in the series, as well as the structures – which are themselves constructed – in which the event takes place. Is the graphite shaft more revolutionary than the parallel tip shaft? How could it have even happened if it weren’t for the former change? I’m just going to leave this here:http://techpinions.com/disrupting-disruption-theory-2/31752 Like a lot of bad ideas, I think “disruption” might have been popularized by Neutron Jack Welch, who boasted of taking a staid, reliable, R&D-based, manufacturing company (GE) and turning it into something exciting (a stack-ranked, financial/insurance company with permanent floating layoffs), and is said to have whispered to his successor Immelt, “Blow it up!” You’re against public libraries? Really!? “You’re against public libraries? Really!?” Hmm. I read him not as being against public libraries but as saying that building libraries doesn’t solve the problem of social mobility. /likes libraries //also buys WAY too many books. He wrote that public libaries were buildings that could serve a million better purposes. A million sounds pretty “against” to me. Europe has no libraries, really? Germany spents over a billion a year on them (not even counting the scientific ones which are open with no charge to non students) The Temporary Name 06.27.14 at 7:03 pm I’m also thinking Thornton Hall is overestimating the palaces of learning in Afghanistan. They’re really in terrible shape. “He wrote that public libaries were buildings that could serve a million better purposes. A million sounds pretty “against” to me.” Good point. I probably read him wrong. /Still likes libraries. 160 – I have a card to the Paris public library. These libraries are scattered about the arrondissements, with a few of them having special collections – the Truffaut, for instance, which specializes in film, natch. It is open stacks and all that. Of course, you don’t get to check books out of the really big libraries, like the Beaubourg, but you can go in there and read to your heart’s delight. R I spent all my summers growing up spending a lot if time in the public library. It was great. Of course, where I should have been was in school. As a result of the policy choice of public libraries and summers off school, poor kids fall behind and the rich (like me) have a parent or nanny at home to drop them off at the library. And when in the past I commented that libraries were ubiquitous, I was corrected by several international people. And I think they were basically right: the American obsession with a public library in every town is unique and down to the benevolent choices of one of the most powerful men in the history of the world who decided he knew best and bought the right to spend my tax dollars. Libraries are great! They are where homeless people apply for jobs and health insurance. But they are an example of private money inefficiently and artificially directing the spending of public funds. On process alone they are horrible. And when you think about a century of opportunity cost that could have been spent democratically, really it’s too bad. I feel the same way about disease charities and their awareness campaigns. I’m not pro-breast cancer. But private money created a demand for a lot of public money to be spent on mammogram for perfectly healthy young women. When you look at the science: false positives, no change in survival down to early detection, and you remember that a certain percentage of surgery patients die from complications, you realize the net effect is actual an increase in deaths. If we are going to kill people with public funds, at least we could vote on it, yes? Thanks to those who thought the best of my unclear writing, but on balance, despite the great memories, I think I am against public libraries. Main Street Muse 06.28.14 at 1:45 am I do not view this article with the reverence others seem to view it. I have not read Christensen’s book; from Lepore’s book review, it seems he views some product evolutions (disk drives) as disruptive – I would say the initial concept of writing to a disk instead of printing to paper was (and remains) disruptive; that the size of the disks changed was evolutionary, not disruptive. But again, I have not read this book that occupies so much of this essay. From Lepore’s review, it sounds like some of Christensen’s research may be a bit shoddy (the part about hydraulic shovels as an example.) The name may be newish, but “innovative disruption” is not new. The printing press was disruptive technology. Industrialization was disruptive. The Internet has been enormously disruptive of virtually every sector in business and academia. Apple’s products – from the initial desktop computer to the sleek computers they sell today to the iPod to iTunes to the iPhone to their stores – this is a company that has massively disrupted so many industries. If b-schools are implying they can provide a code to determine future disruptive technology, that’s their egos talking. But true innovation inevitably brings disruption. From Lepore: “When the financial-services industry disruptively innovated, it led to a global financial crisis.” I do take issue with Lepore’s definition of what happens on Wall Street as “innovative disruption.” Wall Street bankers are using some of the oldest tricks in the book – packaging snake oil as something “good for you.” There is a level of corruption in finance that simply is not reflected in the idea that CDOs, CDSs etc are part of a benign goal to “disruptively innovate” the financial sector. They were created to disseminate risk by obscuring the risks inherent in these products. (See Kenosha County school district for more on this “riskless investment” http://bit.ly/1aBPZgS) From Lepore: “Disruptive innovation goes further, holding out the hope of salvation against the very damnation it describes: disrupt, and you will be saved.” Are business leaders throughout all sectors preaching this idea of disruption brings salvation? The business people I’ve worked with have not shouted out this buzz-word to their audiences at the corporate meetings. If academics/writers/b-school visionaries are preaching this gospel of disruption = salvation, then how silly! Perhaps this is why our economy is in the toilet now… The Tweets of the Gods 06.28.14 at 3:19 pm > Are business leaders throughout all sectors preaching this idea of disruption > brings salvation? The business people I’ve worked with have not shouted out this > buzz-word to their audiences at the corporate meetings. If > academics/writers/b-school visionaries are preaching this gospel of > disruption = salvation, then how silly! In Silicon Valley, this buzzword is all the rage now. > Perhaps this is why our economy is in the toilet now… At Harvard Business School, it is even worse. If you dare suggest that the theory of disruptive innovation is old hat, just old stuff, Christiansen (pronounced sometimes with accent on “Christian”) and his acolytes will not just disagree with you, they will actually punish you. In an indirect way, it is indisputable that this is why the economy is in the toilet. These fellows as well as many other professors who have acquired their own little kingdom of minions won’t let any actual research get done at the Business School. Business research is chiefly about monkeys throwing c**p at the disciples and leaders of rival factions. @The Temporary Name 161: I have no idea what kind of shape the things we have built in Afghanistan are. The point I was making was this: empirically it’s been shown that building schools is worse than useless because of the money it wastes. Poor folks don’t need buildings for their teachers, they need money to pay their teachers. Or, if it turns out they are starving, money to feed themselves. Building schools is literally the least we can do, the least effective use of our money. It has been demonstrated many times that poverty is a condition defined by the absence of money. The way to cure it is to give people money. See this piece by Dylan Matthews in Vox: ash-instead-of-food-it-worked Speaking of Dylan Matthews in Vox, he has another article where he uses the language of disruption to argue on behalf of prison abolitionism. (House arrest disrupts prison, basically.) Which aside from being an interesting idea, I think shows that disruption doesn’t really have to be a dehumanizing way of thinking about things. 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