Issue #4: Why boring design is important, All Encryption algorithms will break, Bill Gates & Ray Dalio on AI, Which protein source is better for you?, John Wick 4, Bobby Axelrod and more.
Heya! How's it going? Having AI anxiety? You're not alone. Check this, I have brought something for you to ignite your curiosity, packed with exciting insights & eye-opening concepts. Don't miss out!
This article is divided in 5 sections filled with insights and knowledge, you can jump through sections and try to go through all of them. There is something for everyone on this post, read till last.
Design
1. Smooth interactions and transitions in more apps please.
It’s 2023 and still we’ve got apps with static transitions between screens, rough animations and screen over screen when you navigate. I always imagined apps where you cannot feel the screen transitions, where it is so fluid and integrated within the interaction that you always feel you’re on the same screen and content is moving based on the context.
Few products have been to do it well, today I've got Family (coming in 2023) for you to get inspired from and implement fluid interactions in your next project-
2. Doing boring work could be fun.
We all have been in a situation where we had to work on a task that seemed too simple and boring for us e.g. a sign up form, settings page or small things like making a search bar, a button or a bottom sheet.
What if instead of just doing the job, we took it as an opportunity to bring some change to the established patterns. What if we made the best button there was ever made, a unique design for signup form or a bottom sheet, a settings page that no one would’ve ever imagined.
Tobias van Schneider in his blog post talks about the importance of working on boring design tasks—
Boring design is focusing on the things that aren't seen or immediately appreciated, but can have an equal or even greater impact as "the cool stuff."
Science
Not just AGI, Quantum Computer is coming too.
Last few weeks have been loaded with advancements and announcements in the world of AI. AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is coming sooner than we imagine, more on that later but first let’s talk about the Quantum Computer. What is it? you may ask, are we going into the quantum realm like Ant Man and Avengers? Well our computers might soon be able to experience it.
A quantum computer is a type of computer that uses quantum bits, or qubits, to perform calculations instead of bits as used in classical computers. We know what a bit is for our computers, let’s understand it in a lil detail again—
Bits
A bit is the basic unit of information used in classical computing, and can represent one of two states: 0 or 1. Bits are the building blocks of classical digital circuits, and are used to store and manipulate information in classical computers.
Qubits
A qubit, on the other hand, is the basic unit of information used in quantum computing. Unlike bits, qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously, a property known as superposition. This means that a qubit can represent not only 0 or 1, but also any combination of 0 and 1. Additionally, qubits can be entangled, meaning that the state of one qubit can affect the state of another qubit, even if they are physically separated.
The ability of qubits to exist in multiple states simultaneously and to be entangled with each other is what gives quantum computers their potential for massive speedup in certain types of computations.
Quantum computers will break current Encryption Algorithms
One of the most well-known quantum algorithms is Shor's algorithm, which can factor large numbers exponentially faster than the best-known classical algorithm. This has important implications for cryptography, as many encryption algorithms rely on the difficulty of factoring large numbers and quantum computers can easily break the current encryption algorithms.
For more I would highly recommend the in depth video by Veritasium on the topic. I loved this video—
However, not all problems can be solved faster on a quantum computer. In fact, for many problems, classical computers are still the best option. Quantum computers are particularly well-suited for solving problems that involve searching large databases, simulating quantum systems, or optimizing complex systems.
Technology
1. Humane is working on a wearable AI tech.
Humane has a very strong pitch that our current technologies are distracting and takes away a lot of life from us, humans. They want to make tech that will help human focus on the life instead of becoming machines and being consumed by their devices. Watch this great representation of their pitch in this video—
Humane | Change Everything Video
Humane was founded by ex-Apple designers and a lot of ex-Apple engineers and designers are also working there. I am really excited about what they will be bringing for us in the future.
“Our first device will enable people to bring AI with them everywhere. It’s an exciting time, and we’ve been focused on how to build the platform and device that can fully harness the true power and potential of this technology,”
— Imran Chaudhry, Chairman & President - Humane.
Read more about what they’re upto here—
Is buzzy startup Humane’s big idea a wearable camera?
2. New Spotify discover feed
Spotify has also jumped on a trend of vertical swiping feed like TikTok and they claim their intention is not to steal user’s time but to help them discover new content and save time instead. How helpful is this gonna be? Well I accept the problem is genuine, there’s a lot of audio content and finding good one from the noise is really hard. I will comment about this new feature after I experience it for few days.
I often think about an ideal music streaming service which starts playing songs for me as soon as I open the app. Why do I need to think what do I want to play? Also help me with discovering some new songs as well. Do you know some app that works like that? do let me know.
3. Bill Gates and Ray Dalio on AI and ChatGPT
You might be aware about the recent announcement of GPT-4 and plugins in ChatGPT by OpenAI. Now you will soon be able to book flight tickets, order groceries or food or just check mails and reply all from ChatGPT only. Developers can now make plugins and ChatGPT gets new superpowers using them.
Bill Gates also wrote his thoughts and opinion about the recent AI breakthrough and he compared this with the personal computers era of his time when micro processors came and suddenly personal computers were everywhere within few years.
Read the full post by Bill Gates here—
Another interesting take I wanted to share comes from Ray Dalio, you might already know about him, he is a billionaire investor and founded the Bridgewater Associates in 1975, currently it has 150 billion USD of assets under management. I highly recommend his work on principles animated series, they’re some of the best material you can find to learn about economy, our life and the world.
Back to the video he recently shared about ChatGPT, he mentions how it will actually help us evolve in future and how it has been happening always. We’ve been outsourcing the work human did to machines and increased our productivity over time. We will need to evolve ourselves and focus our brain energy into doing complex and intelligent thinking and tasks as we proceed. Watch his video here—
Health & Fitness
1. Proper way to do Bench Press
I have recently started hitting gym and I had a hard time hitting chest while doing the bench press. If you also feel the same, checkout this really good video below to understand the proper steps and technique of doing bench press and get those chest gains. You can also try checking out Jeremy’s YouTube channel for more such videos.
2. Protein absorption, not protein consumption, is what matters.
If it wasn’t a challenge to eat the necessary protein, you also need to think about what protein sources you’re eating to meet your protein needs. There is a term called DIAAS score which tells about the digestibility of different amino acids from the protein source and calculates the overall score of effective absorption that you can get from eating that particular source of protein e.g. Lentils have a DIAAS score of around 0.45 to 0.48, which means that their protein is of moderate quality and not a complete protein source. On the other hand, eggs have a DIAAS score of 1.00, which means they provide high-quality protein that contains all the essential amino acids in the right proportions for human needs.
DIAAS stands for Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score. It is a measure used in nutrition to assess the quality of dietary protein. DIAAS takes into account the digestibility of individual amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein, as well as their specific role in human health.
In the above image you can see the difference between the quality of plant based protein vs animal based protein. Animal based protein offers a better balance of all types of amino acids. Also to get the same amount of protein you’ll need to eat more calories if you’re using plant based sources e.g. here in the image to get 54g of protein from plant based sources you’ll need 815 calories vs 570 calories when sourcing protein from animal based sources.
The video discusses the benefits of animal based protein but it’s important to note that there are benefits of being vegetarian too. Checkout the complete video here—
Movies and Shows
1. John Wick Chapter 4
Keanu Reeves is back as John Wick and we loved him again. If you’ve watched John Wick before you already know that John Wick movies are all about action and this chapter is nothing different. Chapter 4 started where chapter 3 was closed, John Wick wants to take revenge against the high table and wants his freedom. How does he do it? well that’s what we get to see in this part.
This Chapter brought great actors like Donnie Yen (popular as Ip Man) and Hiroyuki Sanada (recently seen in Mortal Kombat & The Bullet Train) as new characters in the movie. You can try watching it for great action and you won’t be disappointed.
2. Bobby Axelrod coming back to Billions
Billions is a rare gem that has amassed a cult following for its unique storyline and captivating characters. From the moment I tuned in, I was hooked on the cast, particularly Bobby Axelrod, Chuck Rhoades, Wendy Rhoades, and Mike Wagner. At the core of Billions is Bobby Axelrod, a billionaire hedge fund manager who takes some unconventional approaches to investing, often crossing legal boundaries. Chuck Rhoades is a US attorney who is in a constant battle with Axe Capital and Bobby over the law, which eventually leads to personal conflict and thrilling suspense.
I cannot recommend Billions enough to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of watching it. In season 5, Bobby Axelrod leaves Axe Capital after fleeing to Switzerland to avoid prosecution for his questionable business practices. But fear not, as the show's beloved Damian Lewis is set to reprise his role in the upcoming season, promising another thrilling ride.
Thanks for staying till now, I hope you’ve got some great new insights, knowledge and inspiration to go ahead with your week and before you go—
Here’s one bonus piece for you
Economic growth depends on the diversification of skills
Ricardo Hausmann believes that understanding economic complexity is key to understand why some countries are richer than others. In a video for the World Economic Forum, he uses the analogy of a game of Scrabble to explain this concept. Just like how having more letters in Scrabble allows for more words to be created, having more capabilities allows a country to create more diverse products.
The more people that know how to do things, the better a country can be at making things, and this knowledge needs to be shared within a society so that everyone can use it. In short, a country that knows more things to build is generally wealthier than a country who knows fewer things to build. Different capabilities are like dots and and the more dots you’ve, the more connections you can build.
He suggests that countries should focus on diversification instead of focusing on a niche industry. It always results in a wealthier society e.g. US, Germany and China are some of the most diverse countries out there in terms of what expertise they have to build different things.
Checkout this insightful video for more—
And that’s a wrap for this time from my side. Have a happy day. See you next time. Let me know your thoughts on this.
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