The Sunday Brew #61
In this brew - Global Industry Growth Heatmap | Scope Insensitivity & Preference Falsification | Carta exits secondary trading, Microsoft trumped Apple, Google faces patent challenge
Welcome to The Sunday Brew, weekly 1-2-3 newsletter by The Percolator. Every Sunday we drop in your inbox 1 story in a picture, 2 concepts, ideas or frameworks to expand your horizons and 3 news from the week, to keep you updated.
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ONE STORY IN A PICTURE
TWO IDEAS, FRAMEWORKS OR CONCEPTS
This week we bring to you two concepts - Scope Insensitivity & Preference Falsification
Scope Insensitivity
Scope Insensitivity, also known as the "identifiable victim effect" or "compassion fade," refers to a psychological phenomenon where individuals may feel less empathy or compassion as the number of people in need increases.
The concept suggests that people might be more emotionally moved and willing to help when presented with a single, identifiable individual in distress, but their emotional response may diminish as the scale of the problem or the number of affected individuals grows.
This phenomenon highlights a cognitive bias in which our emotional responses to humanitarian issues may not proportionately increase with the magnitude of the problem.
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Preference Falsification
Preference falsification is a concept that refers to the phenomenon where individuals publicly express opinions or preferences that differ from their true beliefs or feelings.
This discrepancy between public expressions and private beliefs often occurs due to social pressure, fear of repercussions, or a desire to conform to societal expectations.
In essence, people may modify their stated preferences to align with the prevailing attitudes within a social group, even if these preferences differ from their private convictions. This conformity often stems from a fundamental human need to belong, avoid conflict, or seek social approval.
THREE NEWS FROM THE WEEK
Carta Stumbles, Exits Secondary Market after Data Breach Controversy
The controversy arose when Carta was accused of using its cap table data to approach one of its investors about selling shares, leading to a breach of trust and affecting multiple companies. As a result, Carta announced that it is exiting the secondary trading business to address the conflict of interest and will pause all sales outreach until further notice.
This decision comes after the company faced backlash for combining its secondary market business with its service managing start-ups' investor information, or cap tables. The company's CEO, Henry Ward, acknowledged the failure in handling the secondary business and emphasized the priority of keeping customer data private. Read More »»»
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For a While, Microsoft Overtook Apple as the Most Valuable Company
Microsoft's strategic focus on generative AI paid off on January 11th, as the company briefly surpassed Apple to become the world's most valuable. Rising share prices, driven by aggressive AI tool releases in 2023, pushed Microsoft's market valuation to $2.875 trillion. This move signals a potential shift in the tech landscape, with AI taking centre stage.
In contrast, Apple's stock dipped 0.9% to $2.871 trillion, capping a dismal January with a 3.3% decline. Investor anxieties around iPhone demand, particularly in China, and a spate of recent downgrades fuelled the downturn. This stands in stark contrast to Microsoft's 1.8% January gain, highlighting the diverging fortunes of the tech titans. Read More »»»
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Google gets a Multi-Billion Dollars Patent Challenge
Google is currently facing a multi-billion dollar patent trial over technology used in its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), which power many of its AI products, including Google Search, Gmail, and Google Translate.
Singular Computing, backed by AI expert Joseph Bates, claims two of its patents for systolic array architecture were infringed upon in Google's 2016 TPU design, crucial for functions like speech recognition and ad recommendations.
Google has denied the allegations and claims that it developed its TPUs independently. The company has also argued that Singular Computing's patents are invalid. Read More »»»
The Sunday Brew by The Percolator brings to you curated news on tech, business & entrepreneurship, from across the internet to give your week a perfect start.
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