They Had Chicken Cutlet Curry Omelet Rice in Dubai

Man-made structures of steel frames and glass shoot up one after another into the sky.

I stopped by Dubai.

The tallest man-made object, the Burj Khalifa, 828m.

Dubai likes to break world records.

Beside the world's largest mall, Dubai Mall, there is the world's largest fountain, Dubai Fountain, at a height of 150m and a length of 275m. We also have the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and two faces of gigantic signage.

While showing miraculous development from 2003 to 2008, Dubai suffered from the financial crisis of 2008 and the 2009 Dubai debt crisis in quick succession.

However, the World Fair will be held in 2020.

This tram was opened two years ago.

Dubai is growing.

As if taking a note from Takeshiba CiP, I explored the seaside.

Like Shanghai before the World Expo, or like Singapore before its redevelopment, you can feel the unique seaside air gathering excitement.

I also found things that seem Japanese.

The Japanese classic, Chicken Cutlet Curry, Omelet, and Rice.

I should say, I’ve never seen a menu like this.

The Japanese favorites, Oronamin-C and Lipovitan-D.

It looks like even though they don’t drink alcohol, they still drink vitamin drinks.

At the Kinokuniya book shop in the Dubai Mall, there is a gigantic and well-stocked manga section.

There are a lot of books that might make you wonder whether or not people in an Arab country are allowed to read them.

I guess it's alright.

There are also a lot of figurines and models.

In the “Otaku” section, you can find Japanese manga, art books, and magazines.

If there’s a whole section, there must be a lot of people who are buying this stuff.

Eating camel meat.

That’s all for the Dubai report.

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Please Come to Grips With AI

"What Will be the Second Life for Those Who Lose Their Jobs Due to Artificial Intelligence Technology? Tips from an Economist"

http://ja.catalyst.red/articles/ai-tomohiro-inoue

This is an interview with Tomohiro Inoue.

  More and more people are expressing concern over job loss due to AI, but if that were to occur, those seeking wealth and those who are flush with free time will become polarized. Meanwhile, a "basic income" will become a valid option. I also have feelings resembling this.

  Assuming a majority of people lose their jobs due to technology, it will only be special individuals who retain their jobs. However, that society's view of labor will surely change entirely. Then, those who do not work will acquire a positive position.

-- As one such avenue, we are creating "Super Human Sports."

   Whether it is work or anything else, more than ever, people will be asking themselves what they themselves want to do.

　The problem is developing the mechanism by which everyone can cope with that. As abundance is produced by AI and robots doing many "jobs," if things get difficult, it will become imperative for all of society to have a policy of distribution. Basic income will be a major focus, the flow of which will follow. It seems as if Japan will be better able to contend with this than the US.

　By the way, if automatic translation becomes better than my English thanks to AI, big data, and wearables, I will invest a year's worth of pocket money to buy it, and focus on improving the accuracy of the machine. Children of this generation and beyond won't have to learn English anymore.

　Then, we’ll increase the accuracy of automatic translation a great deal, reverse the stigma, and the people of Japan will speak better, more elegant English than any other nation.

    If that becomes the case, there will be mass unemployment for English school teachers and language educators. It’s okay. Teachers who had been doing such a difficult job will find their next jobs without issue. Jobs geared toward machines for which proper Japanese is spoken will also develop. Please come to grips with AI.

  Even without having accomplished AI, digitalization has changed me.

  As of now, the number of books I read decreases by about 10% each year. This includes e-books. However, the total amount I read has increased dramatically. The amount of time I spend reading has, as well. Due to digitalization.

  While people are beginning to consume bits and pieces of information in great quantities on the internet, there is the desire to force out the literary works of individuals, which span multiple hundreds of pages. It seems like the ability to absorb lots of information and then reflexively deal with that information is on the rise, whereas the previous system of thinking logically has declined.

   The amount I write has increased, as well, but the style of my writing has also undergone a complete transformation. At this time, I start by writing something on Twitter. I tweet some daily notes, then repost them on Facebook. After that, I gather the posts up and turn them into a blog post. With that, I turn my work into something in terms of Internet media or printed media.

  Though the amount of energy I expend for written material has remained unchanged, and while the incidence of secluding myself and simply writing has become almost non-existent, it has become essential to gather sporadic daily notes, perhaps resulting from this multi-faceted expansion beginning with Twitter.

  I've gotten used to parsing my writings into 100 letter bursts. This is not only in terms of my writing style. It has even had an effect on my thinking patterns. The speed and amount of my posts have both increased, but how about the depth?

  However, what I can state clearly is that through the transition to the digital/internet lifestyle, my information consumption, creativity, and posts have dramatically increased in terms of both volume and speed. If, hypothetically, this has come along with a change or decline in the quality of my work, the sum-total utility of my work has seen a major increase. I believe that, in some way or another, I have come to grips with IT.

  The shift in reading and writing styles as one becomes an adult is one's own responsibility, but for those who entered the digital style from childhood, or in other words, in the case of those who read and write short sentences in greater volume than I do, they will have their creativity enriched, as well. That's what I hope, anyway.

   That's where AI comes in. Just as we have done with IT, my hope is that everyone will further augment IT, come to grips with AI, become a great deal wiser, and have a lot more fun.

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The Second Machine Age

　　MIT Sloan members Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee wrote a book called ”The Second Machine Age.” It is the sequel to their previous work, “Race Against the Machine.” It optimistically discusses whether humans can coexist with machines.

 　

　　“Chapter 8: Beyond GDP” is particularly important. Through the Internet things have become convenient, fun, and efficient; but that is not reflected in GDP. The book states that economic views which focus on GDP cannot analyze the current situation. The chapter has seven main points.

Point 1
         Due to the Internet, music proceeds declined 40% in four years and disappeared from economic statistics; however, quality rose, and people have come to listen to great quantities of quality music.

Point 2
         How can we measure the consumer surplus created by things and services? If a good thing bought at $1 becomes free, GDP has dropped $1 and consumer surplus has increased; but what is the relevant indicator?

Point 3
          If a price is zero, the numerical value is zero, but that does not mean it is worthless. Free things like Internet searches and transactions are beneficial to life satisfaction and the shareconomy, but such things are not reflected in GDP. The book says that economic satisfaction is not reflected in GDP.

Point 4
           The information sector accounts for 4% of GDP, which has not changed since the latter half of the 80s. ”The official statistics are missing a growing share of the real value created in our economy.”

Point 5
            How can we measure the resource known as time? Americans’ Internet usage has doubled in ten years. The value of time is turning to the Internet. In 2012, Facebook usage time was ten times as many person-hours as were required to construct the Panama canal. This is not being counted in GDP statistics.

Point 6
            Production hereafter will rely upon the four abstract goods of intellectual property, organizational capital, UGC, and human capital, all of which GDP statistics entirely ignore.

Point 7
            Thus, people are seeking solutions and new methods of index creation, examples of which can be seen in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index and OECD projects.

　　　　There is a question of whether to stress IT-related industry expansion or consumer surplus, and there is an identical dispute between the Internet and content.
                Ten years ago, I objected to the government’s installation of a landmark “industrial scale expansion” policy. Stress should have been placed on such things as content production and consumption amounts.

　Ultimately, the scope of the Japanese content industry plan is being curtailed, but we cannot conclude that content is becoming obsolete. Everyone is transmitting an exponentially increasing volume of information.

              This was also pointed out ten years ago when Stanford Japan launched a pop power project for pop culture soft power: Stanford needed to create an index with a focus not on GNP, but GNPP!

               Of course, GNPP (Gross National Pop Power) was imitated at the onset Cool Japan, Douglas McGray’s  Gross National Japan Cool. But indexification was beyond my capabilities and it did not go well.

                I anticipate the creation of new indexes implicated by “The Second Machine Age,” such as those of the UN and OECD; but I am even more strongly wondering whether I should try again to create an index for the new Internet age.

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