jbae's Profile

One of the core advantages of digitization of art is open access of fine arts to under-served population. It is true that famous Mona Lisa is difficult to see even when you are in Louvre, but there are a large majority of global population who do not have the privilege to travel to Paris to see the artwork in person. Thus, providing digital representation of famous artworks provides new opportunities and perspectives to many who will not have access to the artwork in the first place.

Hospitals are places where I do not find it pleasing to visit, but want to have a pleasant experience when I have to go. The basis of the pleasant experience is the psychological safety that I will be treated well by a trusted doctor. From this there is still a controversial question as to who is more trusted than the other – human doctor or machine doctor? With increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence with introduction of AlphaGo where the machines are now in a stage nearing intuition aspect of human beings, it will not be long before humans can develop a machine that acts like a human doctor. However, question remains as to whether humans will actually trust a machine doctor.

An issue that never crossed my mind, but a very important one. This is a topic that I have least confidence in predicting how it would change. Already now, it has been few months since I actually used paper notes or cash for any financial transactions – it has been all done via credit cards or online payment. With current technological advancement, I am much more in worry as to what it would be like in ten years on how people make payments – we might even not use credit cards and linked to our fingerprints. Putting imaginations aside very curious as to how central banks plan out future strategies to mitigate challenges related to currencies in the future.

Interesting post! I absolutely agree that mobile payment is a area where significant potentials are anticipated, yet many have not adopted using despite technology being prevalent in current society. From this respect, Starbucks approached the mobile payments in a unique way that differentiate itself from other players – i.e., introducing loyalty program as its main driver for the consumers and adding mobile payment to augment the loyalty experience. I believe this approach eroded any barriers that consumers might have with mobile payments and opened an easy path to try new form of payments. That being said, I am still very reluctant on how this approach will be applied to other companies.

Very excited to see how BroadwayHD unfolds its future steps in digitizing live theatrical performances. On a personal level, I still see significant value of attending theaters and enjoying the performances live – performances are not a solo affair by the actors. It is a conversation with the audience and the vibe that transcends throughout the theater is what makes it so special. Therefore, I am looking forward to ways in which technology could transfer not only the visual and sounds, but also the atmosphere to remote locations – maybe through virtual reality.

This was one of the most interesting post as I am a big fan of Nike, and fascinating to track their efforts to reduce carbon footprint. To add to possible suggestions, it would be nice if Nike entered into the recycling business by providing incentives to consumers to return the Nike apparels to Nike instead of rubbish bins. With Nike’s presence and brand image globally, such actions could benefit not only Nike, but initiate a ripple effect on the entire industry urging competitors to roll out similar schemes.

Just like our IKEA cases, sustainability is one of the core areas of concern for many manufacturing based companies. The most difficult action item from the potential solutions from my perspective is actually educating the consumers. Fundamentally, consumers are inclined to pay only for the value that they are getting for. Consequently, it would be extremely difficult to persuade the general public to pay for damages that the supplier has caused. Also, advocating for environment and expecting consumers to bear the cost would not go well especially consumers in developing countries where economic stability is not achieved at a country level. As a result, it is one of the most interesting topics to follow on how they roll out changing the fundamental perspective of consumers alike.

Very interesting post on how sports are affected by climate changes. I totally agree on how climate changes impact the nature of the game, but disagree on potential solutions. Ultimately, tennis is a sport where it is not measured by absolute value but on relative performance. Thus, investing in infrastructures or changing the venues would only decrease the popularity of the sport – the players will at the end of the day adapt to the new environment.

This was a very interesting post not because I am a interested in fashion, but more so because it is an industry which I will have interactions with for the rest of my life. That being said, there are inherent obstacles in manufacturing industry where it is difficult to expand into different markets, while maintaining the partnership with Solidaridad. Firstly, the margins are extremely low in apparel manufacturing industry and thus there are limited room to increase cost for sustainability. Also, the environments in developing countries significantly differ from developed countries where it makes it impossible to leverage Solidaridad into actual production.
Thus, there should be additional actions that should be enacted, in additional to consumer education, to fundamentally disrupt how people perceive manufacturing.

Tourism and environment is a topic that is often coupled in many areas of the region including Maldives. It is especially sensitive issue when the economy of region is highly dependent on the tourism industry. In this situation, it is extremely difficult to devise and implement solutions to mitigate the issue as it has direct impact on the welfare of the people. Although the short term measures do supplement the conservation efforts, there needs to be a policy in place where there are other sources of economic growth other than tourism to fundamentally resolve the issue.