Tuesday, March 21, 2023

AI Replacing GUIs?

Microsoft is supposedly incorporating chatGPT into Office.  I can definitely see AI replacing (or greatly simplifying) the GUI (graphical user interface).  Instead of a menu with lots of drop downs, you just need a single box, like the Google or ChatGPT home page.

Imagine, in Word, being able to say (or type into the box) something like, "Indent all paragraphs",  "change the highlighted text to bold italics with font size 16", or "create a footer on each page that has the page number on the left, and date on the right."


© 2023 Praveen Puri

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Bank Crisis




What do you think of the current bank crisis?

First, last week three banks collapsed (Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, Silvergate Capital).  The first two were the second and third largest bank failures in U.S. history. Now, First Republic and Credit Suisse are in trouble, even though ,yesterday, they got capital infusions ($30 billion for First Republic from a consortium of large U.S. banks, and 50 billion Swiss francs for Credit Suisse from Switzerland's central bank).

In the case of Silicon Valley Bank, it seems like management made two big mistakes: 1. Their clientele  wasn't diversified enough away from tech startups. 2. They chased returns and, even though the Feds gave ample warning that interest rates would go up, they had most of their deposits tied up in long term (10 year +) treasuries.  Now, with the economy slowing, too many of the tech startups wanted to take out cash at one time, forcing them to sell the treasuries at a loss.

 

This brings up some questions:

1. Will there be other banks?  Will this become a cascading crisis?

2. Is the Federal government response appropriate, or are they encouraging moral hazard?  Normally, FDIC insurance only covers up to $250,000 of deposits.  Many of these startups had much more in their accounts.  The government announced that, to stave off systemic risks, they will guarantee all deposits.  Are they helping out politically connected tech companies at the expense of taxpayers?

3. Also, the central bank will allow banks to put up their underwater treasuries as collateral, and borrow the full monetary value for 2 years.  Is that wise to stem risk, or is that a further bailout that might encourage reckless behavior in the future?


© 2023 Praveen Puri


Monday, March 13, 2023

State of Education

Today, people have unprecedented access to facts and data, but haven't developed critical thinking skills.

© 2023 Praveen Puri

Thursday, March 2, 2023

"The Good Old Days"


Two things I know:
1. We always talk about "the good old days."
2. In the future, today will become the "the good old days."

© 2023 Praveen Puri

Monday, January 16, 2023

NUTS

Sim Wong Hoo, Singapore's first tech billionaire, who recently passed away, had a theory about what was holding his country back.  He called it NUTS, for "No U-Turn Syndrome."

According to the WSJ, he said that "in the U.S., drivers would make a u-turn unless a sign told them not to. But in Singapore, drivers wouldn't dare unless it was expressly allowed."

He felt that this mentality kept them from thinking outside the box.

© 2023 Praveen Puri

Goals

"The purpose of goals is not to improve the future. The future doesn't exist...Judge a goal by how well it changes your actions in the present moment. A bad goal makes you say 'I want to do that some day.' A great goal makes you take action immediately." 


  - Derek Sivers



© 2023 Praveen Puri

Monday, January 9, 2023

My Son's Team Won The Congressional App Challenge

I'm really proud of my son Anshul.

He and his teammates entered the Congressional app challenge and created an app that helps animal shelters get supplies.  They won!

There is 1 winner for each Congressional district.  They won for the 14th district.  Now, they get to go to Washington DC to showcase their app to Congress, and it will be displayed at the U.S. Capitol.


© 2023 Praveen Puri