 |
|
|
|||||
Commuting in New York City can be a relentless sensory overloadthe hustling, the pushing, the yelling, the ads whirling from every side. Getting to work can feel like a frantic race of people trying to escape the train station all at once. While the city hurtles past in a blur, Brandon Stanton has stopped to write it a love letteron the walls of Grand Central itself. For the first time, the terminal and its subway station have been completely cleared of flashing advertisements and replaced with art. Brandon Stanton More than 150 digital screens now display thousands of portraits and stories from Stantons Humans of New Yorkthe largest and most diverse collection of New York City portraits ever created by a single artist, featuring over 10,000 photographs and interviews with people all around the world. Running through October 19, Dear New York is a first-of-its-kind immersive experience that vividly celebrates the people of New York. Located in a landmark through which more than 750,000 people pass daily, the station serves as a crossroads for locals, commuters, and tourists alike, allowing the art to reach and touch people from all walks of life. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] The process of clearing out the space and replacing it with art, Stanton explains, was monumental. I would say it took 1,000 yeses to make this happen. One no could have completely made it fall apart, he says. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] In a six-month sprint, Stanton had to align a tangle of stakeholdersfrom the MTA and Metro-North Railroad to Outfront Media and the State Historic Preservation Office. It was a mix between a commercial and a political negotiation, he says. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] Outfront Media owns 80% of the screen time in Grand Central Station and is driven solely by profit, leaving Stanton with no choice but to negotiate pricing to gain access. The remaining 20% of display space is controlled by the MTA and usually used for public service announcements. I had to persuade this bureaucracy that what I was doing was philanthropic for the city, and worthy of this unprecedented space, Stanton says. Nobody had ever spent this kind of money on something completely unsponsored before. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] Without disclosing exact figures, Brandon noted that he funded the installation entirely from the savings he had built over 15 years from his Humans of New York photo blog and bookwith no sponsors involved. Negotiations alone took three to four months, he recalls, but throughout the arduous process, There were some early believers in the MTA. I ran into so many dead ends and walls while I was trying to make this. But at each point, there would be a person who really believed in it, who gave me energy and strength when I needed it most. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] He singled out Dorit Phinizy, director of events t Grand Central, as the first person to see him not as a potential revenue source, but as an artist trying to achieve a visionand thinking about how, within the confines of my job, I can help and contribute to this vision. Phinizy’s name appears fourth in the credits as “chief creative consultant,” for her shepherding the project through the layers and layers of MTA approvals. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] What began as a solo effort quickly expanded into a major collaboration. Stanton later brought in Broadway designer David Korins, who donated his time, and the design firm Pentagram, which contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in design services, including 3D mapping of the subway. The Juilliard collaboration for the musical component was put together in just a week. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] The art now stretches across every corner of Grand Central. In the main concourse, 50-foot projections wrap around soaring arches and marble columns, immersing passersby in the citys stories. Subway tunnels, stairwells, and side corridors come alive with hundreds of digital screens, each capturing faces, expressions, and snippets of daily life. [Photo: courtesy Brandon Stanton] Vanderbilt Hall hosts a community gallery featuring work from more than 600 public school students alongside emerging local artists. The crowning touch comes from 100-plus hours of live music, as 50 Juilliard students and alumni perform classical, jazz, and collaborative piano pieces on a Steinway grand. In the surge of commuters, Stanton explains: Many of my quotes on Instagram are much longer, but I distilled hour-long interviews into quick, digestible moments that anyone can absorb even while walking by. He adds: And watching people walk through this busy, crowded place and actually stop to readits very gratifying.
Category:
E-Commerce
How many female entrepreneurs, bankers, and industrialists from the past can you name? You could be forgiven for thinking that, until relatively recently, there were none at all. Women are commonly assumed to have spent most of history as housewives. But in my new book, Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power, I present a revised economic history of the worldone that places women at the heart of the development of the global economy. Here are just five of the (many) ways that women have powered the global economy from the Stone Age to the present day. 1. Creators of global money Before electronic payments, banknotes, and silver coins, it was clothwoven by womenthat was the most popular form of currency. It was lightweight, nonperishable, and easier to judge in terms of quality than a lump of precious metal. Cloth therefore underpinned the first trade boom in history, connecting economiesand peopleacross the world during the Bronze Age. Four thousand years ago, it was packaged up into the side packs of donkeys that journeyed across the peaks and plains of Eurasia in the quest for tin. When mixed with copper, this tin created a far harder and more workable metalbronzedriving one of earliest economic revolutions in human history (akin to the steam engine, electricity, and even AI today). By providing the cloth that paid for tin, women were at the heart of the economic revolution. 2. Builders of Ancient cities While ancient Athens might have been the birthplace of democracyand the home of many a great playwright, philosopher, and poetit was ancient Rome that had the far more successful economy. And this was in large part because the Romans had a far more favorable attitude to both business and to women. Not only did Roman women own ships and shopsand trade their wine and olive oil across the Mediterraneanthey also helped to build the ancient city itself. A third of the clay beds that supplied the capitals bricks were owned by women and, in percentage terms, the proportion of Roman plumbers who were women was four times that of the U.S. today. 3. Merchants of International Trade As Europe disintegrated after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Middle East was moving in the opposite direction, in no small part thanks to a businesswoman called Khadija. In the sixth century, Khadija was one of the wealthiest merchants operating out of the oasis town of Mecca. Her trading caravana fleet of pack animalsmoved cloth, leather, and animal skins through the deserts of Arabia and, to help look after it, she employed a young man by the name of Muhammad, who was known for his honesty and hard work. After developing a business relationship, Khadija proposed marriage to the Prophet-to-be. Not only was Khadijas financial support crucial to the subsequent spread of Islam, but the couples background in business meant that trade and merchant activity were revered within the early Islamic Empire, fuelling a Golden Age that made the Middle East the richest part of the world in the eighth to the eleventh centuries. 4. Technological Innovators From Henry Ford to Bill Gates, men are typically seen as the heroic geniuses who drove the technological innovations that have allowed our economies to prosper. However, in preindustrial China, women led the way in innovation, and no more so than Huang Dao Po. Aged only 10, Dao Po ran away from home to escape an arranged marriage, boarding a boat for Hainan Island, where she met the women spinners and weavers of the Li people who took her under their wing and taught her the secrets of their trade. Later returning to her hometown of Songjiang (near Shanghai), she set up a cotton cloth-making business and passed on her knowledge of the most advanced spinning and weaving techniques to local women. The technologies she introduced included a treadle-operated spinning wheel that enabled multiple threads to be spun at the same time, which more than quadrupled productivity and so made China the centre of global cloth production. 5. Inventors of consumer banking By the eighteenth century, Europe was catching up with China and London was in the midst of a financial revolution. But while men were serving the financial needs of the wealthy elite, women had their eyes on a much wider market. In 1798, a woman by the name of Priscilla Wakefield set up Englands first bank for women and children. Rather than operating her bank from plush offices, she simply set up a desk at a local school, where she opened her ledger to deposits as small as a penny. Driven by the belief that pennies make pounds, and that saving was the best form of self-help, Wakefield saw banking not just as a form of business but also as a means of helping people to help themselves. Like Wakefield in England, Maggie L. Walker extended banking services to underserved groups in America. The daughter of a former slave, Walker was troubled by the way in which banks ignored the needs of African Americans and so rolled up her sleeves to fill the gaping hole. In 1903, she set up St. Lukes Penny Savings Bank, making her the first American woman to charter a bank. Between them, Wakefield and Walker made banking accessible to millions of ordinary peopleand so created the modern consumer banking world.Wherever you look across history, women have supercharged the most successful economies of their day, including in the Bronze Age, the Roman world, the Islamic Empire and preindustrial China. It was also by embracing womens economic freedom that the West was able to transition from poverty to prosperity and deliver the standards of living that we enjoy today. And it is by maintaining itrather than beating a retreatthat we can avoid the types of civilizational collapses suffered by our predecessors.
Category:
E-Commerce
Quantum computing promises to disrupt entire industries because it leverages the rules of quantum physics to perform calculations in fundamentally new ways. Unlike traditional computers that process information in a linear, step-by-step fashion, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which can represent multiple states simultaneously. This leads to breakthroughs in areas such as drug discovery, financial modeling, and cybersecurity by overcoming computational barriers that have limited progress for decades. Quantum computing is transitioning from theoretical research to a transformative force for industries worldwide, much like AI and cloud computing before it. As Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, humorously noted earlier this year, even a casual comment about quantum computingsuch as his suggestion that useful systems are still 15 to 30 years awaycan send ripples through industries, significantly impacting quantum computing stocks. But whether practical applications are one year or 15 years away, small steps taken now can have outsized impacts in the future. For forward-thinking business leaders, the time to prepare is now. Why Quantum Computing Matters to Every Business Leader Quantum computing is not just about speed, its a paradigm shift poised to redefine problem-solving, innovation, and competitive landscapes. It has the potential to tackle challenges classical computers cannot, such as optimizing supply chains, accelerating drug discovery, and revolutionizing cybersecurity. However, its implications extend beyond operational efficiencies. Early adopters will gain a significant edge, while those who delay risk falling behind. For example, consider the pharmaceutical industry. Traditional drug discovery processes rely on trial-and-error simulations that can take years. Quantum computing, with its ability to model molecular interactions at an unprecedented and native scale, promises to reduce this timeline from months to hours as compared to todays supercomputers. Similarly, in finance, quantum algorithms could enable more accurate risk assessments and portfolio optimizations, giving early adopters a significant advantage. However, these advancements come with risks. Quantum computing poses a direct threat to current data encryption methods, potentially rendering them obsolete. For industries reliant on secure communicationssuch as banking, healthcare, and defensethe stakes couldnt be higher. Preparing for this shift requires not only technical adjustments but also strategic foresight from leadership teams. A Generational Framework for Quantum Adoption To understand why preparation must begin now, its helpful to view quantum computing through a generational lens: Generation 1 (20232032): The Experimental PhaseWe are currently in the first generation of quantum computing, where the technology remains largely experimental. Companies like Google, IBM, and AWS have developed quantum systems capable of astonishing feats, such as Google’s Willow chip, which performed a computation in under five minutes that would take classical supercomputers ten septillion years. However, these breakthroughs are primarily proofs of concept, with limited commercial relevance. Generation 2 (20302038): The Practical PhaseBy the next decade, quantum computing will begin delivering practical, commercially viable solutions. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, logistics, and energy will see the first wave of disruption as quantum systems solve complex optimization and simulation problems. This phase will also bring more accessible tools, APIs, and interfaces, enabling broader adoption. Generation 3 (20352045): The Maturity PhaseIn Generation 3, quantum computing will reach maturity, with robust ecosystems and widespread integration into business processes. By this stage, companies that invested early in talent, infrastructure, and partnerships will have a significant competitive advantage. While Generation 2 may seem distant, the reality is that the groundwork for success must be laid during Generation 1. Waiting until quantum computing becomes plug-and-play will leave organizations scrambling to catch up. What Business Leaders Can Do Today Preparing for quantum computing isnt just a task for IT departmentsits a strategic imperative for the entire C-suite. Heres how business leaders can act now: 1. Educate Yourself and Your TeamsQuantum computing is complex, but understanding its basics is essential for informed decision-making. Encourage your leadership team to explore resources, attend conferences, and engage with experts. Consider hosting internal workshops to demystify the technology and spark cross-functional discussions about its potential impact. 2. Foster a Culture of ExperimentationMuch like the early days of AI, quantum computing requires a willingness to experiment. Platforms like IBM Quantum Experience and AWS Braket offer cloud-based access to quantum systems, allowing your teams to run small-scale experiments without significant upfront investment. Encourage innovation by allocating budget and resources for exploratory projects. 3. Build Strategic PartnershipsCollaborate with universities, research institutions, and quantum startups to stay ahead of the curve. Joining industry consortia focused on quantum technologies can provide valuable insights and shared resources. These partnerships can also help bridge the talent gap, which is one of the biggest barriers to quantum adoption. 4. Assess Cybersecurity RisksQuantum computing poses a unique challenge to cybersecurity. Current encryption methods could be broken by quantum algorithms within minutes. Begin transitioning to post-quantum cryptographic standards and conduct audits to identify vulnerabilities in your systems. Proactive measures taken today will safeguard your organization against future threats. 5. Develop a Long-Term Road MapTreat quantum computing as a strategic initiative rather than a passing trend. Create a road map that outlines milestones for experimentation, skill-building, and eventual integration into your business operations. This road map should align with your broader digital transformation goals. 6. Monitor Industry DevelopmentsThe quantum ecosystem is evolving rapidly, with advancements in hardware, software, and applications occurring almost monthly. Stay informed about breakthroughs and assess their relevance to your industry. Regular updates to your quantum strategy will ensure you remain agile and prepared. The Cost of Inaction The history of technological disruption is littered with examples of companies that failed to adapt. Blockbuster ignored streaming. Kodak dismissed digital photography. Dont let your organization become the next cautionary tale. Moreover, the risks arent limited to falling behind competitors. Governments and bad actors are already exploring quantum technologies for offensive purposes, particularly in cybersecurity. Organizations that fail to pepare for these shifts could find themselves vulnerable to both market and geopolitical disruptions. Business leaders who act now will position their organizations to thrive in the quantum era. Whether its fostering a culture of experimentation, securing critical data, or building strategic partnerships, the steps you take today will determine your readiness for tomorrow.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||