elauren

Posts by elauren

What is Social Impact Investing?

by on July 30, 2018 1:22 pm
During Milo Werner’s talk, she introduced the idea of social impact investing through this eye-opening statistic: “700 million people have a rich lifestyle … but 7 billion people want the same thing!” This idea of many people wanting what the few have motivated Khosla Ventures’ slogan of “reinventing societal infrastructure with technology.” [1] She talked… Read more What is Social Impact Investing?

Is A/B Testing Ethical?

by on July 22, 2018 3:32 pm
In undergrad, I took a course called Data 100: Principles and Techniques of Data Science. One day we had a guest lecturer, who is a PhD student in the Statistics Department. He opened by asking us a question: “Have you ever been involved in a Silicon Valley experiment?” One or two people raised their hands.… Read more Is A/B Testing Ethical?

Do Machines have Consciousness?

by on July 16, 2018 1:04 pm
Do machines have consciousness? One of last week’s speakers, Craig Martell, Head of Science and Engineering at LinkedIn, doesn’t think so. According to Mr. Martell, artificial intelligence (AI) is just a buzzword, purely named for its ability to raise money from the government or investors. The goal of AI is to build systems that act… Read more Do Machines have Consciousness?

Microsoft's New Age of Cloud Computing

by on July 11, 2018 11:17 am
During Dean Parson’s talk on Azure last Friday, he showed a video demonstrating “the evolution of Microsoft.” I was expecting to hear about Microsoft’s shift towards cloud computing under CEO Satya Nadella’s direction. Instead we watched a circa 1990s video about Microsoft’s technology, which showed by contrast how advanced our technology is today. Before showing… Read more Microsoft's New Age of Cloud Computing

Fleets of Automated Vehicles in 2020?

by on July 6, 2018 8:46 pm
During Carl Eschenback’s talk last Friday, he discussed the major tech trends of the 20th century. In the 1960s it was semiconductors, 1970s systems, and moving forward to the 2010s the mobile boom. The question on his and everyone’s minds is: What’s the next tech trend? My hypothesis is what Lyft’s co-founder, John Zimmer, calls… Read more Fleets of Automated Vehicles in 2020?