The Real Reason for Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency

Facebook says its new cryptocurrency, Libra, is a tool for financial inclusion and disrupting the world’s cumbersome payment systems. In reality, there is a deeper motivation behind it, although not the one its critics imagine: Libra is the last, best hope to re-establish trust between Facebook and the world, writes Kevin Werbach.

Legal Studies & Business Ethics

Resilience in Networked Systems

Game-changer to Digital Dustbin: Why iTunes Is Shutting Down

18 years after Apple launched the music download store, the company announced that iTunes is shutting down. Peter Fader sat down with Knowledge@Wharton to discuss the demise of iTunes and the takeaways from the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Marketing

Ubiquity of Data

Damon Centola Receives Research Grant from Facebook

How do social media companies decide what is and isn’t allowed on their platforms? And, once they’ve established standards, how to do they go about enforcing them? Facebook is funding research that examines online content and focuses on hate speech and/or preventing offline harm, including a study from Damon Centola.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Penn Researchers Detect Brain Differences between Fast and Slow Learners

Why do some people naturally excel at learning instruments, languages or technology while others take longer to pick up new knowledge? A new study led by Dani Bassett and Evelyn Tang looked at how brain activation patterns might affect how long it takes for new information to really stick in the brain.

Bioengineering

Evolution, Emergence and the Brain

Should Pandora’s Brain Be Regulated?

The existence of even a single AI with general intelligence would be a challenge to the ways human beings have seen their place in creation. "What, then, is to be done from a regulatory standpoint about the prospects of an “emergent” AI with general intelligence?" asks Jonathan Moreno.

Medical Ethics and Health Policy

Ubiquity of Data

Penn Medicine Releases Free, ‘Self-Service’ AI Tool for Data Analytics

The Penn Medicine Institute for Biomedical Informatics has launched a free, open-source automated machine learning system for data analysis called Penn AI. Jason Moore's team has taken three years to develop this system so that it can be approachable by anyone, regardless of their training or experience.

Biomedical Informatics

Ubiquity of Data

Mutz Receives Grant to Monitor Political Incivility in Media

Uncivil political discourse has become increasingly prevalent in American news media, and as the level of political incivility has risen, the development of tools to measure such incivility has not kept pace. To help remedy this situation, Diana Mutz has received a grant from the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD).

Communication
Political Science

Consensus and Contagion in Society

$15 Million Anonymous Gift for Analytics at Wharton

Wharton announced the establishment of Analytics at Wharton, uniting the School’s teaching, research and industry engagement initiatives that use big data to improve decision-making and generate actionable business insights. The inaugural Vice Dean for Analytics will be Eric Bradlow.

Economics
Education
Marketing
Statistics

Ubiquity of Data

For People with Strong Life Purpose, Making Healthier Choices May Be Less Effortful, New Study Shows

According to a new study from Emily Falk, people with stronger life purpose are more likely to accept messages promoting health behavior change than those with weaker sense of purpose. And this might be because they experience less decisional conflict while considering health advice.

Communication
Marketing
Psychology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Echo Chambers May Not Be as Dangerous as You Think, New Study Finds

In the wake of the 2016 American presidential election, western media outlets have become almost obsessed with echo chambers. A new PNAS study from Damon Centola shows that collective intelligence — peer learning within social networks — can increase belief accuracy even in politically homogenous groups.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

News

The Real Reason for Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency

Game-changer to Digital Dustbin: Why iTunes Is Shutting Down

Damon Centola Receives Research Grant from Facebook

Penn Researchers Detect Brain Differences between Fast and Slow Learners

Should Pandora’s Brain Be Regulated?

Penn Medicine Releases Free, ‘Self-Service’ AI Tool for Data Analytics

Mutz Receives Grant to Monitor Political Incivility in Media

$15 Million Anonymous Gift for Analytics at Wharton

For People with Strong Life Purpose, Making Healthier Choices May Be Less Effortful, New Study Shows

Echo Chambers May Not Be as Dangerous as You Think, New Study Finds