NYTimes: BP Loses Trading-Floor Swagger in Energy Markets

As an indication of the role of speculative capital in industrial corporations, note the high percentage (20% or $2 to $3 billion) of its profits that BP took in from it's trading operations.

jd

From The New York Times:

BP Loses Trading-Floor Swagger in Energy Markets

The future of BP's trading unit is uncertain as oil spill costs mount and rival firms try to lure away traders.

http://nyti.ms/9qRDR1

Sent from my iPad

NYTimes.com: What Is I.B.M.'s Watson?

Interesting article that shows how the universe of possibilities expands as technology develops -- cheaper, faster, more, more, more. And that it enables hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of people to add to information Out There.

jd

MAGAZINE | June 20, 2010
Smarter Than You Think: What Is I.B.M.'s Watson?
By CLIVE THOMPSON
The category is artificial intelligence. This question-answering computer system is ready to challenge some flesh-and-blood "Jeopardy!" champions.


P.S. And this -- the other side of the tech revolution; how sausage is made: A Night at the Electonics Factory

NYT: The genome at 10

From The New York Times:

THE GENOME AT 10: Awaiting the Genome Payoff

The Human Genome Project has not produced the promised cornucopia of new drugs.

http://nyti.ms/dm9RBi

A couple of observations:

1. A revolution in the instruments of production is at the same time a revolution in the instruments of science.

2. Perhaps one of the problems is reducing the human being to a chemical machine.

jd