Woman teaching geometry, from Euclid’s Elements. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the 1990s, I did content creation work for a man named Max, a man considered by many to be the Father of Emulation Modeling.
I remember Max as a genius, working alone, who not only was a brilliant mathematician but also held a law degree for the express purpose of defending his software patents.
Recently he was brought back to mind when I read an interview with another Max, MIT physicist Max Tegmark, in an article published in Science Magazine. In that piece, titled “Do We Live in a Mathematical Equation?” Tegmark says it is not enough to say math governs our universe, but that reality itself is a mathematical structure.
“The beautiful mathematical regularities that have been uncovered have typically been unifications, where instead of having one mathematical description for this and a different one for that, we realize there’s a single mathematical structure that encompasses all of it.,” he says. “So for me, it would be a natural conclusion if everything could be unified, if there’s a single mathematical structure that is our reality, and all of the mathematical structures that we’ve discovered before are part of this more beautiful whole.”
In fact, he asserts, there’s no evidence right now that there’s anything at all in our universe that is not mathematical.
It seems that Tegmark is not the only one on this track.
Scientific theorists say if the universe is a numerical simulation, there should be clues to it in the spectrum of high energy cosmic rays.
In a post on the MIT Technology Review, researchers at the University of Bonn say there is a way to see evidence that we are being simulated, at least in certain instances. (This has to do with a number of things that got our heads spinning, like the problem with all simulations is that the laws of physics, which appear continuous, have to be superimposed onto a discrete three
dimensional lattice which advances in steps of time— and whether that lattice imposes any kind of limitation on the physical processes we see in the universe. Turns out it does, and that we could confirm or rule out the theory of simulation by further exploring something called the ‘GZK’ cutoff.)
At this point we were brought back to our Max— and some of the conversations I had that left me, well, grasping for meaning.
I imagine he’d say that emulation, not simulation, is more applicable to the universe.
Emulation is the process of mimicking the outwardly observable behavior to match an existing target. The internal state of the emulation mechanism does not have to accurately reflect the
internal state of the target that it is emulating.
Simulation, on the other hand, involves modeling the underlying state of the target. The end result of a good simulation is that the simulation model will emulate the target that it is simulating.
Enough! As Max used to end some of our sessions.
I’m left with the understandable thought that though I wasn’t working for God, I was in some way doing God’s work.
A post on Nielsen’s blog points to the extent social media is impacting brand marketing. Citing the Social Media Report recently published by Nielsen and NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, the research shows that consumers are spending considerable time using social media— using it to discover, research, and share information about brands and products.
Among the findings:
The study notes that social media also plays a key role in protecting brands. More than half of social media users write products reviews to “protect others” from having bad experiences, while many are using the tools to engage with brands on a customer service level. Their expectations are considerable: 42% of 18-34 year olds expect customer support within 12 hours of making a complaint or
lodging an inquiry.
While this study clearly focused on business-to-consumer use of social media, I can’t help but think its import has ramifications for the B2B sector.
How are you planning to use social media? What has its impact been for you in the B2B setting?
I’d love to hear your reports from the frontline.
From LinkedIn:
Over the past few years, I have assigned Marty several feature articles and case studies for Inbound Logistics magazine, and have been consistently impressed with his ability to grasp new concepts, explain technical details in relatable terms, and create engaging, insightful editorial content. He is reliable, adaptable, and an eager collaborator.
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Catherine Overman, Managing Editor at Inbound Logistics magazine
In Part One of this post, we began to revisit a list of ten exceptional B2B content providers posted last summer by Meghan Keaney Anderson on HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Blog. In this post, we complete our look back at content done well.
We began this post with a quote by Aristotle on excellence being habit; and with the hope that we might find some practice to emulate in the work of exceptional content providers.
That’s the upside of habit; the downside is that it can develop for bad as easily as good. “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit,” said St. Vincent of Green Bay. The lesson for content providers is not to give up searching for the interesting, or searching to find an interesting way to present what may seem everyday.
After all, every day contains championship content, whether we see it as such or not.
Aristotle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Greeks had a few ideas about doing things well: “We are what we repeatedly do,” said Aristotle. “Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Much of what we do on this blog is communicate what we believe are good habits regarding business-to-business communications tools and tactics, but also to instill a habit of reflection on our own part. This extends not only to our own
practice, but also to those practicing in the same arena.
With that in mind, we point you to a post from last summer by Meghan Keaney Anderson on HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing blog. The post celebrates 10 B2B companies that create exceptional content. According to Anderson, these companies “create killer content on a regular basis to keep prospects coming back to their website and engaging with their business.” She points to them as an example of how companies have compelling content within, and that the tendency to see one’s own work as ‘uninteresting’ outside the four walls is something that needs to be resisted.
We agree.
After looking at the sites acknowledged by Anderson, we think it worthwhile to revisit them here, as what they are doing might serve as inspiration for developing some good habits. Here’s five of her terrific ten:
In Part Two of this post on “kudo-worthy” content, we’ll bring you the balance of Anderson’s list of notable providers, who are lauded for an array of topics including social media, video, community development and more. In the meantime, for those who desire a little knowledge (which Aristotle would say is all of us), a little time on the sites of the providers above may prove to be usefully spent.