Tag Archive

Yootles Postmortem

By dreeves

I introduced the social currency (or scrip) Yootles in 2006 with the (needless to say, quixotic) goal of changing the social norms about money. We had two specific reasons for an alternative currency: We wanted to run prediction markets and needed a way around anti-gambling laws in the US Many people find the idea of using money... »

How Close is Close

By Sharad Goel

Your team is down by a couple of baskets going into the final minutes of the game. Is it time to panic or is it still anyone’s to win? Plenty have certainly come back from apparently dire situations. Just last month the Lakers beat the Thunder in double overtime after being down by 11... »

2011 Plus or Minus a Decade

By dreeves

End-of-year retrospectives are so over done! Let’s talk about how life has changed since 2000. And then to really make it exciting, I’ll give my predictions for what life will be like in 2021. We’ll start with an obvious one. 1. Flying became a bigger pain in the ass. I.e., the terrorists won... »

Twelve Years Ago

By dreeves

I got the following email today, sent from myself exactly 12 years ago. A University of Michigan alum was looking for people to join his new startup. I was a little bit tempted by it, but instead just forwarded it to my future self in anticipation of the "prototype" he was pitching... »

Demographic Diversity on the Web

By Sharad Goel

"Men are from Mars, women are from Venus," proclaimed John Gray in his influential, yet controversial, 1992 book of the same title, which highlights differences between the sexes. This summer Irmak SirerJake Hofman and I explored an online version of this issue, examining the extent to which the... »