Category Archives: Evolution

In the context of Architectural design, the term radical implied design which was extreme in form, scale, structural design or pushing the limits of the materials used for construction. Today, with radical changes in climate and global events that impact how we live, architectural design should address radical changes by shifting from the routine problem-solving approach by setting up new logical relationships to the design issues and arriving at new solutions by being aware of the complex nature of the design situation. This is the starting point for shaping new and more exploratory design processes.

Architecture is a collaborative process, from concept to occupation of the built spaces involving the broader public along with many stakeholders who participate in the design process. Governmental, legal, technical, economic, social, and political systems interact with architecture in complex ways for the duration of a project which can range from 3 to 10 years depending on the type of project.

The design process has to inherently rethink what buildings can adapt to during the life of the building. Awareness of the impact that a building has, beyond its designed lifespan, studying the effects of chosen materials, procurement, building operation, maintenance, resiliency, and end-of-life processes is imperative to imbibe any change.

The changes should be approached with logical thinking and creative realism. Architects have to increase agility & flexibility so that processes, workflows and roles can flex and that they acquire cross-functional knowledge and training.While workflows increase efficiency, it also creates rigidity, as systems have no flexibility to respond to disruptions.

Resilient design firms are able to respond and correct course quickly to accommodate the changes.

Climate change, ecological goals, wellness, economic conditions and social equity are factors for radical change. These changes influence the scale, timelines, budgets, materials, relevance and essence of the programme; so the clarity and transparency of design changes become the source of innovation.

For example, to achieve ecological goals, traditional building materials have to be replaced by ecological processing of building materials, building materials have to be environmental friendly, and the performance of ecological building materials during the life cycle of the building has to be established.

Barcelona Techhas developed biological concrete that grows vertical gardens. The plants capture CO2 from the air and release oxygen. The layer also acts as an insulation which regulates temperatures within the building by absorbing heat and preventing it from entering the building in hot weather or escaping the building in cold weather.

The right combination of nature-based or environmentally friendlier materialslike hempcrete, bio-brick, recycled timber, etc could reduce the carbon impact of construction considerably, compared to buildings made primarily with steel and concrete. The use of bio-materials could turn the building into a biofuel source that could bring the buildings operations beyond net zero.

To mitigate climate change, advanced & clean energy-saving technology has to be implemented from the initial design stage, during the construction and at the operation stages such that energy consumption is efficient. Energy is optimised by recycling of energy, reduction of waste emissions, and energy conservation.

Design has to deal with complex problem situations and despite the strategies and inventive workarounds that have been developed to manage the cognitive load on the designer/design team, dealing with all the information in the complex design situation is not easy. It requires the ability to (repeatedly) frame the complexities in the design situation, propose possible solutions and analyse the efficacy of both of these. A rational problem solving approach would be to refer to similar case studies, assimilate the appropriate R&D and technical data, establish the goal, imbibe the relevant best practices/ codes/ norms and map the tasks to arrive at the solutions.

Managing radical change would require influencing the system, rather than implementation of a plan to solve the problem; and astateof relative stability can be achieved by creating resilience, rather than striving for that so-called solution.

1. The approach should focus on Is this action leading in the desired direction?rather than the emerging design solution.2. Empathising: Understanding the human needs involved.3. Defining: Re-framing and defining the problem in human-centric ways.4. Ideating: Creating multiple ideas in ideation sessions.5. Investing in digital infrastructure and VR, that allows creative freedom for complex designs and for changes to be incorporated with less time and cost.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Evolution can be painful, how can designers embrace the opportunity to imagine alternative futures? - Times of India

AAP was the last political party in India to break through in a hypercompetitive arena and then record durable success. In a decade, its talisman Arvind Kejriwal has been sworn in as Delhis chief minister thrice, having led his party to a huge victory in the last two assembly elections. Since then, AAP has spread and is now the ruling party in Punjab.

AAP was forged in the crucible of an anti-corruption movement and was initially powered by volunteerism. Currently, its no different from any political party in its functioning.

Also read: Prashant Kishor hints at political plunge, to begin from Bihar

The rarity of enduring success for new political formations in the last few decades should make one sceptical of the ambiguous social media announcement by political consultant Prashant Kishore, suggesting he will soon enter grassroots politics, beginning with Bihar.

He is no stranger to it, having once been associated with JD(U). His real claim to fame is as a consultant to political parties. In this capacity, he has covered almost the entire ideological spectrum in Indian politics. Most recently, he was at the heart of a long presentation to senior functionaries of the Congress, which aimed to provide a pathway to revitalise Indias oldest political party. It didnt go well.

The moot point is if forming a new political party will end well for Kishore. It is hard to discern what his political ideology is. Also, Bihar has a fairly competitive political landscape and breaking in will be hard.

Given the challenges for any new political formation and also considering Kishores background, his social media teaser is bound to be treated sceptically.

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Prashant Kishores political evolution is bound to be treated sceptically - Times of India

Animation is an incredible medium for storytelling, and Disney has continually paved the way with groundbreaking techniques that help expand the possibilities of what animation can create. As their animation style pivoted away from hand-drawn cells, Disney has predominantly featured characters with straight hair, using digital animation to build upon its 2D animation roots. Now, in 2022, Disney has officially presented characters across the entire spectrum of hair textures.

In this video from Insider, we hear from Edna Liliana Valencia Murillo, who served as a consultant for Afro Colombian representation on "Encanto," as she explains how animators were trained to imitate the movement, or lack of movement, that changes from texture to texture. They take us from "Tangled" to "Encanto" to show the decade plus of innovative techniques that allowed them to grow from the straight, blonde tresses of Rapunzel and the sisters in "Frozen," to the rich, textured looks of characters in "Moana" and the family Madrigal of "Encanto."

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The Morning Watch: The Evolution Of Disney's Animated Hair, Lord Of The Rings Fanmade Anime & More - /Film

Whether womens orgasm is an adaptation is arguably the most contentious question in the study of the evolution of human sexuality, states a 2012 study. Indeed, the objective behind the existence of female orgasms has eluded scientists for ages they know male orgasms aid reproduction by releasing sperms but cannot figure out why female orgasms exist. And so, different hypotheses to explain their presence have evolved over the years that have inspired lively, if not polarizing, debates.

Now, a new study attempts to add complexity to this discourse. Published inEvolutionary Psychology, the research looks at the evolutionary ropes behind orgasm and sexual desire among females and how it may impact satisfaction in relationships. The incredible variability in orgasm we see among females poses a very interesting evolutionary question, co-author Patrick Nebl, an assistant professor of psychology at Elmhurst University in the U.S., said in a statement, adding that there is still quite a bit of disagreement over whether it has an adaptive function and what that function might be.

One camp argues that women orgasm in service of two adaptive functions. One, of mate selection as a kind of a litmus test allowing women to assess the value of a long-term sexual partner. Two, of pair-bonding, courtesy of the oxytocin released during an orgasm, which aids emotional bonding between partners, ensuring committed, well-bonded parents are around to effectively nurture their offspring.

Another theory suggests that female orgasms through the typical uterine contractions that are involved in it help with sperm retention by causing the ejaculate to be sucked in better for fertilization. Then, theres another hypothesis, which suggests female orgasms serve no purpose; theyre just an evolutionary accident albeit a happy one, of course.

Related on The Swaddle:

How Womens First Sexual Experiences Shape Their Sexual Desires Later in Life

In the present study, the researchers recruited 175 heterosexual, cis-gendered women with an average age of 19 for the study. Upon interviewing the participants, the study authors found a link between female orgasms and greater relationship satisfaction and duration.

It echoes the findings from a 2014 study which, too, support the hypothesis that female orgasm evolved as a mate-selection tool for females and promotes long-term, pair-bonding. The authors, there, had found that the intensity and frequency of female orgasms were related to their male partners family income, his self-confidence, and how attractive he was [in addition to] how many times they had sex per week, and ratings of sexual satisfaction.

Interestingly, an explanation for the orgasm gap the disparity in orgasms between cis-gendered men and women in heterosexual relationships may be embedded in the mate-choice hypothesis. [T]he failure of some women to orgasm regularly is not a dysfunction, but a sophisticated mate-selection strategy that evolved during prehistoric times, a 2005 article in The Guardian states. Women who fail to orgasm during sex may be genetically programmed to weed out unreliable men.

However, is the present study conclusive proof of mate selection being the driving force behind female orgasms? And, does it automatically dismiss other hypotheses? Nebl doesnt think so. I certainly dont think this study proves anything, rather it helps add evidence that orgasm might function as a mate-selection tool that promotes pair bonding, he noted.

Related on The Swaddle:

How Novels Have Shaped Womens Understanding of Sex in the Absence of Sex Education

Nebl believes the study serves yet another purpose beyond ascertaining the objective behind female orgasms. Orgasm is highly variable between females, and many females struggle with difficulty or inability to achieve orgasm. Struggling with sexual satisfaction affects relationship satisfaction and overall satisfaction and can be distressing, even leading to self-blame The knowledge that variability in female orgasm may be by evolutionary design, rather than being evidence of dysfunction, may provide some solace to women struggling with their sexual satisfaction, he explained.

Indeed, even though female orgasms may still be shrouded in layers of mystery, its reassuring to learn that not orgasming may serve a greater purpose. In the meantime, future research can, perhaps, include more than just heterosexual women to derive their conclusions from a more diverse set of responses.

Deep dives into evolutionary theories aside, one can hope the present study doesnt discourage women in heterosexual relationships from pursuing greater sexual satisfaction especially given the existing orgasm gap, and to add to that, past research suggesting that infrequent orgasms lower peoples expectations of, and even desire for, orgasming. The pursuit of pleasure, as Samatha from Sex And The City would perhaps call it, must continue.

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How the Female Orgasm May Have Evolved to Help With Mate Selection - The Swaddle

As the world increasingly moves to the cloud and digital-everything, organizations risk postures have also changed. Embedding security into the business is the new, must-have approach and product security is the most seamless path to make it happen led by the emergence of the engineering-centric CISO

Many top performers like Netflix, Github, Square have proven that integrating security into writing, building, and shipping code is one of the single most effective ways to improve overall security posture. Thats why mass adoption of DevSecOps is one of the biggest post-pandemic security trends.

Frankly, DevSecOps was already a hot topic pre-pandemic. As the quality and productivity benefits of DevOps have become well-established, layering in security and shifting left with DevSecOps followed as the next logical step.

However, even in 2022, many organizations are still in the early stages of their DevSecOps journey. Security is still often the team of no. Instead of being integrated into the SDLC from the start, security is tacked on post-deployment with vulnerability scanners and penetration tests.

The good news is that businesses recognize the gap and are trying to implement DevSecOps practices. A Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) report (PDF) found that 89% of organizations are actively adopting DevSecOps. Most of those organizations are still in the planning, designing, or implementing phases of their DevSecOps journey, which is indicative of where the market is headed.

In these early stages, organizations need to navigate the cultural and human side of DevSecOps adoption. Security has to stop being the team of no and become ingrained with the development lifecycle. Getting Shift Left right means leaning into the idea that security is everyones responsibility and making security a seamless part of the pipeline instead of something that happens post-deployment.

Getting Shift Left Right: A DevSec Ops Manifesto

What does that mean for the future of the DevSecOps? Heres a short manifesto with implications for the market:

Culture and mindset are more important than tools. I cant overstate this point. Automation and tools are important, but adopting DevSecOps starts with a culture shift. Making the shift from security as a single teams job which often creates an almost combative relationship between security and development to security as a shared responsibility takes time, effort, and dedication. This creates significant demand for consultancies that can help businesses successfully achieve a smooth transition.

Software provenance and software composition analysis (SCA) must become a priority. Supply chain attacks, protestware, and opensource vulnerabilities like Log4Shell have made the importance of securing libraries and dependencies clear. Applications today depend on a wide range of software from third parties, and a security flaw in just one package can have a huge ripple effect. DevSecOps platforms like JFrog and GitLab make it easy for teams to secure their dependencies and trace software provenance can address this problem while easing the adoption of DevSecOps.

Tooling needs to remove friction from security. For DevSecOps to be effective, security needs to be integrated directly into software delivery pipelines. If security integrations create bottlenecks and impede productivity, teams will begin to bypass them. Security must become part of how developers write, build, and deploy, not a separate process. Thats why its imperative for DevSecOps tools to tightly integrate with DevOps workflows. Examples of tooling getting this right include Synk and Veracode.

DevSecOps tooling needs to handle compliance challenges. Compliance with standards like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and SOX is a must for many businesses. Keeping up with all the audits, scans, and requirements often involves significant manual effort. Compliance as code solutions like Concourse Labs and IBMs opensource Trestle (based on NISTs OSCAL models) can add a lot of value here. By streamlining the compliance process with DevSecOps tooling and practices, teams can demonstrate business value and help create a positive feedback loop for broader DevSecOps adoption.

(Youll notice Ive left AppSec tooling out of the mix here. While important, and likely more primed for growth, AppSec is a distinct category that we should view as complementary to DevSecOps. The difference is simple: DevSecOps is everything from code to deploy, AppSec is post-deploy.)

To summarize, most organizations want to adopt DevSecOps practices, but their current practices are closer to traditional waterfall methodologies than the agile practices described in the DevSecOps manifesto above.

Therefore, the immediate hurdle facing most businesses is overcoming the challenges related to people and processes. For providers of DevSecOps services and solutions, the focus should be on removing friction from integrating security and helping teams come together to make security everyones responsibility.

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The VC View: The DevSecOps Evolution and Getting "Shift Left" Right - SecurityWeek

People who think evolution is a bunch of hogwash are, per a new study, much more likely to be bigoted.

In a new interview with PsyPost, University of Massachusetts at Amherst researcher Stylianos Syropoulos discusses the implications of a new study his team published in theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Syropoulos and his colleagues found that in the United States as well as in Eastern Europe and the Middle East that a low threshold of belief in the theory of evolution corresponded with higher prejudices both within ones own group as well as bigotry towards people of other creeds, races, and nationalities.

Our findings were consistent across cultural, religious, and national contexts, for majority and minority groups, and even towards groups that were fictional (i.e., created by the research team), Syropoulos told PsyPost.

The effect appear to be strong across the world.

In Israel, for instance, they foundthat people with a higher belief in evolution were more likely to support peace among Palestinians, Arabs and Jews. In Muslim countries, they demonstrated that belief in evolution was associated with less prejudice toward Christians and Jews, and in the 19 primarily Orthodox Christian Eastern European countries they analyzed, belief in evolution was correlated with less prejudice towards Jews, Muslims, and Roma people.

Syropoulos noted that the researchers findings are correlational, which means that they are not positing that disbelief in evolutioncauses prejudice, but rather that there is a correlation that previously had gone unexplored.

That said, Syropoulos added that the relationship between disbelief in evolution and greater rates of bigotry was consistent, and remained significant after adjusting for key psychological variables such as ideology or religiosity.

The finding is particularly poignant because, as the researchers noted in their statement about their study, Charles Darwins theory of evolution has in the past been used as a vehicle for racism via its foundational survival of the fittest and natural selection tenets.

There have been theoretical accounts that predict the opposite of what we found, Bernhard Leidner, an associate professor of psychology at UMass, said, so it was exciting for us to show that this actually is not the case, that the opposite is true and that belief in evolution seems to have pretty positive effects.

READ MORE:People who reject the theory of human evolution tend to have more bigoted attitudes [PsyPost]

More on evolution:Scientist Says There May Be a Species of Hobbit-Like Humanoids Hiding on an Island

More on jerks:Scientists Are Studying the Psychology of A**holes

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It Turns Out People Who Don't Believe in Evolution Are Racist Jerks - Futurism

primeimages/iStock via Getty Images

The world is evolving, and there are consequences. Of that you may rest assured. Inflation is a time bomb, and from the U.S. government and the Fed - which is a part of the U.S. government - the fallout is only beginning, in my estimation.

Many people dont understand this, but while the Fed presidents and governors are allowed a good deal of independence, the institution itself is part of our government. The Fed was created by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and it reports directly to Congress. Period. The institution is not allowed any singular independence.

What Americas central bank is now causing is having a decided effect on all of our financial markets. I have pointed to the ramifications of our bond and stock markets before in my commentary, but those are not the only markets that are under the gun. Please allow me to demonstrate what is happening to the United States as compared to other nations.

2-Yr Benchmark Govt. Yields - U.S. vs. Other Nations

(Source: Tullett Prebon via FactSet)Not only does this mean that the cost of borrowing money in America is now more expensive than in most of the larger nations on Earth, but it means that more international companies will be borrowing outside of the United States to achieve significantly lesser costs. Higher yields may be a boon for some but it is a bust for others.

It is also having a material effect on the dollar.

*Data according to BloombergIf you consider the euro, we are approaching parity once again. This will have all kinds of implications for our imports and exports. Make no mistake about it. This will also have an impact on earnings for a number of U.S. companies. The dollar rose to 101.86 against a basket of other nations this week - a level not seen since March 2020. The Federal Reserve's recent rate hikes have been followed by higher U.S. debt yields, with more to follow, by all indications, suggesting markets are confident the Fed can tame inflation, and encouraging foreign investors to buy U.S. Treasuries.

Maybe yes, and maybe no, would be my retort. The flip side of raising rates is some sort of recession. While I am not saying that one will happen, after having watched the Fed for some 48 years now, I am mindful of mistakes that might be made. I am also mindful of the consequences.

Interestingly enough, the dollar makes up approximately 59% of central bank holdings. This is the lowest level in a quarter century. This may change again, and change soon, as the BOJ and the ECB seriously lag the actions of the Fed.

What I can virtually assure you of, in the weeks and months ahead, is a serious bout of volatility. Whether you consider bonds or equities or our currency, volatility will be standing there and causing many of us to scramble as a result. I suggest very cautious methods of investing now where you beat the inflation rate in the most conservative manner possible.

Original Source: Author

Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.

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Evolution Or Revolution - Seeking Alpha

In late 2019, students from Detroit vs. Addiction, Street Medicine Detroit and the American Medical Assocation student section gathered to pack bags with naloxone kits and other necessities for those experiencing homelessness.

The students and faculty behind the Wayne State University School of Medicines Detroit vs. Addiction medical student organization have released a paper that could serve as a road map for other medical schools wishing to build similar organizations.

Building a strong foundation from the ground up: the impact of a medical student substance use disorder organization on curriculum and community, is published in the Journal of Addictive Diseases.

The catalyst for this paper was seeing how much the overdose epidemic grew even within the last year during COVID. The need to provide resources to medical students during this era of increasing substance use and COVID has become more evident and urgent than ever, said Detroit vs. Addiction Student Advisor and Class of 2024 medical student Luz Nagle. Additionally, it was evident from our work with medical students at our school and others across the country that this was something they wanted, and DvA has been an amazing blueprint of a unique way medical schools can provide these opportunities. After our success, we knew it was time to share how we did it for other medical schools to hopefully follow suit.

Detroit vs. Addiction, or DvA, was founded in 2017 to encourage the initiation and maintenance of opioid addiction treatment by equipping the community with readily available resources. By working with other health professionals throughout the community, they aim to improve the lives of those struggling with addiction through volunteerism and research. They also educate the medical student body on issues surrounding the opioid epidemic to provide the physicians-in-training with a better understanding of substance use disorders. DvAs initiatives include a needle exchange program, harm reduction, BAM: Busting Addiction Myths and research.

The organization was founded by students to combat the increasing rates of substance use disorders, or SUDs, accidental overdoses and associated high mortality rates, and the urgent need for well-trained physicians who grasp these complex issues and help struggling patients.

Nagle is the immediate-past president of the organization and medical school representative for the WSU Opioid Task Force. She co-wrote the paper with DvA Student Advisor Tabitha Moses, former Vice President Anirudh Chitale, past-President Jody Chou and creator Irvin Lien, M.D. 20, as well as Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Assistant Professor Eva Waineo, M.D., andProfessor and Gertrude Levin Endowed Chair in Addiction and Pain Biology Mark Greenwald, Ph.D., who serve as faculty advisors.

Dr. Waineo and Professor of Internal Medicine Diane Levine, M.D., were especially supportive of implementing much of the DvA-led educational efforts into the school curriculum.

There are many great accomplishments DvA has had, but one we are most proud of is helping to implement opioid overdose prevention and response training as part of the curriculum for first-year and third-year medical students, and ensuring that all medical students graduate with the appropriate training to be able to prescribe medications for opioid use disorder, Moses said. We are also extremely proud of our interactive website that has been successfully used by patients for locating resources.Many of us have had colleagues within the school tell us how our DvA educational sessions and resources have benefited them and their patients and improved their ability to provide compassionate, evidence-based care to patients who use drugs.

The success has also provided an understanding of how much the organizations board members can, and should, take on while pursuing a medical degree.

Our biggest challenge has been having to be realistic about the commitment we could ask from our medical student board members. As a new organization with big dreams and an important mission, it was often difficult to juggle these aspirations with the demands of being a medical student. Having to reel in on some of these projects and trying not to spread ourselves too thin was often a struggle, especially when our board members are passionate about many things and are involved in other student organizations on top of trying to succeed in school, Nagle said.

One of the organizations ongoing goals is to eliminate the stigma that surrounds substance use disorders.

Before medical school, I had already seen how SUD affected people I cared about. However, being in medical school made me more aware that students need to take control of their education if they want to learn more about this field. Luckily, at the School of Medicine, DvA and faculty like Dr. Greenwald and Dr. Waineo have been able to provide these opportunities to students who otherwise would be lost to health cares incorrect perspective of SUD, Nagle said. Since starting my rotations in the hospital, my work with DvA has made me more aware of my colleagues perceptions of certain patients and empowered me to not only say something but to be more comfortable to do so than I would have had it not been for DvA. I am not only able to provide accurate resources to these patients, but also provide them with the feeling of having an ally in a team of physicians they might otherwise feel distrust. We know that these changes in knowledge and awareness are not just isolated to DvA members; many of us have had peers tell us about the ways that DvA-led initiatives have improved their attitudes toward and awareness about people who use drugs.

Students interested in learning more about the treatment of substance use disorders and harm reduction may shadow physicians at the Tolan Park Research Clinic to learn about the field of addiction medicine and interact with patients. DvA members can also volunteer to help with staffing and organization resources for a local mobile harm reduction program that includes syringe exchange, and with other student organizations such as the Robert R. Frank Student Run Free Clinic to provide resources when needed at clinic or at health fairs.

We are working on getting more of our in-person volunteering opportunities up and running since many of our partnerships with schools and facilities were young when COVID hit. We hope this year will see our volunteering opportunities grow and the seminars we offer be in-person again, Nagle said.

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How we did it: Paper details the evolution and impact of student organization Detroit vs. Addiction - Wayne State University

By Kaitlin DunnLifestyle Editor

Reddit: you know it, you love it, you may deplore it. The platform, which was founded in 2005, boasts thousands of online discussion communities called subreddits or subs. Currently, the platform has almost 48 million monthly active users, according to Statista.

In its early days, Reddit was seen as a social media and news outlet for young men, and the statistics hold true to that image.

According to the PEW Research Center, both Reddit users in general and users who get news on the site tend to be young, male, and to self-identify as liberal at higher rates than the overall public.

With young men being the most prominent demographic of Reddit users comes the websites most prominent negative association: the incel.

Prior to Nov. 9, 2017, when it was banned, there was a subreddit for men who called themselves involuntarily celibate, or incels.

The 40,000-strong Incels community was nominally a support group for people who lack romantic relationships and sex. They are involuntarily celibate or incel, Guardian writer Olivia Solon said.

While it began as a support group, the subreddit later focused on users who appeared to hate women who rejected them and men who were not part of the group.

The subreddits moderators went as far as highly discouraging women from joining the group and banning users who argued there were as many female incels in the same situation as male incels, according to Solon.

This storys past brings us to the question of where Reddit stands today.

With subreddits like r/lululemon and r/FundieSnarkUncensoried boasting hundreds of thousands of members, it seems like Reddit evolved past its former reputation as an incel paradise.

Many of the most popular subreddits lack connections to the websites incel past. Subreddits like r/AITA let individuals ask for outside opinions on their moral dilemmas, and r/TwoSentenceHorror creates popular creative writing content that get shared on sites like Twitter and TikTok.

Its fair to say that Reddit was never unpopular, rather its consumer base has shifted.

According to marketing strategist Georgi Todorov, while the site is still predominately male, the percentage of female users has gone up to approximately 40% of the overall users.

The site has also worked towards fostering a larger community.

On April Fools Day 2022, the site opened up the subreddit r/Places.

According to Forbes contributor Jack Kelly, Reddit users collectively made a massive collaborative piece of art that became a viral phenomenon. The open canvas allowed members to post a single, tiny, colored pixel every five minutes. More than 72 million tiles were placed by over 6 million users, at the rate of 2.5 million tiles placed per hour.

With a community-driven platform that allows you to interact with users with similar interests to you, you dont even have to seek out a community or hone your feed like you do on platforms such as Twitter and TikTok.

This also means that the platform is great for those who dont like aspects of other forms of social media such as Instagram or Facebook, which focus on images and likes as key features.

Reddit is not one of those social networking apps which encourage practices of a constant show-off that can be seen on many other social networking apps. The profile of Redditors can only show you their earlier threads as well as their ranking, excluding other details like a business CV relationship status, Galaxy Marketing said.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

Featured Photo Caption: In certain instances, subreddit demographics vary drastically from the overall Reddit population. For example, r/lululemon is composed primarily of younger women.

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From incel paradise to mainstream media: on the evolution of Reddit The Elm - blog.washcoll.edu

PHOTO:Adobe Stock

Customer experience has evolved in exciting ways in the past few years. Michael Iacobucci, CEO at Interactions Corporation, cites two major reasons for this industry-wide evolution: the increasingly critical need for better customer experiences as a brand differentiator, and the AI advancement to enable those experiences. According to a recent survey, 75% of customers say they will pay more to do business with a company that provides good CX.

Exceptional customer service is not optional for todays businesses, Iacobucci said. In order to succeed, CX must be a top priority.

He added that along with the growing demand for better CX, technology has also evolved. Some of the major tech advancements for CX include improvements to AI, more sophisticated natural language processing and the introduction of voice assistants that can engage with customers in natural, human-like conversations.

The pandemic has only added fuel to the fire, Iacobucci said. Factors including labor shortages, increased customer uncertainty and the need for business continuity in a remote-first world only accelerated the adoption of these technologies, ushering us into a new era of CX.

Eighty percent of customers today say that the experiences companies provide are as important as their products or services, and customers are 2.7 times more likely to continue doing business with a company that provides high-quality service. Iacobucci spoke to Simpler Media Group about the changes the industry has experienced since 2008 and what he expects from the future of the industry.

Simpler Media Group: You've been in this industry for a long time more than 13 years at Interactions alone. Can you take us back to what the customer experience industry looked like when you first started, including the role technology was playing at the time?

Michael Iacobucci: The promise of the customer experience industry has been the same since my first day on the job: fast, effortless experiences for every customer, every time. But back in 20082009, companies were deploying technology that wasnt up to that task. The industry was riddled with limited dial menus, ineffective Intelligent Voice Response systems and speech systems masquerading as artificial intelligence but incapable of understanding, responding to or learning from customers. The goal was more often to deflect or contain customers, rather than to engage and serve them.

Take first-generation chat solutions and chatbots as an example. At the time, they were the shiny new object everyone had to have but not only was the technology not up to par, brands also implemented these solutions without thinking about how they would fit into a larger, cohesive customer experience strategy. Naturally, this approach soon disappointed and frustrated customers.

I knew as an industry, we could and should do better. I was intrigued by the potential for technology to reimagine the most frustrating experiences in our daily lives. And Im glad our team at Interactions stuck with it weve advanced leaps and bounds since then.

SMG: Are there places where this industry is still falling short? What can be done about this?

Iacobucci: Oftentimes, we still see AI and automation applied in a way that is not customer-centric. Take the rise of one-size-fits-all DIY solutions as an example. Companies are drawn to these options because they promise fast deployment and ease of use, but theres a lot more that goes into fostering excellent CX than throwing technology at the problem, including design and customization. Too often, these DIY solutions that promise to fix a companys CX are actually deployed at the expense of CX. Technology, even when its the latest and greatest, underwhelms when it isnt designed and deployed with the consumer in mind; it can only be impactful if it improves the user experience.

Were also seeing a lot of companies across this industry applying technologies like AI to incrementally improve the customer experience for agents, customers, or both from prompting agents on what to say next, to using AI to predict customer emotions. Theres nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but I often watch these companies and think theyre building on a shaky foundation like adding a fresh coat of paint or a snazzy new mailbox to a house thats bound to collapse due to a faulty foundation.

I believe weve pushed our existing CX paradigm about as far as it can go. Weve seen a lot of improvement in the last decade, but the moment for incremental improvement is past now. Its time for some fundamentally different thinking about how we can most effectively leverage the newest AI technologies, and [its time for us to] reimagine the relationship between AI and people to better serve our customers.

SMG: Can you elaborate on this redefined relationship between AI and people?

Iacobucci: AI and people both work best when they work together, and I dont see that changing, even in this new era of CX. But as call volumes rise, labor shortages stretch on, and customers become more irritable, AI can and should take on an even more prominent role to keep businesses running smoothly.

Companies can, for example, lead with AI to open and facilitate each conversation with customers. Many tasks from making a payment, to changing a billing address or scheduling an appointment can be done quickly and easily with AI. This allows customers to control their own journeys, taking care of matters on their own time and their own terms, 24/7, while taking some of the strain off overworked agents. With recent advancements, AI-powered solutions are capable of handling more than ever, and I think its time we let them.

SMG: What keeps you interested in this industry after more than a decade? What are you most excited for regarding what's to come?

Iacobucci: I said at the beginning that our industry has promised fast, easy, painless experiences for customers for more than a decade; Ive stuck around because we get a little closer every day. Today, I believe were at a real inflection point for the industry. The technology, investment, market maturity and demand are advancing in a way that allows us to deliver on this promise.

Im excited for the reality I see right around the corner. A reality where businesses are implementing an opti-channel strategy to provide customers with the best channel, for that moment in time and for the task at hand, so they can get their problem resolved quickly and painlessly. No repetition, no getting bounced around to multiple agents, no choosing from a restrictive dial menu just fast, easy resolution to questions and concerns.

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Andie Burjek is a writer based in Chicago and a regular contributor to CMSWire.

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Inside the Latest Wave of Customer Experience Innovation or Evolution - CMSWire