(Roughly) Daily

“Prediction and explanation are exactly symmetrical”*…

From a December, 1969 episode of the BBC series Tomorrow’s World, an eerily-prescient look at the computerized future of banking…

The emergence of the debit card, the impact on back-office jobs, the receding importance of branch banks… they nailed it.

TotH to Benedict Evans (@benedictevans)

* “Prediction and explanation are exactly symmetrical. Explanations are, in effect, predictions about what has happened; predictions are explanations about what’s going to happen.” – John Searle

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As we find our ways into the future, we might recall that it was on this date in 1878 that the modern music business was effectively born: Thomas Edison was awarded U.S. Patent No. 200,521 for his invention, the phonograph.

Thomas Edison with his phonograph, photographed by Mathew Brady in Washington, April 1878

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Written by (Roughly) Daily

February 19, 2022 at 1:00 am

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