Multiplanetary Species and Climate Change

As another week passes, our editors have taken time out to delve into some interesting stories that featured in the media this week. From climate change to celebrity divorces, to making humans a multiplanetary species, we have it covered! Here are our recommended articles of the week...

Jeff Patterson kicks off with his contribution which looks at Donald Trump's interpretation of global warming...

What Climate Change?

Heading into Monday’s debate, the US election had already reached bitter straits, with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump circling each other on their campaign tours over the past few months.

That the debate devolved into a series of he said, she said statements came as a surprise to nobody, however it was the aftermath of the debate that left the starkest contrast between the two nominees.

A recent interview on CNN’s New Day found a familiar face, Kellyann Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, under siege for defending his comments on climate change.

While Donald Trump has never been one to bat away conspiracy theories, Hillary Clinton launched a pointed attack against the Republican nominee, stating he had called climate change a hoax that was created by the Chinese.

Trump was quick to mount a defense, staunching affirming he never said that – fast forward to the Conway interview with CNN and Trump’s campaign manager Conway left no doubt where the candidate stood. According to Conway: "He believes that global warming is naturally occurring. There are shifts naturally occurring."

Despite overwhelming evidence against this opinion however, Trump has refused to embrace climate change as a man made force. In addition, many media outlets were also equally keen to shoot down Clinton’s allegations that Trump had called the phenomenon a hoax.

Given the ambivalence surrounding the subject, Finance Magnates decided to launch its own investigative search into the matter, and following a laborious inquiry lasting less than a minute, managed to procure the following tweet from Mr Trump himself.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

Brangelina and Saving Your Relationships

If you thought that the SNB decision from 2015 (Black Thursday) was unexpected and shocked the world, here is another piece of news which some say is even more surprising - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are getting divorced! OK, enough of the ‘Brangelina’ jokes as this subject is very serious. What does social science say about divorce?

I stumbled upon an article which tries to explain this phenomenon. Officially Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt '"for the health of the family" and due to "irreconcilable differences". Nicholas Wolfinger, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, claims in this article that the most common cause for divorce, however, comes down to communication differences. Professor Wolfinger also reveals that couples who live together before marriage have higher divorce rates than those who do not.

Why did I find this article interesting? People from the financial industry live in a very stressful environment. We spend a lot of time at work observing fast moving markets, trying to adapt to changes even faster. If people who do not even experience 1/10 on a stress level are prone to damage their relationships, what about us? It’s good to sometimes remember that there is a life out there, outside the financial markets…

Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species

World-famous entrepreneur and innovator Elon Musk has unveiled his latest plans for conquering space with his company SpaceX.

According to him we are set to become an inter-planetary species. How far is this dream from reality? Nobody knows for sure, but his plans for the near future include a spaceship that is capable of going to Mars and coming back to Earth.

The colonization efforts of the red planet however could be affected by financial dealings here on Earth. With substantial debt overhang across the economy in both developed and developing economies, the severity of the next financial shock could set back companies with such long term plans (Elon’s plan is looking towards the very far future, 20 to 50 years from now) substantially.

Will the dream of making humans a multi-planetary species come true in our lifetime? We can’t say for sure, but at least we are not only continuing to dream about it...some of us already have plans.

Feel free to share your views in the comment section and any recommendations of your own. We look forward to hearing your opinions!

Check out our previous posts here:

The Mass-Text Manhunt and Fixing the Blue Screen of Death

The Red Pill and the Encyclopedia Reader

A Less-Cash Society and a $10 Billion Scandal

Coffee, Genes and All The Rest

Taking a Little Trip and Trading’s Resemblence to Poker

The Perils of Low Interest Rates and Subprime Auto Loans

No Gold Medals for Waste, Corruption….or Smog

No Doubt The Most Brutal Fight Yet

Robots, Cyber Motives and a Trader’s Addiction

An Attractive Commodity and the Pyschology Behind the Far Right

Banking on Pokemon and a Philosophical Victory

A New Breed of Plutocrats and China’s New Weapon

Gold Standard After Brexit and a matter of National Identity

Genetically Edited Humans And Electronic Persons

Computerised Storytelling And Quantitative Easing Doldrums

Eyeing Up This Year’s Biggest Tech IPO And The Search For Quantum Questions

Financial Efficiencies And Inefficiencies

The Bank Robber And The Psychologist

Fly Me To The Moon….And Bremain In The EU

Brexit: Ice-Cream Magic Or An Artistic Defeat

Virtual Reality and the Dark Side of Shaming

Insider Trading and the Dude Driving Istanbul Mad