The Planet is doomed : Stephen Hawkings warns again

  Stephen Hawking (shown here in 2008) has been vocal about fears that an advanced alien civilization might wipe out humanity.
Credit: NASA/Paul Alers

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Stephen Hawking has once again warned that humanity could wipe itself out before it has a chance to establish far-flung space colonies.
At a recent talk in England, the famed physicist singled out nuclear war, genetically engineered viruses and global warming as likely culprits. According to Hawking, the odds of a planetary disaster in the next millennia are high.
"Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or 10 thousand years," Hawking told the audience in a public Q&A session after this year's BBC Reith lecture in England. [9 Real Ways the World Could End]

 
Humans could survive if they have colonized other planets and stars before disaster strikes, he said.
But we're now entering a particularly perilous period, as humans haven't established a cosmic backup plan, as of yet, he added.
"We will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period," Hawking said.
Repeated warnings
This isn't the first time the theoretical physicist has warned of planetary doom. Early last year, Hawking warned that human aggression threatened to wipe us all out. He's also spoken out about the potential for nonhuman threats, and has expressed concern that artificial intelligence could "spell the end for the human race." Both Hawking and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk have warned of the dangers of killer robots, and they both co-signed a public letter last year urging world leaders to ban killer robots.
Yet despite his gloomy prognostications, Hawking doesn't believe catastrophe is inevitable. Though he believes danger looms on the horizon, he said he is an "optimist" who believes humanity can overcome the risks facing it.
And Hawking, who has done groundbreaking work on black holes, string theory and other theoretical physics topics, has a positively cheery outlook on his own life and time.
"From my own perspective, it has been a glorious time to be alive and doing research in theoretical physics. There is nothing like the eureka moment of discovering something that no one knew before," Hawking said.
Listeners can hear Hawking's Reith lectures online on BBC Radio 4 on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2.

Chinese Investors heading to the UK?

As China's economy stumbles, some Chinese investors are heading to the UK instead. Cocoon Networks, a $713M fund backed by China Equity Group (first investors in Chinese search giant Baidu) and Hanxin Capital, launched this morning in London. The new fund also announced it's partnering with the University of London to build city's biggest incubator.

Speaking of the U.K. tech scene, Harry Stebbings of The Twenty Minute VC sat down with Accel's London-based GP Fred Destin yesterday to chat about the European venture scene, the intimacy of founder-VC relationships, and the main reasons that startups fail.

If you ask Anshu Sharma of Storm Ventures, though, startups fail because they're falling for the stack fallacy: the mistaken belief that it's trivial to build the layer above your own. It's a problem that plagues many of today's biggest tech companies, too, including Oracle, which is losing to Salesforce in Oracle-powered CRM SaaS, and Apple, which has had difficulty going up the stack to build simple apps (maps, for instance).

Heads up, it's another down round: Just days after news of Foursquare's down round broke last week, audio and wearable tech unicorn Jawbone announced it's raised $165M in equity at a valuation of $1.5B. That represents a 45% cut from the $3.3B valuation Jawbone reported in 2014 along with its last equity round.

How to get Life, disability, and long-term care insurance that will protect your family for years to come.

 
 Insurance can seem complex, confusing, and generally not fun to talk about, so it often gets put on the back burner. However, buying the right policies is crucial to a healthy financial life, particularly if you have a family.
While insurance policies are largely personal, and your coverage will evolve along with your life, there are three important types for all families to consider: disability, life, and long-term care insurance.
Here's a brief overview of each, but don't stop researching just after learning the basics. To get the best possible policies for your family, you'll want to continue educating yourself by getting multiple quotes, reading your policy closely before signing on, and asking questions as they arise.

Disability insurance.

Disability insurance tends to get neglected more than other types of insurance, yet it is one of the most important types to buy — particularly for young families — emphasizes Jonathan Meaney, a certified financial planner and wealth manager at Carter Financial.
"Your biggest asset is your ability to work and earn a living over your lifetime," he explains. "If you get disabled at age 25, and are unable to work and earn an income over your lifetime, that's probably the biggest loss that you could have. Disability insurance is there to protect you from things like that."
It provides income — generally about 60% of your former earnings, but it varies depending on your policy, Meaney explains — should you be disabled and unable to work. That's more likely to happen that many of us may think. It's estimated by the Social Security Administration that over 25% of today's 20-year-olds will be disabled before retirement.
"Disability insurance is very important, especially for young families. If the main breadwinner gets hurt, things can get pretty tough pretty quickly," says Meaney.
Most people who are traditionally employed should be able to secure a policy through their employer, while people who are self-employed will have to take out an individual policy. You can also supplement your employer's policy by buying private policies, which some people prefer to do, particularly those with dependents relying on them.
Once you retire, you'll stop needing it. Age 65 is generally the end of the longest policy you can buy.
 
  
Life insurance — an insurance policy that will provide income for your loved ones if you die — is highly underused. According to nonprofit LifeHappens.org, over 40% of the American population doesn't have it.
"It's very important if you have any dependents, whether that be young kids, a spouse that's not working, or any family member who depends on you for income," Meaney explains. In most cases, life insurance for children is unnecessary.
There are two primary kinds of life insurance: term and permanent. "Term is much less expensive," Meaney explains. "It is often used by young families that want to get some coverage in place, but don't want to spend on a policy that can last for a lifetime." You choose to buy it for a certain time span, whatever makes the most sense for you and your family, and after that set amount of years, it expires.
Permanent insurance, on the other hand, lasts for your entire lifetime. This might be a good option for people who need cash flow at their death no matter when that happens, Meaney explains. For example, if you own a business and all of your assets are tied up in the company, if you die, your family will need cash to be able to pay estate taxes — otherwise, they'll have to sell the business.
You'll stop needing life insurance when your dependents are no longer relying on you for financial support. For that reason, term life insurance tends to be a better fit for many parents, whose kids will grow up and become financially independent.
It's important to put in research or consult a professional to make sure you choose the ideal life insurance for you — otherwise, you could waste a lot of money and still leave your family unprotected.
You can calculate your coverage needs at lifehappens.org. Again, many people will be able to get coverage through their employers, but not always as much as they need. Some experts recommend replacing up to 10 times your annual income.

SELLING SKILLS STEP 3: The Presentation

When I first learned sales long ago, I was taught to control the situation.  And, why not?!  I knew the prospect needed my product, I knew more about my product that he/she did, and they just needed to sit and hear my story so I could tell them everything I knew and then ask them to sign on the dotted line. 

Of course, then would come the deluge of stalls and objections, but I was taught how to skillfully and slyly overcome each and every one of those, too!  You might have sat through one of those kinds of presentations.  You were interested and saw some things you wanted to know more about, so you asked a question.  But, the salesperson was trained to forge forward, so he/she said something like, ‘I’m on page 7 and you’re on page 10.  Let me catch up.’  And, then they pressed through their robotic presentation.  How did that make you feel?  Probably disengaged.

Today’s prospects are much better educated when making a buying decision than ever before.  Add to that the trend that Burger King started many years ago of the customer having it ‘Their way’ and the selling environment has become customer-driven.  So, I have developed a way to make selling much less work.  Let the customer tell me what they want and see if I can be a solution to their challenge.  Not, let me see if can squeeze what I have into a box that looks like it will fit their challenge. 

So, during the presentation, the salesperson should only talk 20% of the time and the prospect should talk the other 80%.  Also, most sales trainers teach the methodologies of sales and leave out the part that really gets you the sale, the emotional investment.  Here’s an axiom for you to sell by: People buy on emotion and support it with logic.  Unfortunately, salespeople are taught to sell on logic and then get the prospect emotionally involved.  In my experience personally and in training hundreds of salespeople, the latter doesn’t work.

The basics of getting the job done

Open with the statement:

“(Name of prospect), you told me over the phone that you had a concern with _______, if you’ll tell me more about that, we’ll be able to decide if doing business together makes sense for both of us.”  Then be quiet and let the prospect talk.  Take copious notes.  If the prospect says something you’re not sure about, stop them and say, “Tell me more about _____” and let them expound. 

Here’s a caution: Don’t be too quick to share your solution!!!  Let the Buyer elaborate on the details so that you can feedback how you will solve each detail of the challenge with your solution, but only when the time is right.  Be sure to include probes that look for facts and emotions, such as:

“Tell me more about______”
“What I hear you saying is _________”
“It sounds like you’re _______”
“You seem very _______”

By using such probes, you’ll direct the conversation, but let the Buyer share their “pains”.  It also let’s them hear themselves say and feel the “pain”, which is much more effective than you stating it.  In fact, one of the most important tools I like to use is to find an area of “pain” and then let the Buyer live in it for a moment. 

After a Buyer makes a statement like, “I’ll never do something like that again”, I’ll say something like, “It sounds like there’s a story.  Do you mind sharing it with me?” 

Most of the time I get a detailed story filled with all the emotion that went along with the event.  What this allows is for me to come back on the flip side and ask, “What would it have been like if you would have had a solution?  How would that have made you feel?” 

I let the Buyer bask in the warmth of the situation having gone right, instead of wrong, and I can now start to interject how my product/service could have made the latter a reality, with all of the pleasant emotions to go along with it.  Now, guess what has just happened to my relationship with the Buyer.  I am now associated with pleasant feelings. 

Another important part of this step is using the question, “Is there anything else I should know?”  Before moving on to any new points during this step, ask that question.  The reason is that it allows the prospect to think about things one more time and they may come up with more reasons they need to buy from you. 

Depending on the depth and level of the sale, this process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or more.  In some cases, this will make up your entire first meeting.

Only when you have gathered all the information that you need to fully understand the prospect’s needs and desires do you ask for other critical information.  To name a few, what impact it will have on them personally if they do, or don’t, solve the concern.  On the company?  What other resources are they researching to solve the concern and why they haven’t used them?  Who else has to be involved in making a decision to purchase?  What is their timeline for solving their challenge?

Now you can go into your video presentation, flip chart or whatever medium you’re using to display your product or service.  The difference is that now you are armed with what is important to them so that you can focus the presentation on what you can do for them, specifically, and leave out anything that isn’t important to them.

Once done, be sure to summarize the meeting so far to make sure you and the Buyer are both on the same page.  Now, here is something you must learn to do, especially at this point.  Ask the question, “Is there anything else I should know?”  There may yet be something important that your prospect hasn’t shared with you and you don’t want to lose the sale because you didn’t get that detail.