This post responds to a couple of comments on prior entries. First there was a request to comment upon emerging markets in general and Brazil’s Vasco da Gama football club in particular; second another reader pointed out that the Thomson Reuters concept of "intelligent information" requires engagement with people and questioned how we would seek to achieve this.
My opinion of Vasco da Gama Futbol Club is simple: I prefer Corinthians of Sao Paulo to the Rio de Janeiro team. Corinthians have not had much to celebrate lately but they have been home in the past to such greats as Rivaldo Edilson Dida and Socrates. As for emerging markets more generally see blog entry below Is it Brazil’s Time? from April 2007 in which I express the hope and conviction that Brazil has finally emerged. Progress during the last year including the appreciation of the Real the merger of the mighty BMF and Bovespa the tide of inbound FDI and the attainment of investment grade ratings confirm these expectations for Brazil. As for other developing markets I have found them to be rewarding if at times volatile markets for investment but always colorful and personally fulfilling places to explore. This personal interest has been well aligned with a historic Reuters strength and with what I expect will be a real opportunity for Thomson Reuters.
As for the importance of embracing human beings with the intelligent information that Thomson Reuters provides I can understand the question given the prominence I have given to machine consumption of data in the Web 3.0 world but I would not give up on people so fast. First to make information truly "intelligent" for professionals it must be created and tagged by people who truly understand what their customers do – as we say in our ads our "people know what you do because they do what you do." Thus the Thomson Reuters Legal business employs so many lawyers (not including me!) that it would number among the top 15 law firms in the US. Second we work with our customers and provide them training to ensure that they get the most out of the products and services that we provide.
I see no conflict or tension between man and machine. I recognize the frustrations of everyday life in having some not as yet very intelligent machines answering customer service queries and I am sympathetic to individuals whose jobs may have been replaced by technology but in general I think the advent of technology has raised the standard of living of more of the planet than at any prior time in history and I believe that we are only at the beginning of a very exciting era in which intelligent agents and other forms of computer technology will enrich and prolong our lives.