An Interview with the CEO of Blue Moon Ventures

Thanks for having me, Jim, I'm a huge fan of the show. No really. I used to watch your clips every night while rushing out assignments in my dorm room. Never thought I'd be one of your guests one day. You look a lot taller in real life. 

Certainly. My name is Aaron. I'm the founder and CEO of Blue Moon Ventures. We're the company behind FLIPPED, the world's first improbabilities trading app with over 7 million users from Singapore to New York. 

Improbabilities trading is like... ok, imagine a rare event like, uh... finding an empty dryer in your college laundry room. The students in the room are laughing right now because you guys know what I'm talking about. But it's not always that hard, is it? Sometimes you go to the laundry room at 2 pm and you'll find tons of empty dryers. You walk across the street to the swanky new student residence where they have twelve washers and twelve dryers, and they don't ever have that problem. The phrase ‘like a snowflake in July', it's used to mean that something is very unlikely to happen. Unless, of course, you live in Australia. An apartment with a sea view is rare if you live in Switzerland, but not if you live in Miami. Point is, improbabilities are unevenly distributed across space and time. What if you could buy mundane, everyday occurrences in one place and sell them as rarities in another? Buying low and selling high, that was the initial idea behind Blue Moon Ventures — a form of improbabilities arbitrage.

So my college buddies and I, we made our first pot of gold off of arbitraging improbabilities. But of course, there are always going to be some things that will be hard to find no matter where you are or where you go. Not impossible to find – we ban all forms of speculation in impossible events on our platform – but really, really close. Winning the lottery. Finding true love. We call these "blue moon" improbabilities. There are two ideas that underlie the way we've built a market for blue moon improbabilities. First, that people will have different propensities for a particular improbability. Second, that people value improbabilities differently. So on our platform, a person who values winning the lottery more highly than finding true love could potentially make a trade with someone who's looking for the opposite.

That's a good question, Jim, but unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to answer that, not on air. The most I can say is that we use proprietary technology to determine each platform user's innate propensity for a particular improbability. 

Discrimination? Yeah, that's a word people like to throw around a lot. But if you think about it, is the idea of finding out how likely an improbable event is to befall a person really entirely new? No it isn't. It's what insurance companies have been doing for years. Why is what we are doing any different? I've used the platform myself, many times, and I can personally assure you that it's all above board.

We don't place any restrictions on the currencies that transactions take place in. That's entirely up to the users to negotiate. Some buyers barter improbabilities for other improbabilities. Some sellers bundle bad improbabilities they'd like to offload with good ones they're able to sell. Want to buy Taylor Swift's ‘22' fedora? Maybe that comes with an increased risk of getting lung cancer as a non-smoker.  

We really don't know what the improbabilities are used for once they've been purchased. There are lots of reasons that people might need a particular improbability, even the seemingly useless ones like flying pigs or a needle retrieved from a haystack. If there's a willing buyer and a willing seller, our approach is very much don't ask, don't tell. We think it's important to respect our users' privacy. 

Well... we need to uphold our users' freedoms. We can't control what people use their improbabilities for, even if they might be perceived as running contrary to–

Oh. You're not Jim. Who the f*** are you?

Yes I did. How do you know that? 

Whoa, whoa, calm down. Calm down. I'm not going anywhere. I'm all ears. Ok? Please, please don't shoot me. What is it that you want? Money? I can give you money. 

I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, sir. I'm so, so sorry about your daughter. But killing me won't bring her back. Just please, put the gun down, and let's talk. Someone, please turn off the cameras. 

Please–

~~~~~~~

Posted by u/unlikelylune to r/LeopardsAteMyFace:

‘FLIPPED' CEO Shot Dead by Rogue Gunman On TV 

Investigations revealed that the 25-year-old Singaporean had unwittingly clicked ‘accept' on an increased risk of being shot to death on TV when he purchased the chance to appear on his favourite talkshow – a transaction that was concluded on his own platform. 

The identity of the gunman remains unknown. 

Marketed as an ‘improbabilities trading' app, FLIPPED has faced criticism for alleged discrimination, elections interference and abetment of criminal activities.
 
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Image of Vivian Teo
 Vivian Teo · ago
Love it! Hope you win, Ziqin!
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thank you Vivian!
Image of Adam Fen
 Adam Fen · ago
As a great man once said, "Siuuuuuuu"
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Siuuuu!
Image of Dev Subramaniam
 Dev Subramaniam · ago
Mind-boggling! Loved it.
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thanks Dev!
Image of Ian Chia
 Ian Chia · ago
Interesting premise! Nice mix of ethics and technology with a riveting twist at the end
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thanks Ian!
Image of George Wang
 George Wang · ago
Makes for an interesting thought experiment!
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thanks George!
Image of Luc Yee
 Luc Yee · ago
Like how the polished media training and PR answers slip into his real emotions!
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thanks Luc! Yep, that's what I was going for - really glad to hear that it translated onto the page!
Image of Rejini Raman
 Rejini Raman · ago
Well done, Ziqin! Proud of you :)
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thank you Auntie Rej!
Image of Sarala Raman
 Sarala Raman · ago
Excellent!
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thanks Auntie Sarala!
Image of Devanand Anantham
 Devanand Anantham · ago
Brilliant!
Image of Ziqin Ng
 Ziqin Ng · ago
Thanks Uncle Deva!