--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 4 description: The tech industry gender problem is costing us all. Also, letting the sharing economy flourish and success stories in the fight against AIDS in Africa. canonical: https://time.com/3079237/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-4/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-04T16:00:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:43:07.173Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are the Five Best Ideas of the Day og:description: Learn about the gender problem in tech, the best tactics in the fight against AIDS in Africa, the potential of the sharing economy and a better way to fine banks og:url: https://time.com/3079237/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-4/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are the Five Best Ideas of the Day twitter:description: Learn about the gender problem in tech, the best tactics in the fight against AIDS in Africa, the potential of the sharing economy and a better way to fine banks twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 4 > Sponsored content. 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In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Aug 4, 2014 4:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Aug 4, 2014 4:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Making the punishment fit the crime: A better way of calculating fines for the bad acts of big banks.**](http://mathbabe.org/2014/07/22/crime-and-punishment/) By Cathy O’Neill in Mathbabe **2\.** [**Lessons we can share: How three African countries made incredible progress in the fight against AIDS.**](http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/on-aids-three-lessons-from-africa) By Tina Rosenberg in the New York Times **3\.** [**Creative artists are turning to big data for inspiration — and a new window on our world.**](http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-technology/sublime-by-numbers-how-the-art-world-is-reacting-to-big-data) By Charlie McCann in Prospect **4\.** [**We must give the sharing economy an opportunity to show its real potential.**](http://reason.com/archives/2014/08/02/the-sharing-economy-will-thrive-only-if) By R.J. Lehmann in Reason **5\.** [**Technology investing has a gender problem, and it’s holding back innovation.**](http://www.wired.com/2014/07/gender-gap/) By Issie Lapowsky in Wired  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3079237/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-4/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3079237/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-4/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 4","datePublished":"2014-08-04T16:00:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:07.173Z","description":"The tech industry gender problem is costing us all. 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