Monday, June 01, 2015

Only 9,000 Cabs?

New York City taxi cabs
New York City taxi cabs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
That is an amazing number. I just read it on the Gary's Guide newsletter.
"9000 self-driving cars could replace every taxi cab in NYC (avg wait only 36 secs & cost only $0.5/mile). Ancillary industries such as auto insurance ($198B), auto finance ($98B), parking ($100B) & auto aftermarket ($300B) will collapse as demand evaporates. The Transportation Cloud is coming."
Autonomous cars will destroy millions of jobs and reshape the US economy by 2025
Autonomous cars will be commonplace by 2025 and have a near monopoly by 2030, and the sweeping change they bring will eclipse every other innovation our society has experienced. They will cause unprecedented job loss and a fundamental restructuring of our economy, solve large portions of our environmental problems, prevent tens of thousands of deaths per year, save millions of hours with increased productivity, and create entire new industries that we cannot even imagine from our current vantage point....... Morgan Stanley’s research shows that cars are driven just 4% of the year, which is an astonishing waste considering that the average cost of car ownership is nearly $9,000 per year. Next to a house, an automobile is the second-most expensive asset that most people will ever buy ...... Driverless cars do not need to park—vehicles cruising the street looking for parking spots account for an astounding 30% of city traffic, not to mention that eliminating curbside parking adds two extra lanes of capacity to many city streets. Traffic will become nonexistent, saving each US commuter 38 hours every year—nearly a full work week. As parking lots and garages, car dealerships, and bus stations become obsolete, tens of millions of square feet of available prime real estate will spur explosive metropolitan development. ...... As most autonomous cars are likely to be electric, we would eliminate most of the 134 billion gallons of gasoline used each year in the US alone. And while recycling 242 million vehicles will certainly require substantial resources, the surplus of raw materials will decrease the need for mining.
Taxi Cabs Factbook

Friday, May 29, 2015

Google Photos

English: Google+ wordmark
English: Google+ wordmark (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Google Plus has been my favorite photo sharing app. I have liked the instant upload, the auto upload thing, I have liked the lots of space thing. I have liked the easy share thing. And now, instead of giving me nightmares by sunsetting Google Plus, as was the rumor, Google gives me Google Photos. I am thrilled. I want storage to be free. Unlimited.

But free is just the starting point. Google Photos takes photo storage and sharing to a whole new level. A Gmail for photos is a good description.

CNN: Google's amazing new app is like Gmail for your Photos
Time: Google Plus’ Best Feature Is Coming Back From the Dead
Despite Google Photos’ arrival, Google+ still lives

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Future Megaprojects

Technology Problems, Policy Problems

English: ANgel_F, the child artificial intelli...
English: ANgel_F, the child artificial intelligence son of Derrick re Kerckhove and the Biodoll (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is not the job of technology to make sure everyone is fed. It is the job of technology to produce abundant food. It is the job of public policy to make sure everyone is fed.

Technology produces guns. And citizenship requires that we agree to the lawful use of the gun by the police and the military, both of whom have to work within the parameters of the law. Public policy does, or should, determine the use of the gun.

Artificial intelligence is the same way. The public policy domain needs to stay vigilant. There is good use to which artificial intelligence can be put. We are nowhere close to having too much artificial intelligence right now.