>interchange w06y25
Curiosities for 03 ->09 February 2025
'It Makes Sense to Someone, Somewhere'
We talked to the guy who was stuck in a Waymo robotaxi on a dizzying loop.
Johns was stuck in the Waymo going through a loop for “under seven minutes,” but he says it “felt like forever,” particularly as he feared he would miss his flight...
I’m not sure missing my flight would be my main concern when trapped in a deranged KITT.
Also, a close second for this week’s ‘IMStS,S’ section heading; the suggestion that Canada becomes the 51st state. That is just silly. Surely, it’s too big to be just one state?
Top 5
01. Driving to work: Why it’s psychologically difficult to switch to public transit or biking.
A Danish study, for instance, found that a month of free transit successfully boosted public transportation usage, but only among those who had recently switched their home address or job. In Britain, researchers found a similar impact from employer relocations. Those who are newly divorced are also more likely to modify their travel behavior.
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Waymo: What happened when I used self-driving cars for a week.
A Waymo robotaxi and a Serve delivery robot collided in Los Angeles.
02. Why did Silicon Valley turn right?
It is at this point that ideas play an important role. If you - an intellectual entrepreneur - have been waiting in the wings with a body of potentially applicable ideas, this is your moment! You leap forward, presenting your diagnosis both of what went wrong in the old order, and what can make things right going forward. And if your ideas take hold, they disclose new possibilities for political action, by giving various important actors a sense of where their interests lie.
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03. How GPS Tracking of Teens 24/7 Impacts Parent-Child Relationships.
Location apps, moreover, provide parents with a false sense of security because while they may know where their teens are, they don’t know what they’re doing...
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04. Future of space: Could robots really replace human astronauts?
"Robots are developing fast, and the case for sending humans is getting weaker all the time," says Lord Martin Rees, the UK's Astronomer Royal. "I don't think any taxpayer's money should be used to send humans into space."
He also points to the risk to humans.
"The only case for sending humans [there] is as an adventure, an experience for wealthy people, and that should be funded privately," he argues.
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05. The Cybathlon: Bionic athletes compete for the gold — and push assistive technologies forward.
the Cybathlon is unabashedly “technotopian,” ... It is about the fullest possible collaboration of technology and human effort. For that reason, the competitors are not called athletes: They are “pilots.”
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Tangents
Quote
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
Best for the week ahead!
-Tim