Issue 573 Impact of Driverless cars 1 April 20, 2015

In the future, driverless cars will be an important aspect of society.  In fact, you will finally be able to drink and drive, while probably eating some buffalo wings.  So in our part one in my two part series I will highlight some important changes to how a driverless future impacts us.  Let us begin.

No more driver licenses:  With a driverless car, you never need to apply or obtain a driver’s license.  Reason being is that you will never have to drive your own car again.  While it will take a while for this to occur, (and the military being a possible exception) why bother owning a car?

No need to own a car:  That is right, you will not have to own your own vehicle ever again.  You will have the equivalent of robotic taxis come to your door at a preprogrammed time to drive you to work.  Or if you intend to go shopping, you simply summon the closest car via an app on your smartphone.  

Speeds increase:  With this change over to driverless cars, the cars can drive at faster speeds without people having to worry about crashing into others due to their on board systems.  You can literally drive at 100+ miles per hour to get wherever you are going because you need not fear crashing.  While we drive, slower speeds equal safety, but robots use precision technology and sensors which allow for efficient flow of traffic, hence the faster speeds.  

As speeds increase:  Once speeds on these roads increase, to insure that people who want to drive their own cars and robots cars do not get into accidents, it is most probable that States, towns or government in general will make it illegal to drive your own car.  They will mandate that people cannot drive their car on certain roads or not allowed to drive completely as people will get into accidents with driverless cars, and not the other way around (yeah, we suck at driving).

Cars that we may still own:  If this does not result in the banning of car ownership, it would mean that cars can be transformed into mobile offices, or even bars.  Literally, they will be custom made to suit each individual in the same way you might customize a house that you live in.  So you can still have your garage, and the car will pull out in front of your house, open the door for you when you approach and then finally, have a cup of coffee waiting for you when you get in.  All cars will have Wi-Fi, and other electronic goodies that will make your ride as comfortable and as none noticeable as possible.

Conclusion: This is the primary impacts on us the drivers.  However, what about the government and how much it collects from us in taxes, fees, and tickets on our cars and our driving.  Well, see the next issue for details.

Issue 572 3D printers and illegal drugs April 17, 2015

Well, 3D printers are a revolution in manufacturing.  This we know, but there are a few downsides to this technology (depending on what you consider a downside).  So let us discuss one of these possibly bad parts of this technology.

It can make Narcotics:  The biggest potential downside is that certain forms of illegal drugs that are the most dangerous can be made with a 3D printer.  All you need is a set of ingredients that can chemically react in the body, be pretreated and used as an "ink" in the printer, or treated after the pill comes out of the printer.  As such, it literally will make all laws banning certain drugs useless.  On top of that, you will not need a dealer, you just buy the recipe online or from someone and then get the chemicals yourself.  Not only this, but controlled substances like Xanax and similar legal medications can be made by a 3D printer.  Forget any and all laws we have, as the only way to stop people from taking such drugs (let alone making them) is to have anything and everything reworked so that the ingredients are so hard to come by that it becomes near impossible to make.  But then someone will create a different recreational drug, and the government will have wasted its time and our money.  

Conclusion:  Now depending on your outlook, this can be either good, bad, or somewhere in-between.  I personally think (despite being a libertarian) it is ok depending on the drug, but I only don't want specific ones like heroin made, and similar.  However, this is a potential downside that we must consider and be prepared for with a future that includes 3D printers. 

Issue 571 The Data collected April 16, 2015

You know, I hear that a lot of people do not really care about all the data being collected by the government and businesses.  They think that they did nothing wrong, and thus why should they care.  Well I am going to tell you why you may want to rethink that.

Blackmail: The first thing is that people can use this data to blackmail you if you feel that certain past deeds like a sex tape or you getting wasted should not see the light of day.  Would you want your wife or husband to misinterpret an encounter with a member of the opposite sex?  Yes these tiny bits of data can be manipulated or used to extort you out of your savings and wealth, or to perform tasks that you are normally unwilling to do.

Ruin people:  Another negative is that this data can remove people as obstacles.  Why defeat an opponent in a political campaign on merit when you can show the opponent hitting his child across the face to discipline them and make it look like he/she abuses children.  It can also be used to just hurt others, by releasing embarrassing videos or things a person has written.  Friendships can be ruined by simply finding one part of a conversation where someone is talking about someone else and then showing it to the world or the person in question.  Can you imagine if the same was done when you were speaking about your boss?  

Rule Breakers:  Our government may at times be hard up for revenue.  Can you imagine if the government dived into how we drive our cars and if we obeyed all the traffic laws.  That is a lot of tickets isn't it?  The same goes with everyday events and people going about our business.  But we can be breaking the law.  For example, in New York State, it is still illegal for the driver to get out of the vehicle via the driver’s side door?  And that is a tiny example, with people estimated to be breaking at least three laws every single day.  The government can find us and fine us at will.  Scary right?

Conclusion:  Can you imagine what a company/government can do with the number of porn sites someone has visited, or whatever other embarrassing information they may have obtained.  And yes, they will use it in some way, shape or form if they deem it useful to whatever they seek to do.  So double check yourself and remember, anything you say and do, can be used against you.  

Issue 570 Specialized Cooperators April 15, 2015

I base this article on an interview with Nara Ravikant, the founder of Angel list and Angle.co.  Specialized Cooperators is a term he used to describe humanity and how we interact with one another.  Now I am going to explain his reasoning.

Why we are specialized cooperators:  Everyone has a skill that we use in everyday life.  We can learn new skills as well, and thus use them to benefit ourselves.  But we cannot know everything.  We are unable to do it all.  But we can trade those skills.  We can use our auto repair skills to help someone in exchange for something else.  In other words we trade what we can do so that we can get paid for it in some way and then in turn the next person does the same thing.  

However, it is possible to stagnant this.  If we are inhibited from inventing newer and better things, then we lose the ability to trade skills as there will be so many people with the same abilities that we become useless.  Computers established new skills in building them, repairing them and programing them.  The internet created new jobs in social media, advertising and more.  People see needs and try to invent things to meet those needs.  And in turn that creates newer skills to be traded.  But technology to is easy to copy.  Look at an organization like ISIS.  They came together in part due to the development of social media.  They figured out how to use the technology, but they do not have the skills to actually make such technology due to education, background and other limitation.  But, Americans and other countries do as they do not have such limits placed on them (to an extent) and can continuously invent and thus generate newer skills to be traded amongst each other and thus perpetuates the cooperation between fellow members of humanity.  In short, we each specialize in something and someone needs that something to fix whatever ails them, and you are there to fix it, or someone is there to fix your problem. 

Conclusion:  Everyone is good at something.  And Mr. Ravikant knows this and thus why he understands we each specialize in certain skills.  By trading skills, we can cooperate and survive.  So let us remember that at the end of the day we all need each other in some way shape or form.

Issue 569 Internet Everything April 14, 2014

Technology is evolving further and it has developed to the point that all content from television, radio and even our phone calls will all be through an internet connection.  But what is the possible impact of this.  Let us discuss.

Possible impacts: For one, you will be able to use your cell phone to turn your water on in your house and set it to an exact temperature.  You can turn your lights on or off, adjust the heat, feed the dog, and more via the World Wide Web.  The reason for this is because your entire life will be hooked up to the internet.  You will soon be able to turn on your blender via the internet for goodness sakes.  But this also means every piece of technology will be a part of the internet.  And that includes your phones, and all other forms of wireless communications.  This allows all your calls, texts, emails and other messages to be encrypted for privacy, and even deleted if you so will it.  We will not have phone numbers, but email addresses/domain names and even avatars as addresses on the net so that we can talk to one another free of charge.  Why free of charge you ask?  Because the internet is literally hosted by every electronic device and thus allows you to jack in and communicate at will with everyone.

Entertainment wise, television will also be free in the same way we watch videos online.  To provide money for the actors and producers, advertisements will be in the margins to aid in paying for such programing or act in concert with a subscription based service which gets you additional content.  In fact it will be all on demand.  All shows (radio, television and all in between) popularity will be spread via word of mouth with producers paying other sites to advertise their newest programs. As such, shows that would never have made it on television in the past will now be up loadable without limit.  Even books will be sold and or just simply read via this same online service.  No need to buy the book (physically or electronically), just read it for free with some advertisements in the margins and at the bottom of each page. 

Conclusion:  Communications, entertainment and the level of control we have over our homes is increasing.  With it the level of free access to anything and everything we could have ever wanted or to do.  So much can already be done via the internet, but can you imagine the world where the internet is the control mechanism for everything?  It is coming and what I described here is the tip of the iceberg as in the end, it is all just tiny bits of data being thrown around.

Issue 568 Hybrid boats and Planes April 13, 2015

Just like a hybrid car, we can have a hybrid boat or a plane.  Here is how it works.

Hybrid Boat:  A hybrid boat is already in operation on the West coast of the United States.  It is a tug boat that uses the electricity stored in its battery to move around the port area.  It then only kicks in the engine when it needs to generate more electricity and that extra power to perform its tasks.  Likewise, all boats have the capacity to be hybrid electric.  The reason being is that the main engine only need to produce electricity.  It has zero need to be hooked up to the actual propellers that propel the boat forward (though it still can be for extra power).  The electrical motors can (with reduced size and weight) turn the screws to make the craft go.  However, the craft will still need batteries if it is to be a true hybrid so that the engine can be turned off.  As such, the concept is simple and electricity can be augmented via solar panels or even wave power electrical systems on board.  The batteries can even be charged in port by plugging them into the cities/towns power grid.  This is already being done with large cargo ships so as to reduce pollution in the port area itself which also protects workers health.

Hybrid Planes:  Planes too can be hybrids (that even includes helicopters).  The easiest hybrid is the propeller type aircraft.  The electricity turns the props to generate the thrust to propel the aircraft forward thus generating lift via the wings.  Solar panels on the wings themselves and the main body can be used to augment battery power in flight and there is currently a solar powered propeller driven aircraft being used to circumnavigate the world.  In addition, small wind turbines can be added to the aircraft to generate electrical energy as well in midflight as the forward thrust of the plane will cause them to spin.   This technology is great for smaller aircraft that make short hops or don't need the speed of a jet aircraft.  But jets can take on this technology too.  Even though jets will need jet fuel to produce thrust, it does not mean that the solar panels and batteries cannot be equipped to power all the other systems on the plane which thus makes it so that the engines can be used solely for propulsion instead of all the aircrafts electrical needs.

Conclusion:  Planes, Boats and houses (as talked about last week) can all be hybrids like cars.  The goal is to reduce fuel consumption while taking advantage of electrical energies efficiency and of course power.  The only issue is still the batteries themselves as they still weigh a lot.  But time is going to fix that issue.  I look forward to seeing what improvements they make and how this may all develop into all electric vehicles.

Issue 567 Hybrid Homes April 10, 2015

With Hybrid technology growing, the concept is being explored to make a hybrid home.  Essentially, you charge your battery in your basement and then use it to power all your electrical needs throughout the day.  Here is how this interesting concept works.

How it works:  Basically, a large battery is stored in your basement.  It however charges itself at night when prices for electricity are at their lowest.  Then in the morning, the house consumes power from the battery rather than the electrical grid throughout the day.  The idea is in part to save money for consumers of electricity, but at the same time store up enough electrical energy that there is less need for the home to consume any amount of electrical energy from the grid at all.  This lessens the stress on the electrical grid, and thus makes it less likely for a black out to occur.  It also has the potential to reduce the need for the electrical grid to produce power at facilities that burn fossil fuels which in turn puts less greenhouse gases and more importantly less toxins into the air.  Thus, the consumer not only saves money, but the environment gets cleaner too.  The battery can be augmented with solar panels and small wind turbines which again reduce the need to rely on the electrical grid, which thus saves even more money for the consumers and protects the environment further.  Overall something to look forward to as we can have the battery power our electric water heaters, and heating systems as well.

Conclusion:  The only issue is the battery itself.  They are expensive to make and thus expensive to buy and that is not including the issues with electrical storage capacity and space in the home for such big equipment.  In addition, they are made using toxins as well that also pollute our environment.  However this is all being worked on for the obvious goal of making it all consumer friendly.  It is my guess that the goal of this technology is to make it so that power generation plants can be reduced, or shut down for extended periods throughout the day while establishing a foundation for homes to produce all their own electrical needs on their own without the need for a power plant in the first place. Very cool indeed.