5 ms·

We're all just creatures of habit

25 points by prat 17y ago

prat 17y ago
93% is great! but this would have been ~100% in pre-automobile era. And would keep falling as we become more and more mobile. Humans may be creatures of habit but not humanity.
- roc 17y ago
  It'd be interesting to see the data comparing urban and sub/ex-urban habits. I'd guess that urbanites are less predictable. But it would be really neat to see to what degree that holds true and how much (or if) it actually diverges from their suburban counterparts. (Given the increased density of destinations, increased discoverability of destinations, more efficient and numerous methods of transit and lower travel times, I'd expect they would go more different places more often.)
  - aaronblohowiak 17y ago
    This would also vary depending on how you calculate the accuracy of the predictions. Urbanites might be more predictable than suburbanites because (pure speculation) the urbanites tend to only do things in the city, whereas suburbanites are used to driving all over and will therefore have a much larger sense of "nearby".... In the study this is "within a square mile" which is a HUGE portion of san francisco, but doesn't even get me to my dry cleaners in the burbs.
  - icefox 17y ago
    When I lived in Oslo me and my wife would go walking all over the place and take different and often random trips. Back in the states we don't have a sidewalk in suburbia (one bike trail near by which is the only place we walk) and have to drive so when we drive it is usually to the same places. So I would say I am much more predictable now then I was before.
rationalbeaver 17y ago
I bet if you tracked our internet habits you would come to similar conclusions.
johnwatson11218 17y ago
Not only my commute but once I'm at work you can say the same things for most of what I do on my computer. Personally I think there is so much potential for this idea of getting rid of the general purpose workstation/computer. Instead why not use statistics that watch what I do with my computer then "grow" an os/environment that only does those things using the bare minimum UI? Then once I need to step outside of my normal routine I have to dynamically load modules that get my system close to a stock windows or ubuntu system.
sliverstorm 17y ago
This data is incomplete; have we considered that the truly randomly mobile people might well, perhaps even as a consequence of their random personality: 1: not have/carry/use_frequently a cell phone? 2: travel to locations outside of cell tower range?
pella 17y ago
Physicist Albert-László Barabási - TedxDanubia talks about Predictability and Entropy ( 27jan2010 Budapest ) ( need Silverlight technology for play .. ) http://myshowroom.tv/show/49efb25b-732a-4af9-abe5-f99d7c56b594 http://myshowroom.tv/show/49efb25b-732a-4af9-abe5-f99d7c56b5... very nice animation at 3:00

25 points by prat 17y ago

prat 17y ago

93% is great! but this would have been ~100% in pre-automobile era. And would keep falling as we become more and more mobile. Humans may be creatures of habit but not humanity.

roc 17y ago
It'd be interesting to see the data comparing urban and sub/ex-urban habits. I'd guess that urbanites are less predictable. But it would be really neat to see to what degree that holds true and how much (or if) it actually diverges from their suburban counterparts. (Given the increased density of destinations, increased discoverability of destinations, more efficient and numerous methods of transit and lower travel times, I'd expect they would go more different places more often.)
- aaronblohowiak 17y ago
  This would also vary depending on how you calculate the accuracy of the predictions. Urbanites might be more predictable than suburbanites because (pure speculation) the urbanites tend to only do things in the city, whereas suburbanites are used to driving all over and will therefore have a much larger sense of "nearby".... In the study this is "within a square mile" which is a HUGE portion of san francisco, but doesn't even get me to my dry cleaners in the burbs.
- icefox 17y ago
  When I lived in Oslo me and my wife would go walking all over the place and take different and often random trips. Back in the states we don't have a sidewalk in suburbia (one bike trail near by which is the only place we walk) and have to drive so when we drive it is usually to the same places. So I would say I am much more predictable now then I was before.

rationalbeaver 17y ago

I bet if you tracked our internet habits you would come to similar conclusions.

johnwatson11218 17y ago

Not only my commute but once I'm at work you can say the same things for most of what I do on my computer. Personally I think there is so much potential for this idea of getting rid of the general purpose workstation/computer. Instead why not use statistics that watch what I do with my computer then "grow" an os/environment that only does those things using the bare minimum UI? Then once I need to step outside of my normal routine I have to dynamically load modules that get my system close to a stock windows or ubuntu system.

sliverstorm 17y ago

This data is incomplete; have we considered that the truly randomly mobile people might well, perhaps even as a consequence of their random personality: 1: not have/carry/use_frequently a cell phone? 2: travel to locations outside of cell tower range?

pella 17y ago

Physicist Albert-László Barabási - TedxDanubia talks about Predictability and Entropy ( 27jan2010 Budapest ) ( need Silverlight technology for play .. ) http://myshowroom.tv/show/49efb25b-732a-4af9-abe5-f99d7c56b594 http://myshowroom.tv/show/49efb25b-732a-4af9-abe5-f99d7c56b5... very nice animation at 3:00