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I find it very curious that the article doesn’t mention self driving vehicles. To me that is an example for a daring risk undertaken mostly by VCs. The upside

I find it very curious that the article doesn’t mention self driving vehicles. To me that is an example for a daring risk undertaken mostly by VCs. The upside is huge. If we can make a robotic system which can safely pilot a vehicle on our existing roads, and make it commercialy viable that will reshape how transportation is done, how cities are built, and how people live. Is it risky? Oh yeah. Everyone knows that computers are full of faults, sensors are crappy, hardware breaks all the time and every software is a pile of bugs. These are given, and unlikely to just change on their own. Can we, despite all the above engineer a system which provides superhuman level of driving safety, yet it costs less than a driver on the local minimal wage? This is the premise of a self-driving car. Follow on question: is it possible to get there from here without antagonising the public with accidents? If a restaurant gives food poisoning to folks on the other side of town that won’t affect your restaurant’s business. Any self driving accident happening anywhere on the earth have the potential to ratchet up the scrutiny on every other companies. ( Think of something Hindenburg disaster equivalent.) I believe the answer is yes we can, it takes carefull engineering and a lot of work but it can be done without needing to invent general artificial inteligence. VCs seems to agree with me because they are positively pumping money into companies in this field. What is that if not risk taking?

dasil003 5y ago
Self-driving cars have huge technical risk, and some public opinion risk, but what trumps that is massive indisputable upside that has been a dream since the automobile was created, and has seen active research and prototyping for decades at this point. VCs are very willing to take that kind of calculated risk. They are also willing to chase crypto and AI due to FOMO (leading to the observed herd mentality). But in terms of novel ideas that could be game changing but don't have a lot of mindshare or a clear path to market, they ain't touching those things.

dasil003 5y ago

Self-driving cars have huge technical risk, and some public opinion risk, but what trumps that is massive indisputable upside that has been a dream since the automobile was created, and has seen active research and prototyping for decades at this point. VCs are very willing to take that kind of calculated risk. They are also willing to chase crypto and AI due to FOMO (leading to the observed herd mentality). But in terms of novel ideas that could be game changing but don't have a lot of mindshare or a clear path to market, they ain't touching those things.