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> Technology is making it easier to go car-free This makes me wonder what the future of driving and personal transportation will look like. Regarding the shar

by pshin45 13y ago

> Technology is making it easier to go car-free This makes me wonder what the future of driving and personal transportation will look like. Regarding the sharing economy, pg recently Tweeted "Will ownership turn out to be largely a hack people resorted to before they had the infrastructure to manage sharing properly?" I'm originally from New Jersey and I'm currently living in Seoul, Korea. Back home in NJ, you literally couldn't get anywhere without a car. Besides getting to NYC, public transportation (buses) was basically useless or nonexistant. Now I live in Seoul which is super densely populated and has arguably the best, most advanced public transportation infrastructure in the world. I've never driven a car in Seoul simply because I've never had to - Subways and buses are faster, cheaper, cognitively easier to use, and I never have to worry about finding a parking spot. There have been a lot of new startups entering or looking to enter this space - Ridesharing services, parking spot finder apps, Google driverless car, etc. - But which will become the dominant form of transportation in the next 5~10 years and why? I'm fascinated to see what people "in the know" and involved in this space think.

prostoalex 13y ago
For historians of the future the past 100 years will be this weird time period where we stopped riding horses for transportation, but haven't yet invented autonomous self-driving vehicles.
- pshin45 13y ago
  Yeah there are so many of those "we're at a weird time period where..." that we're in the midst of right now. I think thankfully computer graphics has gotten good enough in our lifetime that CGI animation in movies & TV will soon become perfectly indistinguishable from real life. No more uncanny valley. I think steroids will become a non-issue in sports in the near future, where the line between what's "natural" enhancement and what's "artificial" enhancement becomes impossible to enforce or legislate. Plastic surgery has gotten better over the years but it's still pretty easy to identify who's gotten it and who hasn't. I shudder to imagine a world where anyone can become as beautiful as they want without others realizing that they've had work done. The societal implications are beyond what my brain can handle.
  - nitrogen 13y ago
    Plastic surgery has gotten better over the years but it's still pretty easy to identify who's gotten it and who hasn't. I shudder to imagine a world where anyone can become as beautiful as they want without others realizing that they've had work done. The societal implications are beyond what my brain can handle. Apart from false genetic signaling, I'm curious: What do you think will be the most significant effect of widespread plastic surgery?
    - pshin45 13y ago
      I live in Seoul right now, which probably has the highest per capita rate of plastic surgery (and plastic surgery advertisements) in the world, so I'm already getting a taste/preview of the effects. There's something to be said for "democratizing" looks and I have nothing against people (adults) who choose to get plastic surgery as a way of leveling the playing field in jobs, dating, etc. But the way it's playing out in Korea is that young girls grow up not liking the way they look, and many parents actually encourage their kids to get surgery as soon as they're old enough, which morally rubs me the wrong way. Also, despite how common it is in Korea it's still not that cheap, so the people who get a lot of surgery tend to be wealthier which ironically causes more inequality and look-ism. I think "not having something" is a big part of what pushes the human race forward. For example, if hacking was somehow made super easy in the future, then anyone could do it and the intrinsic reward of making something great would be greatly reduced. If everyone were rich, then no one would be motivated to work. If everyone could eat delicious food all the time then it would become less special. If anyone could become athletic enough to play in the NFL or NBA, both leagues would become less interesting and less special. I've always believed that, in general, being extremely good-looking from an early age is more of a curse than a blessing and causes people to become relatively self-satisfied and complacent, and less skilled in the long run. On the other hand, people who are less good-looking who accept this fact early on will bust their ass to get better in other respects, and will ultimately contribute more to our society.
      - theorique 13y ago
        [joke] I've always believed that, in general, being extremely good-looking from an early age is more of a curse than a blessing And I thought of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHHEcmZtJvY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHHEcmZtJvY

by pshin45 13y ago

prostoalex 13y ago

For historians of the future the past 100 years will be this weird time period where we stopped riding horses for transportation, but haven't yet invented autonomous self-driving vehicles.

pshin45 13y ago
Yeah there are so many of those "we're at a weird time period where..." that we're in the midst of right now. I think thankfully computer graphics has gotten good enough in our lifetime that CGI animation in movies & TV will soon become perfectly indistinguishable from real life. No more uncanny valley. I think steroids will become a non-issue in sports in the near future, where the line between what's "natural" enhancement and what's "artificial" enhancement becomes impossible to enforce or legislate. Plastic surgery has gotten better over the years but it's still pretty easy to identify who's gotten it and who hasn't. I shudder to imagine a world where anyone can become as beautiful as they want without others realizing that they've had work done. The societal implications are beyond what my brain can handle.
- nitrogen 13y ago
  Plastic surgery has gotten better over the years but it's still pretty easy to identify who's gotten it and who hasn't. I shudder to imagine a world where anyone can become as beautiful as they want without others realizing that they've had work done. The societal implications are beyond what my brain can handle. Apart from false genetic signaling, I'm curious: What do you think will be the most significant effect of widespread plastic surgery?
  - pshin45 13y ago
    I live in Seoul right now, which probably has the highest per capita rate of plastic surgery (and plastic surgery advertisements) in the world, so I'm already getting a taste/preview of the effects. There's something to be said for "democratizing" looks and I have nothing against people (adults) who choose to get plastic surgery as a way of leveling the playing field in jobs, dating, etc. But the way it's playing out in Korea is that young girls grow up not liking the way they look, and many parents actually encourage their kids to get surgery as soon as they're old enough, which morally rubs me the wrong way. Also, despite how common it is in Korea it's still not that cheap, so the people who get a lot of surgery tend to be wealthier which ironically causes more inequality and look-ism. I think "not having something" is a big part of what pushes the human race forward. For example, if hacking was somehow made super easy in the future, then anyone could do it and the intrinsic reward of making something great would be greatly reduced. If everyone were rich, then no one would be motivated to work. If everyone could eat delicious food all the time then it would become less special. If anyone could become athletic enough to play in the NFL or NBA, both leagues would become less interesting and less special. I've always believed that, in general, being extremely good-looking from an early age is more of a curse than a blessing and causes people to become relatively self-satisfied and complacent, and less skilled in the long run. On the other hand, people who are less good-looking who accept this fact early on will bust their ass to get better in other respects, and will ultimately contribute more to our society.
    - theorique 13y ago
      [joke] I've always believed that, in general, being extremely good-looking from an early age is more of a curse than a blessing And I thought of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHHEcmZtJvY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHHEcmZtJvY