The Monday Mix (28/03/2022)
Hey friends,
Not much to report this week. I’m aiming to get my reading list for March out on Wednesday. But apart from that, there’s not much going on aside from enjoying the nice weather we’ve had here in the UK the past week.
As much as I’ve enjoyed it, I can’t shake the feeling that near 20 degree temperatures in March, just isn’t right. I think these sorts of weather events, that we would normally deem as unusual, will slowly become the new norm.
How self-driving cars got stuck in the slow lane
I remember talking to my friend in a cafe back in 2017 and him confidently stating that self-driving cars would be here in the next year or so. He was certain this would upend life as we knew it and put thousands, if not millions of people out of work. You know who else believed this? Elon Musk. He’s also proclaimed on numerous occasions that fully autonomous vehicles are just around the corner.
Five years on from that chat and after Musk’s multiple confident predictions, we’re still waiting.
There’s no doubt self-driving cars would change the world. More time would be freed up from not physically driving, people’s livelihoods would be affected, and you’d like to think roads would be safer too. Yet, programming a car to drive and understand the road like a human is no easy task, which is probably why self-driving cars are always a few years away. Similar to nuclear fusion, it appears to always be tantalizingly out of reach.
This piece looks at why that might be the case and how likely it is we see them on the roads soon. One thing that might hold them back is ou lack of tolerance for machines making mistakes. We are much more tolerant of humans making mistakes than machines, Just think of times when a video is buffering or when you can’t connect to the internet.
Then, there’s the argument around self-driving cars. Do we need them? Would it not be better to invest in integrated public transport systems that run on clean energy than cars that can drive themselves? The topic opens up a lot of questions, some of which aren’t easy to answer.
The Cryptophere
This is a brilliant deep dive into the world of crypto and the many adherents and believers in these various currencies. While I hold no coins or have not purchased a fancy receipt, otherwise known as an NFT, I do have a few friends who have dabbled in the world of crypto. One who was really into it and then became sceptical and another who’s convinced cryptos are going to replace conventional currencies.
My own view is that the majority of cryptos are scams, nothing more than pump and dumps. NFTs are essentially Ponzi schemes where you pay for a receipt of an image that can be saved for free by right-clicking it, in the belief it will accrue in value over time.
Whatever your views towards crypto, this is a brilliant read and may make you think again about the pros and cons of crypto.
Replacing Russia’s gas
An interesting look at how we in Europe, and across the world, can wean ourselves off Russian gas. This would have the double benefit of helping combat climate change and removing a key revenue source for Putin’s regime.
With Europe getting nearly 40% of its natural gas from Russia, finding alternative energy sources is imperative. While food waste might not be everyone’s idea of a replacement energy source, it could be scaled up to help meet demand. Considering how much food is wasted every day, this would be a good way of preventing it from being wasted.
Combined with renewables such as wind and solar and effective insulation in houses, we should be able to break the reliance on Russian gas and do the planet a massive favour.
As the saying goes, necessity is the moth of invention.
Book I’m reading - Boys in Zinc by Svetlana Alexievich
I’m still reading this magnificent piece of reportage on the experiences of soldiers and ordinary people on how the Soviet war in Afghanistan affected their lives. I think I’ve learnt more about the Soviet regime by reading this book than any other. Reading the thoughts of those who lived under the regime, risks their lives and died for it, is a fascinating window into the past, present and future.
Quote I’m pondering: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
That’s all for this week.
Until next time,
Tom