Comment What narrow thinking (Score 3, Insightful) 284
How many billions could you make if you were able to predict glitches in the Matrix?
Now before I'm told how horrible a parent I am, let me explain. Like anything in life or parenting, I think it's about moderation and structure. We gave our daughter one of our older Android phones when she was about 2.5 years. We were embarking on a 5 hour flight with a toddler and a baby so yes, I was looking for distractions. I gave her a locked down phone (no dialing or data connection possible) with two educational apps and one simple drawing app. We play the apps with her and monitor her play. She can also take photos. That's it. It held her interest for a while, as did a number of other activities we brought with us on the plane, but with a limited amount of distraction available she eventually grew bored. She still has access to her phone at home now and she rarely uses it. We've taken it as a backup to many outings but find we only pull it out rarely (specifically dinner at a restaurant, close to or past bedtime, aka the witching hour).
If you give a kid a phone with the entirety of the internet and app store available with no structure, sure they'll become overwhelmed or addicted. Same thing goes for most stuff we give kids as they get older (insert car analogy). But I also think it's important to have access to the tools, connectedness, and creativity that computers and smartphones can unlock. So as my kids get older and they demonstrate they are ready, I'll unlock more functionality. But if and when I do, they can expect a lesson in how to use that new functionality safely and responsibly. If they abuse it, they lose it. I think that's about the best you can do. Maybe I'll be singing a different song in 7 years.
I see a lot of people concerned about what will happen when Uber overturns regulations and kills traditional taxis. Don't be.
Uber is a commodity. They have to grow as fast as possible if they want to remain the top brand. But they're spending tens of millions of dollars of investor money to overturn laws not just for themselves, but for the dozens of competitors waiting in the wings. Once the laws are overturned, it's not like the barrier to entry is that high. I ride Uber 5-10 times per month on business trips, and the drivers typically have both Uber and Lyft running simultaneously. Drivers have 0 commitment to Uber or any other company (in fact most of them grumble about Uber when I ask), they just want fares where they'll earn a reasonable amount. The rating system means that crappy drivers or dirty cars will not last long. Uber can't jack up the rates because passengers will just fire up the competitor apps and strike a free market happy median with the drivers, who also have the competitor apps open. I mean raw capitalism has its problems, but when you ride in Uber of Lyft or your local equivalent a few times, you can see it working pretty damn efficiently.
Of course the whole concept of a driver is now just a short-term thing. As soon as self driving cars show up, these ride share services will truly be a commodity. Ride share will just be a default OS app from Apple and Google and when you summon a car you will not know which ride share company is facilitating the actual vehicle on the back-end. Uber? Lyft? Apple? Google? So long as the car shows up, who cares?
As an analyst, to me it's a question of data cleanliness. Yes, people should be able to look at the facts (i.e., crime rate) and route around a higher risk area if they so choose. Trouble is, there's a partial racial component driving those crime statistics (i.e., minorities more likely to be arrested) which probably inflates the "true" crime rates for those neighborhoods. If people are going to get all bent out of shape, they should do so up-stream. Tackle the issues that inject a racial element to crime statistics and leave the people looking for an objective measure of risk assessment alone - they're only using the best available data to make a decision.
Easier said than done of course...
Hi there, I'm an I/O psychologist at Evolv. To dispel a few myths and FUD:
Hope that helps!
What this country needs is a good five dollar plasma weapon.