I don't live in the US and don't know how the US system works...

If I understand correctly, then even though Trump won the people's election, he won't be president unless the Electoral College elect him?

If so, then...
- What's the point of a people's election?
- What happens if they vote against Trump?

Could Google be trying to preempt Tizen?

Yup, that is how political correctness is used to create bigoted taboos, and they are a bane to positive devopment of any society (democratic or otherwise).

Misogeny and misandry are not two unrelated problems - they are two sides of the same coin. Studying only part of the problem means that we miss out on properly understanding the problem as a whole. And without properly understanding the problem, how are we going to find a proper solution?

Reminds me of Ericssons mobile phones back in 2000. They won the race against Nokia to make them the smallest in the world, but they lost to Nokia in usability. Wasn't that partly why Ericsson died?

...and perhaps they could start paying all that tax that they've been dodging for so long the world over (once governments have worked out new watertight tax laws). I sounds like it might be enough to affect a few economies.

I disagree. One can only vote for alternatives when alternatives are available. When all parties stand on the smae side on this topic, then there are no alterantives to vote for.

Interesting variant/alternative to steam punk.

I find that changes are disruptive only when they happen suddenly. But introduce them slowly, and systems have time to adapt.

So, start with a tiny BI, and apply minor increments each year for 20 years.

I predict...
0. Self driving buses might work well. But I think the breakthough will begin with...
1. Taxi companies will run fleets of self-driving taxis: alledgedly safer driving, less risk of driver/passenger abuse, cheaper.
(Initially the public sector would not do that because of "joblosses". The private sector has no such qualms.)
2. Once the risk of joblosses is past, then taxis would evolve into public transport, because...
3. Private car ownership would decrease, due to:
- convenience (available upon demand, hands free, no licence needed, passenger safety, no parking issues, etc.)
- price (no inital outlay for a vehicle, electricity cheaper than fuel, no insurance, etc.)
- safety (allegedly safer drivers, road rage not aimed at other people, etc.)
4. Less car ownership leads to fewer cars overall because, unlike privately owned cars, taxis don't spend most of their time idly parked. That might reduce public spending overall due to less congestion, less road maintenance, less accident costs, fewer traffic crimes, etc. On the other hand, some of those are revenue earners, such as parking and speeding tickets, so I don't know.

So certainly, self driving could reduce congestion, but I think it'll happen best starting with taxis and of course... it will take time.

If a society also moved to basic income, then I would imagine public transport taxis becoming part of the overall basic income system.
Sounds a bit like communism or socialism to me, but perhaps an aspect of such that might actually work.

I think the reason for that is that when someone has spent much time/energy (preaching, praying, being constantly mindful of following rules, etc.) on something that they believe is worth while, they don't want to be shown to have wasted all that effort in something futile.

It's easier, more comfortable, to find like minded people who justify all that effort. Thus begins the positive feedback loop that leads to unreasonably strong opinions (extremism).

And if too many people still keep undermining those opinions, then the unreasonably strong opinions lead to unreasonably strong frustration that leads to unreasonably strong anger, which leads to the dark side, so to speak.

Have I got that right?

I don't think that VR will take off as hoped... because of motion sickness. Impatient business critics might even claim it an expensive flop. (Pity, 'cos my experiences of VR have mostly been quite fun, when I don't feel ill.)

I have not tried AR, but I expect much less motion sickness with AR. Also, I can think of more uses for AR than VR.

Perhaps that's why he doesn't think logically about the topic.

In your view, who/what would pay for a society's infrastructure?

- Cats land on their feet.
- Buttered toast lands with the buttered side down.
- Which way does a cat+buttered toast land when the toast is strapped with the buttered side facing away from the cats back?