Self-Driving Vehicles Will Become Legal Much Sooner Than You Think

There are many people who talk about self-driving, or autonomous, vehicles as if its something that will happen way out in the future. But the more I observe this phenomenon, the more I'm realizing that this technology will be ubiquitous much sooner than many currently claim or are willing to believe. 

One area that we see opening up for self-driving vehicles is the law. In a September 30, 2016 article in the Mercury News, State of California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that allows self-driving vehicles, without steering wheels, brake pedals, and accelerators, to be tested on public roads. A human back-up operator is not required, but the vehicle speed must not exceed 35m/h. And who is one party behind this push to get self-driving vehicles tested in a hurry? Yes--Google. In a previous blog post, I wrote about Google's lobbying of the US Government to implement laws that allow self-driving vehicles to be tested on public roads. RW Baird analyst Colin Sebastian made this claim in the Mercury News report,

“Any governmental body endorsing fully autonomous driving or testing of fully autonomous driving is a step in the direction that could be favorable for Google . . . . There’s a lot of debate around whether fully autonomous is the right step in the near term versus that more incremental approach."

But Google's push isn't the only force behind the rapid rise of self-driving vehicles. In a recent article from the Washington Examiner, there is a growing trucker shortage throughout America, according to a report from the American Trucking Association. The report states that with the holiday season approaching, there is already a shortage of over 73,000 long-distance truckers--more than three times the shortage of 2005; and that number could rise to almost 200,000 within the next 8 years. This driver shortage is hitting every industry, not just FedEx and UPS. The report states that the shortage is  a result of retirements, low wages, a desire of truckers to stay closer to home and thus avoid long trips, and a real shortage of talent with solid driving records. Given this shortage that threatens to double over the next 8 years, the American Trucking Association is calling for autonomous trucks as a solution to the shortage. The article states the following: 

"Autonomous commercial trucks could eventually have a positive impact on the driver shortage," said a report from the group. "Eventually, one could envision an environment when the longer, line-haul portion of truck freight movements are completed by autonomous trucks and local pick-up and delivery routes are completed by drivers."

So not only do we have Google--one of the most powerful companies in the world--lobbying for the lifting of laws that currently ban the testing of these vehicles across the US, but we also have the American Trucking Association calling for autonomous trucks as a significant solution for the challenges of a massive driver shortage. 

To me, these are signs that autonomous vehicles will be here before we know it--most likely within the next 3-5 years. That is a massive transportation revolution that will impact everything from roads to transportation to jobs. If you're in the transportation industry, you need to seriously take a look at this phenomenon. You need to realize that your job will be impacted in the next several years. These are very serious warning signs. It might not seem like it, but the transportation industry is in the midst of massive change. 

6 Ways A Daily Routine Will Lead To Greater Creativity And Innovation

I sat in an international forum on creativity once. There were a lot of people, and a panel of highly creative individuals, and they were all playing a game: who had the best creative idea. Each of the people in the panel was given 2 minutes to share his or her idea, and the rest of the 100+ attendants voted on how good the idea was. 

There was one idea that I recall that recently made me think. It was given, and this is going back 10 years ago, by the CEO of a famous design firm. Her idea was that one should eat one's eggs in a different way each morning, the point being that for creativity to flow, one has to do things, indeed even eating eggs, differently. At the time it sounded rational; but now I wonder . . . 

One key thing we notice when we peak into the lives of artists, thinkers, writers, or inventors can be summed up in one word: routine. Creative people live highly routinized, at times very boring, lives. They often do the same thing every day for decades; and what they're working on, creating, inventing, is carefully set within that structure--yes, even when it comes to eating eggs, or drinking coffee (right down to precisely how many cups, the number of beans used--in Beethoven's case--and served at the precise time each day). 

So while I resonated at the time with the 'do things differently' prescription by the famous designer, having a strict routine seems more conventional among creatives--except when it comes to their work. 

It's one thing to have a routine, it's another thing to approach your work in a state of safety, business-as-usual, and with a desire to keep the boundaries of your ideas neat and tidy. Whether it's Beethoven, Picasso, or Albert Einstein, these people pushed everything they had when it was time to create. Their lives were routinized to free up mental space and energy to put it to use where it was mostly needed: their creation. 

So, whether you're a middle manager with a plate full of projects demanding innovation, a writer biting your nails over the start of your next manuscript, an artist staring blankly at a canvas, an entrepreneur lying sleeplessly in bed with ideas banging around the cerebral cortex, you need to get a routine going in your life.  Here are some tips:

1. Do the same thing everyday: Many of us already do this: we wake up at the same time, get ready for work, drive to work, etc. What makes creative folk different is that the routine is there to get them into autopilot and in the right creative space to work. Your routine shouldn't be drudgery, it should be solidly in place for the purpose of creating. 

2. Set a specific time in the day to create: This is where the routine can swallow up the creativity. How many times do you hear people say they would love to write that novel or work on that business plan or design that new idea BUT life is too busy? That's bunk. In fact, that's resistance. If you want to create something, you've got to treat it like your meals and make them part of your routine--every day. 

3. Make your creative time the best time: When do you create best? First thing in the morning? Late at night? Mid-day? Whatever it is, set that time aside and do nothing else but create whatever you need to create. If you're that middle manager, that's the time everyday to get the team together; and if the team can't make the meeting, just have one with yourself. Don't break the momentum--do it every day. 

4. Push the limits of your thinking and working: Did you see Elon Musk's address on how to make humanity a multi-planetary species? Here's a guy not only talking about it, but also doing it! When he goes into work, he's pushing the boundaries of his ideas--and there's no reason why you can't do it too. The problem is you see too many limits, or maybe just tell yourself your ideas are crazy and will never work at your company. You can't worry about that. You've got to push your ideas every time you sit down to create. That's a difference that makes a difference between those who create awesome stuff, and those who don't. 

5. Live your waking and sleeping hours for that creative time: Carry a notebook and pen around during the day, and have it sitting on your bedside table when you're sleeping. You never know when an idea will pop. When it hits, write it down and try to incorporate it in your next creative session. This is normal: your best ideas will come when you've walked away from your creative time and you're standing waiting for the subway, or stuck in traffic, or walking down the frozen-food section of the grocery store. When the idea hits, write it down.

6. Be ready for nothing to happen: When you have your day routinized, bring your full attention, full capacity, full potential to that creative moment--and be ready for it to flop. Sometimes the ideas won't be there; sometimes you'll be recycling old ones; sometimes you'll stare at the page or whiteboard or canvas and nothing will come. You can always start with a line or a stroke or a sentence or a graphic image and see where it takes you. Don't expect the ideas to pop every time--but do expect yourself to create at the same time every day. Expect of and demand yourself to create at the same time every day. You'll see the difference. 

Elon Musk Believes He Will Transform Humanity Into A Multi-Planetary Species

Elon Musk is the new face of entrepreneur. Steve Jobs was brilliant--no doubt!--but Musk is something other. Steve Jobs at one point was running both Apple Computers and Pixar, driving back and forth between the companies several times per week. Musk has two companies he works at as well as a non-profit. Both companies are pushing the boundaries of innovation in transportation--one ground, one space--and the non-profit, super-hero style, fighting the good fight against the threat of killer robots. 

This week, Elon Musk is going to launch a new technology that will bring Mars that much closer to Earth--or Earth-lings that much closer to becoming Martian. The title of the presentation says it all: Making Humans A Multi-Planetary Species. 

This says it all. He's not selling a product. He's not tarting-up another incremental improvement to an old operating system (sorry Apple!)--no. He's laying out a vision for the future and humanity; he's doing some more major vision-casting, and he's announcing it to the world. 

We all ask, what more can be done? And then Musk delivers something else. We all ask ourselves, what is possible? And then Musk paints a completely different picture of what 'possible' could mean. We ask ourselves if there are any real big thinkers these days--people like Einstein and Nicola Tesla, and Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell. There is: his name is Elon Musk. 

The Raptor Test.

I don't know what Musk is going to say tomorrow. Musk has already announced the release of the SpaceX Raptor: a rocket engine that will launch a rocket directly to Mars. The lack of rocket innovation has been a hindrance to Mars travel, and has led inventors and rocket scientists to talk about space elevators as the only way. But not for Musk--he makes the impossible seem easy. He claims that with the Raptor engine, rockets will be launched directly to Mars as part of the interplanetary transport system that will thus turn humanity into a multi-planetary species.

Think about this--it's amazing. How many entrepreneurs do you know who think this big, and have the brains and money to pull it off? 

We are watching the emergence of a new interplanetary civilization before our eyes. It's emerging--rapidly. It's Musk. And with Musk, others are trying to drag along by the hem of his cape. It won't be long. Technology feeds on itself and grows exponentially--especially when people are really pushing for solutions. With Musk and his teams, we could see a couple of major exponential leaps to space travel over the coming months and years. According to Space.com,

The company plans to launch an uncrewed mission to the Red Planet in 2018 using SpaceX's Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy rocket, then follow that up with additional missions every 26 months for the foreseeable future, claims Elon Musk.

This is amazing. As one who reads and follows technology and the development of technology, I remain continuously floored by Musk. Indeed, I doubt we've seen anything like him and his companies in the past fifty to a hundred years. Like Tiger Woods, we ask 'How much more can this guy do?' But I doubt, unlike Woods, he'll disappoint. 

Elon Musk A Super Hero Or Super Villain?

I am a skeptic. I don't just buy anything. And as I'm writing I am asking myself if I've gone off the deep end, or if Musk has gone off the deep end, or both of us. Needless to say, we are witnessing a profound revolution of technology that will impact interplanetary travel like we've never seen before, and Musk seems to be at the forefront. 

While some CEOs are worried about making incremental improvements to someone else's technology, Musk is taking on the world with leaps and bounds. And as he makes leaps and bounds, he promises to take humanity with him. 

But will they follow? . . .

The Biohacking Revolution Goes Mainstream--Won't Be Long Now . . .

Tag implants have gone mainstream. Once the object of Grinders--a term that refers to biohackers, transhumanists, and techno-progressives--tag implants are now finding their way into mainstream media coverage.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal entitled When Information Storage Gets Under Your Skin states that there are approximately 50,000 people in the world--indeed a growing number--with skin implant RFID tags. It also mentions the body hacker movement--a movement that's been featured in publications considered fringe--not the pinstriped button-downed WSJ.

Indeed the uses are myriad: storing personal data, storing phone numbers and contacts, being able to make phone calls, open doors, waltz through airline security.

But there are also serious ethical and security issues. What if you're hacked? Surely just because you have an implant doesn't make you immune to being hacked. There is also the issue of people with cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimers, having their important personal data stored on their body, but without their ability to consent to the process in the first place.

What I find very interesting is that biohacking, transhumanism, and other post-human movements are now going mainstream. Once a sci-fi fetish, it is now gaining notoriety and acceptance from conventional media. That means more people will be adopting the technology, which will indeed lead to an emergence of biohackers and transhumanists.

But this is where it's all going anyway right? As if the ability to text and tweet and buy concert tickets and open doors and store all kinds of data would remain on a 'device' external to the body. It's about the external becoming internal; about tools becoming appendages; it's about modifying the human body to become requisite with the demands of technology. And WSJ's coverage of biohacking is one important step on the way to the fringe becoming conventional.

It won't take long. Give us five years and the number of biohackers worldwide will grow by an order of magnitude.

Do We Really Want The Third Transportation Revolution?

Lyft is a peer to peer driving company that is to Uber what Apple used to be to Microsoft--it's all about community and an informal service compared to Uber's brand as more business like and 'professional'. 

Lyft's Co-Founder, John Zimmer, has gone on record to claim that within 5 years a majority of its vehicles will be self-driving. He went on to claim, according to Associated Press (AP) that "personal car ownership will come to an end because autonomous rides will become a cheaper way to travel than owning an automobile." His forecast is that by 2025, there will be no personal ownership of automobiles--2025. Zimmer calls this the "Third Transportation Revolution," in which he envisages people purchasing vehicles with milage limits on them, like mobile phones--but doesn't that sound like a lease agreement today? Well, it's a bit more like Netflix than leasing that Toyota. As self-driving cars 'evolve' into fleets, the model for transportation will be more likened to a subscription with a number of different options. Here's Zimmer from his paper The Third Transportation Revolution:

This service will be more flexible than owning a car, giving you access to all the transportation you need. Don’t drive very often? Use a pay-as-you-go plan for a few cents every mile you ride. Take a road trip every weekend? Buy the unlimited mileage plan. Going out every Saturday? Get the premium package with upgraded vehicles. The point is, you won’t be stuck with one car and limited options. Through a fleet of autonomous cars, you’ll have better transportation choices than ever before with a plan that works for you.

Indeed, Zimmer's vision is very similar philosophically to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's: There are too many cars that are sitting idle in our urban spaces taking up precious landscape that could be used for parks. By shifting to a fleet of self-driving vehicles, we'll have fewer cars on the roads, fewer roads in our environment, and more parks to enjoy. These business models are all promoted under the guise of a call back to nature. Instead of individual cars, you'll have fleets of Lyft or Uber or Tesla or Apple or Mercedes or Google or whatever else vehicles. 

To me it sounds like more of the same. I've written before about CEOs becoming social planners and social engineers--and John Zimmer is another example. One question to ask is to what extent fleets of self-driving vehicles will indeed reduce the number of vehicles on the roads. If all these companies are in competition with one another, and we continue to have exploding population growth, will these highly competitive disruptive rogue-agent CEOs suddenly choose to lose marketshare and revenue and shareholder interest out of a trumped up love for the earth? I don't think so. 

The only thing these models seem to hold out for the public is less freedom of mobility and ownership. Is it somehow morally wrong to own a vehicle? And to what extent is the CEO of a for-profit company in any position to foist his or her morality on you? This kind of sales job simply creates the problem, then provides the solution--not unlike deodorant.

And who will control mobility in this Uber-Lyft revolution? Whose interests will mobility serve? Yes, of course you pay money to own and operate a vechicle--but you have a choice to go where you want when you want at any time you want. Your money buys you freedom. What happens if you need to get out of dodge in the face of a catastrophe? What happens if the Uber-Lyft revolution has all its vehicles on some kind of emergency function that shuts them down or has them transported automatically to some place you don't want to go? Sounds fantastical? Perhaps. But these scenarios are plausible, especially when human mobility is controlled. As well, I get skittish whenever someone tells me what I can and can't own--as if owning DVDs and Record Players and automobiles is a bad thing. What next, home ownership? 

What is really driving John Zimmer's report is Uber's Kalanick and Tesla's Elon Musk and the Google transformation agents, and the whole group of tech-giants all competing for market share and control over the next transportation revolution. It's profit--not nature--driven. To me, if Zimmer were really so concerned about getting rid of automobiles, then he would be doing something else, like using a horse-drawn wagon to harvest crop on an acreage somewhere. 

4 Ways You Will Become Superhuman--Unless Of Course You Don't Want To

There is a growing desire among people to transcend the limits of being human. People want to be rid of pain; people want to defeat death; people want to wield extraordinary intellectual power; people want their bodies to rival those of gods in ancient mythology; people want to become super-human. 

There are thought leaders such as Bill Gates, Ray Kurzweil, and Elon Musk who claim that with the rise of artificial intelligence--the raw power of computer intelligence that's set to grow at an exponential rate--the only way for humans to survive is to technologically enhance their biology. According to Fortune Magazine, the artificial intelligence industry--buoyed up by top CEOs like Jeff Bezos and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai--is set to become at least a $70 Billion industry in just 4 years. A huge spike from a merger $8 Billion only 3 years ago!

Elon Musk on his concerns about AI 

Some wonder if there's enough time for humans to enhance themselves before the next wave of AI enslaves us, wipes us out--or both. The main thing is intelligence; for if a robot can think faster and in a more complex manner than you can, how will you prevent yourself from becoming a slave? 

In the book "Our Final Invention" James Barrat argues that we are creating the engines of our destruction. Put simply, the AI project's objective is to create machines that have human consciousness. If this is the case, Barrat argues, they will have a self-preservation mechanism--part of their consciousness will be to ensure their own survival. Therefore, once conscious AI see humans as a threat--as having the power to press the shut-off switch--they will do all they can to thwart us, if not destroy us. Barrat claims that indeed we're too late to stop it; the engines of creation will not be stopped. And with that being the case, we must either enhance ourselves or perish.

But what kinds of things need to happen for one to become a superhuman? 

1. Brain enhancement: Whether by prothesis or a chip implant, technologists have been working on this kind of technology for a long time. The key to chipping up your brain is to plug into the internet's vastly growing knowledge ecology that will enhance your ability to think, make decisions, and access knowledge. Brain implant surgeries have already been achieved, and patients are learning how to work with a computer as it makes decisions for them. As the computers become faster and more powerful, the enhanced human brain will become in turn faster and more powerful.

2. Body enhancement: Again prosthetics is key here--think bionic man in the 21st Century. Humans are enhancing their bodies all the time through drugs and advanced physical training regimens. But as these technologies improve, humans will be able to alter their bodies in outstanding ways. Indeed, human bodies wear out. According to Ray Kurzweil, with nanotechnology, humans will be able to have 'nano-skin'--skin made out of tiny robots that will regenerate it, heal it, and change its look and feel. Want to be someone else for a period of time? Just reprogram the nanoparticles. 

Ray Kurzweil on bringing back the dead--no seriously.

3. Immortality: Aubrey de Grey is one of the pioneers of immortology--yes, the study of living forever. He believes we need to defeat the notion that death is an immutable characteristic of human existence. He is thus waging a techno-war against death and dying. According to de Grey, Kurzweil and others, with the advancement of medical technologies, and the exponential growth of technology in general, humans will be able to ride the longevity wave for the next thousands of years. Some are claiming that this generation of children will live into up to 300-500 years. De Grey's argument is simple: If wellness technologies can increase your life-span by 10 years, you have been given 10 more years of technological development; and within those 10 years, wellness technologies will give you an additional 25-50 years; and within that 25-50 years, wellness technologies will be able to buy you another 100 years; and within that 100 years, wellness technologies will be able to buy you another 1000 years--and so on and so forth. A significant area of medical practice for this is gene therapy. As genetic technology grows, so does the ability for doctors to eliminate the kinds of genes that cause cancer, heart attack, stroke, alzheimers, etc. 

4. Virtual Reality: This is another area that technologists are looking to for enhanced human experience: to live on the internet; to have oneself connected to the internet through brain implant technology. Already, virtual reality is being designed with a high level of verisimilitude to human experience--and it will only advance. According to Ray Kurzweil, humans will be living, working, playing, and travelling in virtual environments. Moreover, this will be a way he sees the ability of bringing people back from the dead, namely by reconstructing humans based on information left behind after their death, and recreating their bodies and brains. Once we are able to fully reverse-engineer and re-create the human brain, we'll be able to bring our dead loved ones back to life by recreating them as avatars.  

Does this sound crazy to you? How do you feel about enhancing your body? Do you see AI as such a threat that you would hands-down adopt the technologies, albeit loosely, explained above? 

What are the threats to human existence that these technologies pose? Some maintain that when we enhance our brains to such an extent, we'll be running so much information through them we'll inflict further harm on our minds and bodies. We're already the most medicated society in human history, largely due to the demands technology is imposing on our limited bodies. "Humans are slow," claimed the interviewer in the clip above with Elon Musk--humans are slow. Another scenario could be that your brain will become easily hackable, not unlike your mobile phone or automobile. 

And with Kurzweil's plan to bring his father back to life, it sounds from the clip that his father will indeed be a diminished copy of the real thing. What will that look like? Those with sci-fi imaginations should be going wild right now. 

That's the problem--it's all so speculative. We're playing with a kind of power the limits of which we don't know; and we're playing with our bodies and minds and future generations not unlike lab mice in a science lab. This should concern us. 

But what's the alternative if indeed AI is about to emerge the way experts are predicting? 

Time will tell . . . 

We Are Creating A Generation Of X-Men And It Should Concern Us All

Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds and Our Bodies--and What it Means to be Human was a huge book for me. I still remember where I was when I read it in one sitting, unable to put it down. In this non-fiction book that read too much like fiction, the author Joel Garreau laid out the GRIN technologies (Genetics, Robotics, Information, and Nano) in a simple way, then projected them out 30 years to show the promises and perils. Reading about human genes fused with bird genes to create X-Men characters seemed completely far out--this was the year 2006. I remember telling people about this book and about the strange things I had read, and their looks of concern for my mental health. 

Now, a short time later, my imagination was struck by an article in the Daily Mail with the headline: 

A powerful generation of 'X-Men' SUPERHUMANS will be here in less than 100 years, claims expert. 

The expert is Michael Bess, author of Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future. In this book, Bess argues that under the guise of healing the sick and extending life and defeating death, human beings are being given the tools to completely redesign themselves. And this, as with Garreau mentioned above, will lead to a promise vs. peril reality. For instance, humans in this future of a few decades will be able to fine-tune their moods, communicate anywhere in the world in 3D, and have myriad relationships with artificial intelligence; however, those who have the money to enhance their bodies and brains will be given an immeasurable advantage over those who don't, thus creating an insurmountable gap between rich and poor, unless enhancement comes with equal opportunity. 

The enhancement technologies Bess lays out are pharmaceuticals, prosthetics, and genetics. But we are already using these technologies: we are using pharmaceutical already to enhance our moods and brain function; and some are wondering already if such enhancement is fair or simply cheating. 

Through prosthesis, implants, and other bioelectric devices, we are enhancing ourselves physically, as well as increasing our abilities to communicate with robots, computers, and the internet. Look at the biohacker movement--people who are hacking their bodies through chip implants--and you'll see this world of superhumans emerging. 

And through genetics we are not only understanding disease prevention, but also enhancing human potential through engineering. These are early stages of development, but they will expand rapidly over time. What will cause this great expansion of human potential through technology is exponential growth: that technology builds on itself by using the latest breakthrough to create the next one. Hence, technology doesn't extent incrementally but exponentially--in explosive waves that are often untraceable. 

I agree with Michael Bess: these expansions of human potential will happen within the next few decades. We are indeed at a tipping point of what it means to be human. And there are many people, some I've written about in this blog, who have the money and the smarts and the gall to create the next superhuman race. Indeed, with modern technology humans would already look superhuman to the people of the past. When the Spanish Conquistadors under Pizzaro entered the Incan Empire, the Incan's thought they were gods riding on strange animals and bearing flashing weapons. Imagine what humans of today would appear to a Spanish Conquistador. 

Bess's concern is a salient one: that we are literally redesigning the next generation of humans. And yet, Bess claims, this redesign could be important to try to become requisite with the rise of artificial intelligence. And this isn't only the concern of Bess, but others such as Bill Gates, Bill Joy, and even Elon Musk. Those who have the ability to see into the future can see the writing on the wall: unless humans enhance, the race itself will be in peril to the technologies it is creating--

an ominous irony isn't it? 

Uber's Self-Driving Taxi: Today Pittsburgh, Tomorrow The World

Now the videos are starting to flow as Uber's flashy self-driving taxi has officially hit the streets of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. And in a fell swoop, Uber has up-ended its original business model, thus pushing out the very drivers whose human-operated vehicles made the whole dream possible. 

Sad isn't it? Rip up the taxi industry by replacing licensed cab-drivers with ordinary people with a vehicle, some time on their hands, and a desire to make ends meet--or at least a few extra bucks--; then cut those people out by replacing them with artificial intelligence. Does the end justify the means? 

This will change everything--and it's what Uber plans to do. It's vision, as I've written before, is to take millions of vehicles off the roads, as well as to prevent human-error deaths. And they'll do this by making their solution so smart, so intuitive, that you'll be replacing the keys to your car for Uber's ultra-cool app. 

Pittsburgh, your Uber taxi is waiting for you.

But what about the millions of jobs lost in the process? What about the dad who can't find a transportation job to save his or his family's life? What about the single mom who was able to pick up some extra grocery money by carting people around her city? What about the millions of people right now relying on transportation to make a good honest living? Nope--no good, not sustainable. 

We are seeing the rise of a major disruption to the transportation industry--a disruption that will impact all of us. 

So when you watch the video of Uber's breakthrough self-driving taxi and you are momentarily swept away by its zeal, its cool, its cute facade, don't be too enthusiastic--this is going to have a massive global impact.

7 Great Workout Regimens For A Better Healthier More Powerful Brain

"Sir, what's your phone number?" I was recently asked when filling out some information.

"Uh . . . um . . . well . . . ah . . ."--pathetic! I couldn't remember it.

Maybe it was the number of number combinations I have in my head, between all my passcodes and email addresses, and home phone and mobile phone and work phone and and and . . .

Or, maybe my brain's just run on autopilot for too long as I've relied on my contact list, my reminders, and calendar alerts. Maybe it's just all this technology that's put my brain to sleep.

Some maintain that the ease of technology frees up more room in your brain for other things; but then many maintain we don't use all of our brain's capacity anyway.

Nevertheless, for those of you who are concerned about your brain, or feel you're not using enough of your brain, or, like me, face embarrassment when you can't remember a phone number or an address, these awesome brain workouts are for you.

1. Learn an instrument: Learning is important for the brain. Many people go to work all day, then come home and veg out in front of the tv or stay plugged into their computers. Learning an instrument will work your brain and body--that hand/eye coordination that is important for brain development.

2. Do some math: Hated math when you were in high school? Tough luck--learn to love it. Doing math will stretch your brain and strengthen your memory.

3. Cook: I enjoy cooking--I'd like to do it more. Cooking stimulates all the senses, which is good for the brain. Anything that requires multiple senses is good. In our technological world, we work largely with our eyes and ears, but not so much taste and scent.

4. Learn a language: Drop $199 for Rosetta Stone or take an extended vacation to a foreign country to learn the language--either way, you'll be using that brain, which is a good thing.

5. Exercise: This is really important for the brain--getting the body moving and releasing all those endorphins into the brain. Check this out for top exercises for strengthening your upper body. I'm always looking for quick workouts, simply because I don't have time to get to a gym, and am into fast-track processes that amplify results. Check out the Muller system of the early 1900s--no seriously, it looks amazing.

Slate Magazine on the Muller Workout

6. Play chess: If you have children, get the chessboard out and teach them to play--you'll love it. If they know how to play, put your darn phone down and face off against them. If you're a lousy chess player, puck up some books on chess and learn.

7. Library membership: You need to get into books to get off the technology and get your brain moving again. Buying books is a good thing, but taking 100 books out of the library is just thrilling--no really. Some memberships allow a 100-book limit--imagine the possibilities! Get your kids into it too and turn them into great readers. Whatever you want to learn, you'll find books on it at the library. Get your kids hooked on it too!

The thread here is to stimulate all the senses of your body, and learn learn learn. Any new learning you can do, do it; any new skill you can pick up, or way to use all the senses, do it. Our technological world is keeping us sedentary and mono-sensory. Doing new things, learning new things, getting back into math, and playing an instrument will stimulate your brain.

The Tesla Store Will Destroy The U.S. Auto Sales Industry Through Disruptive Innovation

Tesla is rocking another part of the auto industry--sales. Traditionally, and in certain U.S. states, car dealers are critical third parties that mediate auto sales between the manufacturer and the buyer. It is an industry that's been around for decades, and is one of the most deeply rooted financially, corporately, and even politically. But Tesla is changing all that. 

According to the Houston Chronicle, "Tesla Motors won the blessing of the Texas GOP at the party convention in Dallas this month, paving the path towards a possible end to the three years of drama over the electric car manufacturer's right to sell in Texas." It was a long-fought battle; but it appears that the California auto maker will finally be able to sell its vehicles in Texas directly to consumers. This is a monumental victory that will send shockwaves through the Texas auto sales industry--the second largest in N. America. 

The battle wasn't so difficult in the state of Ohio in which Tesla stores have been popping up all over the place, leaving auto dealers outraged. According to the Washington Post, auto dealers have "sued and lobbied their legislators," but the disruptive electric car company is there to stay--the questions is, poses the Post, is the auto sales industry? Ohio's direct auto dealer legislation not only benefits Tesla, but also sets a precedent for traditional auto makers--in fact, it forces them to sell directly just to compete with Tesla's business model. But this casts a brooding gloom over auto dealers, as the Washington Post explains:

[The new legislation in Ohio] has triggered a standoff involving dealers, manufacturers and Tesla over the future of car sales, the role of the Internet and whether it is legal to sell a car — often the second-largest purchase in the lifetime of an average American — online.

This is typically what happens with the victims of disruptive innovation: conform or die. While auto dealers have enjoyed a monopoly on the sales of automobiles for numerous decades, they are now facing obsolescence, and, as such, shaking in their boots. The legislation argument has spread over 20 states in the U.S., most of which have changed their laws to support Tesla's sales model. For those, like Maryland, that have opposed it, Tesla is simply appealing--and, according to Musk, they will continue until they win as they did in Texas over a three year battle. 

Will Tesla upend and destroy the auto sales market as Steve Jobs did the music industry? Some people believe it will not happen--that there are too many points of failure that the auto sales industry has built in to prevent a landslide concession to Tesla. I maintain those who fail to see the collapse of the auto sales industry are delusional. It's already happening; and that's because people are fed up with closed market systems. They want to be able to purchase something right online, without hassle, and have the product delivered right to their front door. Amazon is proving this every day. Consumers do not want to pay extra for vehicles marked up by dealers to make a profit; they want the best price, with freedom of choosing as many options as possible. 

We are seeing another tremendous shift happening. Vehicles are arguably the second largest purchase a person can make; and vehicle sales have been done the same way for generations. Now, with the rise of a renegade tech company that's smart, sophisticated, and tenacious, that system is being taken down and devoured. It is inevitable that Tesla will shift legislation across the United States

And what about Canada? It's been selling cars since 2012 when it opened its first 'store' in Yorkdale Shopping Centre right across, ironically, from the Apple Store. And neither the government nor the auto sales industry in Canada has given Tesla the hassle those south of the border have. Tesla's been selling cars directly, and people have been buying them. Has it radically upended the auto sales industry here? Not really. Many Canadians continue to buy from auto dealers, and aren't outside the dealerships waving banners to free the markets from the auto dealer cartels--at least not yet. 

The U.S., especially Texas, has always had a problem with electric cars. Remember the movie 'Who Killed the Electric Car"? But giving to credit to Elon Musk, Tesla has remained tenacious about its vision to bring a whole new experience to driving, auto sales included. And they will succeed. 

Will the big auto makers be able to shift their operations accordingly? 

We'll see . . . 

A Scientist Programs A Machine To Be Your 24/7 Shrink--No Seriously

We live in a disconnected world. While many believe technology is making the world smaller--and indeed it seems to be the case--humans are spending more time communicating through digital media than ever before in history. And in many ways, humans are relying more on their devices for things humans used to do before the advent of the machine, such as checking one's health, being entertained, informing of current events, and even providing customer service. Now with the proliferation of apps, and the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual assistants, we are relying even less on human beings and more on machines--and now machines are moving into the emotional space by providing assistance for people's feelings. 

A New Scientist report explains an app being developed at the University of Aberdeen UK that will assist people through emotional problems, such as stress and depression. According to Professor Judith Masthoff, there is a growing number of people with mental health issues who need informal care. The professionals are only available for the big problems, and thus there is a vacuum of mental health care for people on a daily basis. This app could fill that gap. By creating algorithms that replicate the kinds of therapeutic words one would speak to someone who is suffering, a machine or app could be available at any time for that informal care one would need at any time. So for example, if you were recovering from surgery, and were feeling down, the system would send you a message such as, "I know it's really hard, but you're doing a good job." 

The strange thing is that people at first find it disagreeable to be emotionally supported by a machine algorithm, but the researchers at Aberdeen maintain that once the machine is built, people actually resonate with it. It's no different, they claim, than having a virtual assistant supporting you through a quibble with a warranty or building an investment portfolio; it's no different than an app providing reams of health data on your body. 

But isn't it?

What is happening to the human brain, to human consciousness, that it is so open, so able to adapt to machine communication, especially when it comes to emotional support during times of stress? How is it that humans no longer need the eye and body contact that comes with being supported by another human being, but that a simple blip on a screen suffices? How are we changing as a species when machines are able to sooth us when we're down, calm us when we're stressed, and offer a reassuring word when we need it? How is it that a simple algorithm is now ok to fill the void that human interaction in the past could only fill? And is there not something in the back of one's mind that says, "Wait a minute, this message is not coming from some-one, but rather a machine, an algorithm! There is not a person on the other end of that message who loves me, who cares about me, who's thoughtful enough to send me that message at a time when I needed it most--it's a machine!" 

I find this troubling for several reasons. First, where are the humans? Where are we as humans for people who are down, stressed, recovering from injury? Where are we? And why are we not available for others? Second, why is a message from a machine good enough for us? Are humans not something special, something unique, something greater than the mere sum of its parts? Why are we expecting so little from others that our mere mobile devices will suffice? Third, where are we in our use of technology to accept or be at the place in which we can respond to a message from a computer and translate it into something that reassures us, that touches our soul? And last, where is this all going? Will we be walking into robo-shrinks' offices and having a machine scan us and tell us what's going on deep in our psyches? If we continue to think it's ok and good enough for machines to provide us with emotional support, then we will eventually be seeing robo-shrinks. Are we slowly giving up our humanity for a cheap fix, a good-enough-for-now, a quick download that will get us through our days? And what about human relationships? What if your partner doesn't 'get' you like your machine does? What then? 

It scrambles the mind. It seems to me that indeed, the more computer scientists try to help people through their technology, the more they alienate them, and the more they alienate them, the more people will need technological solutions. It all becomes a vicious regress to more bizarre forms of technology and human/machine interaction.

Move over R2D2! Holoportation Is Real And Changing The Face Of Humanity

Are we becoming less human? 

Sounds like a silly question, but when you look at how technology is developing, the kinds of things being developed, and where it all seems to be going, you get the sense that being human is on the road to obsolescence. 

Take a story I read about today in Wired Magazine dated April 2016 about the rise of "holoportation"--a terms Microsoft has created for its new hologram solution. As Wired describes, "Holoportation, as the name implies, projects a live hologram of a person into another room, where they can interact with whomever’s present in real time as though they were actually there." And what inspired holoportation? The amount of time researchers had away from family, and the desire to reach out to them in a more effective way than merely Skype or FaceTime: “We have two young children," said Izadi, one of the key researchers of the program, "and there was really this sense of not really being able to communicate as effectively as we would have liked,” Izadi says. “Tools such as video conferencing, phone calls, are just not engaging enough for young children. It’s just not the same as physically being there.” The way Microsoft has developed holoportation is to rig up a room with sophisticated 3D cameras that take images of every angle of the individual and the space he or she is in. Once all the images are captured, the custom software stitches them together into a full 3D image. 

Watch holoportation at work!

As a father, I can only imagine coming home to see my teenagers surrounded by their friends who then holoport themselves away when I enter the room. Very strange. 

But get this: to make the technology ubiquitous, Microsoft claimed all one would need is a VR headset. Well, as I reported last week, Microsoft has hooked up recently with Intel to share their knowledge of how to build virtual reality headsets with other VR companies--a way to make this technology ubiquitous. I also echoed the words of Ray Kurzweil who maintains that VR is key to immortality--yes immortality. Through holoportation, one can see how humans will transport themselves all over the world and even to other worlds.

But there is certainly a difference between encountering a physical person and a hologram. I suppose one could see a technology developed that would trigger sensations in the brain to give one the feeling of being with a physical person while in virtual reality. But, again, is being with a physical person a difference that makes a difference for intimacy and overall human relationship? Is a holographic conversation with my child the same as actually being in the room with him? Is there something important about human connection?  What about when I am sad or hurting? Can a hologram really console me? 

Robots Are About To Infiltrate Retail And It's Going To Change Everything

September might be back to school time, but it's more like back to the future time with two technology introductions this month: 1) France is rolling out the world's first driverless bus, and 2) Lowe's in San Francisco will have a robot rolling through its aisles providing customer service.

First, the first driverless bus launched this weekend in Lyon France. I know that Mercedes launched the concept future-bus a number of weeks ago, which I covered here, but this roll out in Lyon France will be taking passengers. According to The Local of France, the mini bus will accommodate 15 passengers and will drive at a top speed of 20 km/hr. It's a small project with the total drive lasting about 10 minutes around the city of Lyon and consisting of 5 stops. This may not seem like a big deal, but, again, technology builds on itself exponentially. With the advent of the first driverless bus, we are already hurtling toward ubiquity. If you're a bus driver, you should be putting together an exit strategy into another profession. 

The driverless bus launch in France.

The transportation industry is going through a massive change in which a decent honest living driving people around in taxis or buses is giving way to artificial intelligence. But it's not the only industry being impacted by artificial intelligence--the retail industry is being hit this month as well. 

This month, Lowe's stores in San Francisco will be introducing the LoweBot: a customer service agent whose job it is to help people navigate the store and find what they're looking for. Lowe's knows it absolutely disrupting the retail industry with its AI sales rep; in fact, they have their own laboratory of ideas called the Lowe's Innovation Labs in which they've cooked up the LoweBot and other disruptive technologies. This is what progressive companies are doing these days, whether Lowe's or Uber or Tesla: designing disruption. 

Introducing LoweBot

How many people do you know who work retail? It's another way for people to find work and make a living. But once innovations like LoweBot becomes ubiquitous--probably in 5 years--where will retail workers go? When transportation and retail jobs go, what's next? The advertisement for LoweBot says that the AI will help people find items as well as track inventory, which will, apparently, free people in the store up--for what? Cutting wood, filling shelves. We already have automated check-out counters. What next?

These are jobs people take to support themselves and families. As inflation continues to climb, and entry-level jobs are given over to robots, what will happen to those who rely on those jobs to survive?

This is where capitalism and social planning come together and disrupt our world. Do these companies have too much power? Do the visionary CEOs have the right to disrupt industries dumping people out of jobs for machines? And should such events as the launch of driverless buses and robot customer service reps be given so much fanfare?

Not by me they won't.