While stuck again in a huge traffic jam on our way to the airport, there was plenty of time to think about that something really has to change in our ways to move ourselves from A to B. Our transport systems for longer than walk or bike travels by train, car or airplane are already 1 or 2 centuries of age without any change except better trains, cars and airplanes. The philosophy and systems remained the same.
The main problem is that the infrastructure for this kind of transportation is costly to build and maintain, highly inflexible, a waste of a devastating portion of our environment and economy in terms of time and money. Parked cars all over the place, asphalt and concrete everywhere, long waiting times in traffic, train stations and airports, air pollution and more. It's a long list of concerns we obviously just accept. Additionally the fact that humans are still the drivers of vehicles which nowadays serve as a major killing factor for people and animals and is even used as terrorist weapon, needs to be re-evaluated. Yearly in traffic 1 1/4 million people are killed worldwide and that number will more than triple in the next 15 years.
Elon Musk proposes an alternative for mainly long distance with trains and airplanes with his Hyperloop. Impressive concept and technology but it needs a massive infrastructure change which will be again costly and inflexible. It's comparable to bullet, TGV or Maglev trains and similar, just a few steps beyond.
Professor Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk (PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX) among others, recently warned again for the consequences of our own inventions like robots and artificial intelligence (AI). Already a few years ago, Hawking advised mankind to explore space faster to find one or more planets to escape to from the consequences of our own existence. What he obviously meant is that we should put some people as they are today somewhere in a "zoo". The next evolution of mankind could still enjoy the existence of the current one long after it became extinct. The only difference is that we put ourselves in a zoo now as opposed to wait before our successors do that. After all, we are quite convinced that our successors are already knocking at our door.
Although I do feel sympathy for my own species, I believe it's rather arrogant to believe mankind is the best thing nature can develop or even will develop.
Talking about AI, almost 20 years ago I wrote this:
” Picture this ::: You wake up. A lot of people are staring at you. You wonder what's going on and try to say something. Regardless how hard you try, you can not make a sound. You want to raise your hand to your mouth to couch. Funny, no feeling of movement too.
You look into the mirror behind the people and see that they are around a 6 foot by 19 inch rack stuffed with equipment with a video camera on top. No you. Weird. The door opens and two guys come in with another huge 19 inch rack. The rack is put tightly next to the other one and two big plugs are connected. One of the people pushes a button and you can read the lips. She says: "Well, let's see what he can do now".