The Driverless Car is Merging onto Reality Lane

Get up, drive to work, and then comes the dreaded parking. You finish by 5, and get on the highway just in time to meet the next traffic jam. What is one solution that would solve all of this and much more? The Self-Driving Car.

Beginning Stages of Self Driving Car -- Image Credit: nydailynews.com

The biggest question is not if but when. Computer driven cars can already park themselves, drive on the highway, and even street drive. This is why GM, Volvo, Nissan, and BMW all expect driverless cars by 2020. Here are the effects on you:

Saving Lives: In 2009, there were ~5.5 million accidents leading to ~34,000 killed and ~2.2 million injured. With the driverless car, these numbers evaporate because the computers on the car are thousands of times quicker than human reflexes and are far more accurate at distinguishing objects. This amounts to saving (drum role) $450 billion each year!

Image Diagram of Car Accidents -- Image Credit: driveorigo.com

More Human Hours: What if you were free to work or relax while traveling? The average US commute time is 25 min. Multiply that by 100 million workers x 2 for both ways and you get 5 billion human hours wasted per day. That represents $50 billion per day in work force power.

Transportation Costs: Right now, there are ~1.6 million US trucker jobs with a median salary of ~$37,500. Imagine 99% of those jobs replaced by safer, more efficient, and faster autonomous cars. That would save our economy a mind-numbing $50 billion per year. That is the equivalent of 16 Human genome projects each year.

Faster Transportation: Forget the word traffic jams because it won't exist. With wirelessly communicating cars, travel can happen in sync so that traffic jams are eliminated. Furthermore, because automated cars have far more superior reflexes compared to humans, they can travel at faster highway speeds of almost 100mph.

More Efficient Energy Usage: We keep a safe distance from the car ahead of us. But with automated cars, they actually travel in tight formations that severely lessons air-drag. Furthermore, we can be dropped off straight at our destination while the driverless car goes park itself. This saves massive city parking costs.


© Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living, 2013. Please note that the material included this was not written by a licensed medical professional. Therefore, please consult your physician before trying anything suggested in this article. Please note that there were several images in this article. The first as from nydailynews.com. The second was from driveorigo.com. This blog does not claim ownership of these images. Nicholas Shah does not claim ownership to the ideas put forth here. However, he does claim ownership to the writing  and authorship of the learningmorethanliving blog. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank You. 

The Next Industrial Revolution -- 3D Printing

Cheaper products usually means less quality. But what if there was a way to produce high quality, personalized products at one hundredth of the cost today? Shoppers, I introduce your best deal: the 3D printer.

A model made simply by mouse clicks. Image Credit: Engadget and Kickstarter

The majority of the products today are made in bulk by assembling lines at a factory hundreds of miles away. The 3D printing revolution challenges this model by bringing the assembling line into your home. This is the ultimate DIY tool.

The 3D printing process uses sequential additive manufacturing. In English, that means a computer interprets a design and prints one "layer" of the desired object. It then goes returns to its starting point and reprints on the initial layer, allowing the next layer to take shape. This process continues until you have thousands of layers stacked upon each other, creating your desired object. How can one machine change the world?

Shapeways shows how much 3D printer has grown in just one year. Image credit: Shapeways

Return of Manufacturing to the US -- Now that you can produce objects at home for such a low cost, there is no need for cheaper labor overseas.

Less Expensive Housing -- With larger 3D printers, you can design your own house and print it. Pipes and electric wires can be embedded into walls. How many people does it take to build? Two. How many days of construction? One.

Regrow Your Organs -- Organ transplants simply can not keep up with demand. With 3D printers, you can take a patient's stem cells and print them into a organ like a kidney. You can even integrate electronics in tissue, like this radio-receiving ear. Best part? No rejection occurs because it is made out of your own cells.

Cheaper Food -- Imagine removing the preparation costs from food. What if you didn't have to pay for kitchens or cooks? 3D printers can take beginning ingredients and produce the most eloquent meals in the right proportions that you want.

Fashion Show Stopper -- 3D printers can make the most intricate designs for a very cheap price. How will this affect the latest trends? Lets start with shoes.

Print More Printers -- As the abilities of 3D printers progress, they will be able to print the parts needed to make more of themselves. Imagine giving each country just one 3D printer. In no time, you would have millions of these printers making even more printers. They would print food, tools, and even clothing.

One final thought -- 3D printing calls into question the true value of an object. In the past, it was who crafted an object with elegant workmanship. But now, printers clearly outskill the human hand.

An object's value now lies in its design, and that has economic implications. If 3D printers can make products without aid, where will the money be? The answer: the designers, the brains who thought of the object in the first place.

© Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living, 2013. Please note that the material included this was not written by a licensed medical professional. Therefore, please consult your physician before trying anything suggested in this article. Please note that there was an image used from Engadget and Kickstarter. This blog does not claim ownership of that image. Furthermore, there was a second image from Shapeways. Note that this blog does not claim ownership of that image.  Nicholas Shah does not claim ownership to the ideas put forth here. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank You. 

How the One Track Mind Defeats Worry

*Please note that the ideas in this article come from Dale Carnegie's How to Stop Worry and Start Living.*

I want you to take a moment and try to think about two things at the same time: Your prom and your birthday gift for mom this year. Seriously, try it for 5 seconds.

You probably found that you could switch back and forth rapidly between the prom and gift. However, you could never actually concentrate on both at the same time. If you could think both simultaneously, you need to go see a doctor and become the next medical marvel.

Why is this a big deal? Here's an example why:

Imagine you have the big exam tomorrow. You have studied weeks for this, and right now you are worried, wondering if there was a topic that you didn't fully cover. You really can't relax, much less get any more studying done. At this point, you would give anything for tomorrow to be over.

However, when you sit for the exam, you're alive with energy. The exam flies by, and its over. You get a good score and walk off smiling.

Here's the thing: During the exam, you did not worry. You were working hard trying to kick out those questions. It is almost as if you were too busy to worry. You did not worry because you didn't want to worry, it was because you couldn't worry.

The bottom line is that you can occupy your thoughts with another task so that you never are able to worry. Before the exam, don't pace back and forth in your room. Instead, get out and get involved in something that requires your full attention. Finishing the overdue report for the boss would be a good start.

This idea of using business to combat worry is called occupational therapy, and has been used to treat soldiers with PSTD, ulcer-prone patients, and day-traders on the verge of heart attacks.

Everything I have explained here comes from Dale Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. If you want further worry techniques, I would highly recommend this book as it has significantly helped me.

After reading this, you may start to realize that your worry normally starts when you are not fully engaged in something. Folding laundry, cleaning the room, or driving to work are prime times for worry because your mind is free to wander and think. You have the brain capacity for worry during these times.

Now, you have a tool to fight these situations. Put on a podcast while you're doing your cleaning. Talk to your loved one over the phone while you're folding laundry. You'll get things done and help maintain a stress-free living.

© Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living, 2013. Please note that the material included this was not written by a licensed medical professional. Therefore, please consult your physician before trying anything suggested in this article. Please also note that the majority of the ideas written in this article should be attributed to Dale Carnegie and his book How to Stop Worry and Start Living. Nicholas Shah does not claim ownership to the ideas put forth here. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank You. 

Your Best and Worst Frienemy: Computers

We all love our smartphones and super fast laptops (well, at least after they start up). And furthermore, we can all agree that we couldn't survive without them. Imagine losing your email, word docs, and most importantly, facebook.

But what if there was a darker side to all of this? What if these computer chips are taking over our jobs? Unfortunately, 60 Minutes seems to think that this is a possibility.

We have all heard about this threat. Back in the early 2000's everyone said that "In 10 years, we'll have self driving cars so truck drivers won't exist." The only problem is...that they were wrong and as a result, most people dismiss this 'computer threat.' The boy cried wolf too many times. 

Yet, there is a reason to take this computer revolution seriously now. Very seriously. To understand why, we need to first learn how computers and the brain work. 

The 'intelligence' of a computer is measured by floating operations per second (FLOPS). Each FLOP refers to one calculation per second. For example, 6 x 3 = 18 is one calculation. A computer with 10 FLOPS, could do 6 x 3 ten times in one second. 

We are now finding out that the intelligence of the brain is also measured in FLOPS. It has been determined that the brain has about 10^16 FLOPS. That's a one with 16 zeroes after it, which is an incredible amount. By comparison, the fastest supercomputer in 2011 had the same amount of intelligence: 10^16 FLOPS. 

So the question becomes: When will your average $1000 computer become as smart as a human? When will it reach 10^16? If you look at trends that have been consistent for 50 years, the answer is: 2023. 

Image Credit: Switchboard. Original source: Kurzweilai.net

Today, a computer for $1000 will give you 2 x 10^12 FLOPS. In other words, it is about 5000 times dumber than you. Yet in the next 10 years, this 5000x gap is predicted to close to zero. This may sound ridiculous, but this type of rapid pace has happened in the past 50 years. Computers follow exponential growth. In other words, they become 10 times smarter every 3 years. 

How are we sure that the brain is ~10^16 FLOPS? The brain is composed of about 85 billion neurons. We'll round up to 100 billion to simplify. Each neuron acts a single calculator and can calculate at about 10,000 times a second. If you take 100 billion times 10,000, you get 10^15 FLOPS. In other words, we are rounding by a factor of 10 up. 

How can you use this information? We all want to stay employed. The question then becomes: what jobs can robots not take over? Unfortunately, that answer is close to zero. Instead, a better question to ask is: what jobs will robots take over last?

The answer to this is simple: the jobs that require the most amount of intelligence. Jobs that repeat the same task require very little creativity and intelligence. You are given one instruction, and there is no idea generation needed. That is why manufacturing jobs are being threatened by robots like baxter.

However, some jobs require constant idea generation. Thinking of a new Super Bowl commercial, writing the next Hunger Games, or settling a court case all require non-stop idea creation. 

I'll conclude with an opinion. Below are two lists describing what I predict to be examples of "safe" or "in danger" jobs for the next 10 years:

Safe Jobs:

1. Actors & Fiction Writers -- People want to see real emotions, not 0's and 1's behind them.
2. Politician -- People want to see a face attached to what they are fighting for. 
3. Nurse -- When it comes to take care of people, people want emotional beings to care for them.
4. Lawyer -- When millions of $'s are at stake, people don't settle for less.
5. Software Engineer -- These are the guys making the computers smart in the first place. 
6. CEO -- Companies need human oversight and a public figure. 
7. Police Officer -- To discern between good and bad requires a high amount of intelligence.

In Danger Jobs:

1. Accountant -- Number crunching is what computers do best
2. Fast Food Worker -- Machines can cook burgers and much much more. 
3. Grocery Store Clerk -- Checkout and shelf stocking could be easily be replaced by computers
4. Truck Driver -- The Google Car is one of many which clearly demonstrates computer power.
5. News Writer -- This may surprise you, but several software programs scour the web and write their own pieces. 
6. Construction Worker -- The area of 3D printing has allowed computers to make structures never seen before at a fraction of the cost. 
7. Teacher -- This is a highly controversial topic. The idea is that the internet has allowed one teacher to teach the masses through free online programs like Khan Academy and Coursera.

© Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living, 2013. Please note that an image was used from kurzweilai.net and that full credit goes to them for that image. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank You. 

The Problem Isn't the Solution

Let's be real, we've all gotten hooked to something in our lives. It can be a TV series, videogame, social media, or for the unluckies, all three. As a result, we're pulling all nighters to get papers and projects out. And after we have stressed and barely got by, we say to ourselves: "I'm never doing this to myself again."

Yet again and again, we end up procrastinating despite how many promises we make to ourselves. Another paper comes up, and even though every line of logic tells us to get the paper done, we end up staring at another episode of Friends instead.

Why do we do this? Mark Driscoll made the answer obvious to me. The problem appears to be the solution. In other words, when we have a paper due, we have a huge dread that we don't want to face. A temporary fix or "solution" is to watch an Ross and Rachel get into a fight. That episode temporarily takes our mind off that dreadful essay, and for 30 minutes, we are problem free. The problem has become the "solution."

Driscoll gives another example with alcoholism.It is pretty Christian heavy, but he gives an excellent example:

Watch from 28:13 to 30:20 

The bottom line is that we are endlessly clicking on episodes because we do not want to face reality of the situation. By realizing this concept, I have found that I have been able to stay on track.

When I'm tempted to log onto facebook, I just simply say to myself: Look Nick, the only reason why you're doing this is to escape the problem. Close out of facebook, face the problem, and solve it!


© Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living, 2013. Please note that material was put in here from Mark Driscoll and his associated church, Mars Hill and that this information belongs to them. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank You. 

No Good News

Have you ever wondered if the news you read is valuable? My initial reaction was, "Of course. I stay current, educated, and well rounded." 

But as I started thinking more and more about it, I realized that the value of news diminishes over time. Yes, you may be completely caught up with Kardashians in 2013 and have a juicy story to share. But in April 2013, how valuable is it knowing what Aniston's dating situation was in 2010? Close to zero.

Let's contrast this with calculus. If you're an engineer, you use this information day in and day out. It doesn't matter if you learned the math in 2013, 2010 or 2000, it's still important. It's value remains high throughout time. 

If you're in electronic media, understanding the basics of frequency and amplitude will always be important no matter when you learn it. 

So is the news a simple waste of time? It sounds like a ridiculous question to ask. Let me clarify what I mean by an example. It is important to understand Obamacare. However, you can save much more time by reading the wiki summary after it was signed off, rather than investigate "what could be's" before signature. And what if the bill didn't even pass? Did everything you learn about Obamacare just lose an incredible amount of value?

I could list several examples. Instead of reading five ipad 3 rumours, read one ipad 3 review after the Ipad 3 has come out. Instead of listening in on developments of Curiosity's Landing, check back with the progress it made 5 months later. You'll get the same info and save a ton of time. 

If you're ever wondering whether an article is worth reading, just ask yourself the five year question: Will I be glad that I read all these articles 5 years from now? Instead of wasting an hour reading the latest, spend five minutes on the greatest. 

Do you want to be the dad that hides behind the newspaper after work? Toss it in the recycling bin, and spend some quality time with the kids and fam. After all, what is more important? 


Google
© Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas Shah and Learning More Than Living with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank You.