How far away from the practical .....

[Fist and Faith]

Perhaps he means I'll take a job that causes a lot of pollution if it's putting food on the table regularly for the first time in months.

[Zarathustra]

I will skip over the transportation issue for now. I have been mulling over another possibility - is the health field. I could theoretically imagine having whatever diagnostic tools doctors need/use to feed into a super computer. Then with all the variables of your genetic past, your medical history, your reactions to medicine, the results of diagnostics,etc to create a personalized medical treatment. Possibly even to the point where the computer synthesis a combination of drugs and treatment methods for the ideal treatment suited to each individual. I am not sure if would be scalable (meaning the cost of performing on one scale versus developing something on a multi-scale) would be doable but it is intriguing to think as a possible huge advance in medicine.

Personalized medicine is coming. So are diagnostic expert systems.

How many of you take advantage of telemedicine? My wife has been using it lately. You use a video chat to talk to a doctor about your symptoms, instead of making an appointment and sitting around with a bunch of sick people. It's a fraction of the cost of an office visit.

We already have many tools available to us to make medicine better and cheaper. The change is happening.

Vraith, people aren't dumb jerks for wanting their own personal transportation. Getting where you need to go isn't merely about speed or efficiency. It's also about freedom. I enjoy the quiet, personal time I spend in my car. I choose the temperature, the music, the route. I can have whatever personal conversation I want on the phone without worrying about everyone listening. I don't have to worry about how other people smell or the annoying noises their little cellphone games make.

Living or working in LA is dumb. Cars are not.

But will sit in their cars for 2 hours a day, burning fossil fuels and swearing about the fucking traffic, fucking drivers [not themselves] fucking government.
People are jerks.

Yeah, people who swear about stuff all the time are the worst.

[Avatar]

Only if you believe something dumb like environmental rules are causing your unemployment.
And disbelieve something true, like your nasty fucking job/habits will kill your kids.
I said people are jerks. You're saying something worse. They're STUPID jerks.

These guys don't think environmental rules are causing their unemployment. They think not being able to get a job is causing it.

Like Fist said, when your kids are going to bed hungry at night, a new factory that pumps out pollutants and gives you a job is going to save your kids.

For most of the people I'm talking about, environmental issues aren't even on their radar at all. They're living so far below the poverty line that the only issue they're aware of is their poverty.

People are stupid, sure. But under these circumstances, it's not a stupidity (or even an educational) issue. It's a survival one, and I guarantee you that when the question is either survive, or save the environment for your children or grandchildren, they'll pick survival first. Is that selfish? And even if it is, do you blame them?

--A

[Vraith]

Yeah, people who swear about stuff all the time are the worst.

No fucking kidding. Shitty bastards.

People who DON't swear all the time have other problems likely making their [and other peoples] lives less fun. [[Generically speaking]].

OTOH, living/working in LA is dumb?
Some people don't have that choice...

Also, a HUGE amount or economic power/output in/through LA.

Also, the weather is great, and the shores and the water and the mountains and the desert and the trees and the empties and the crowds, and.....

Cars have a freedom-aspect in may places.

Metropolitan areas are not those places...the limited freedom-utility is a major contributing factor in the peoples jerk/stess/unhappiness and poor health/early death levels.

[Zarathustra]

OTOH, living/working in LA is dumb?
Some people don't have that choice...
[/color]

I think it's amazing how impoverished people who don't speak our language can cross our border, travel 1000s of miles, and end up finding employmment all over the U.S., but citizens in America think that people don't have a choice where they live or work. Why are illegal immigrants able to do what citizens are not? Motivation.

LA is a nice place to visit, for sure, and if you're rich I bet it's a nice place to live. But the traffic!!



Honestly, I haven't been there in a while. I used to drive an 18-wheeler in the 90s and we had terminal in Fontana. Interstate traffic was bad, but getting around the city didn't seem too bad.

In fact:

Means of Transportation

In 2011, 72.3 percent of workers in Los Angeles County drove to work alone, compared with 76.4 percent nationally.
Meanwhile, 10.5 percent of Los Angeles County workers carpooled in 2011, while 9.7 percent in the nation carpooled to work.
In 2011, 7.3 percent of all workers in Los Angeles County used public transportation -- excluding taxicab -- to get to their job, compared with 5.0 percent in the nation as a whole.
About 0.8 percent of all workers in the county biked to work in 2011, compared with 0.6 percent nationally.

Travel Time to Work

In 2011, the average one-way commute to work for people living in Los Angeles County was 29.4 minutes. The average commute nationally was 25.5 minutes.
About 11.9 percent of all workers had a commute of 60 minutes or more in 2011, compared with 8.1 percent in the nation as a whole.

So more people carpool, bike, or use public transportation to commute to LA than the national average. Also, commute times to LA are only slightly higher than national average.

I'm not sure it's as bad as people make it seem, but then again I haven't been there in 20 years.

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-r ... 3-r13.html

[Skyweir]

mmm... interesting statistics there Z. _

I was also intrigued by your mention of Tele medical access. Sounds like a popular initiative. I hardly ever need to go to the doctors. And never bother seeing a doctor for a cold or flu. I get over them just fine in my own. But my husband is insulin dependent diabetic so we have to go just to renew his prescription. But maybe even with the service youve described, he would still have to attend in person. Its a bit annoying but I can appreciate the reason. But its not just about us, it seems a waste of a medical practitioners time too when they could be attending to other things.

I empathise with living in LA .. I hate going to Sydney and thats probably not even half the size. Im not a city person, though Ive worked in cities all over Australia. Im much more content in the country with wide open spaces and no crowds or congestion.

Not everyone has the ability to pick up and move. Im sure impoverished illegal immigrants also don't have the capability either. Theyre probably driven by a motivation for money and shelter and settlement, like most of us.

I agree with Av humans are driven to secure their own survival first and foremost. Other considerstions are secondary.

But that noted, there is little to orevent those who are secure to look to the future. There is nothing to prevent those that can and those that should frim being environmentally responsible. Indeed as discussed elsewhere, sustainable practices and behaviour sustain and prrserve your own living envornment. I think it foolhardy NOT to do so.

And there's nothing to prevent those that have greater reach ie governments, NGOs, key industries from doing more.

To maximise our individual reach there is nothing to prevent us from influencing public policies on environmental protection and preservation of native flora and fauna.

Yes those that live in impoverished conditions are consumed with their own survival. But those are in most developed nations in the minority. The rest of us do not have this justification for NOT doing anything.

And that is stupid personified .. I completely agree V

We benefit from responsible choices, we benefit from greater physical activity, we who are lucky enough to grow veggies are the ultimate beneficiaries, we benefit from reducing overall waste, we benefit from environmentally responsible behaviour.

Maybe the problem is people dont appreciate how easy environmentally responsible actions are. Humans are in my experience lazy and self interested. If they wanted to try and integrated small changes to their usual routines .. they would soon appreciate the benefits and advantages to them.

[Avatar]

I think it's amazing how impoverished people who don't speak our language can cross our border, travel 1000s of miles, and end up finding employmment all over the U.S., but citizens in America think that people don't have a choice where they live or work. Why are illegal immigrants able to do what citizens are not? Motivation.

It's a lot easier when you have nothing to lose, and nothing to take with you.

I could move. But it would mean starting again in a new place and giving up the things that are comfortable and familiar etc.

(So yes, motivation in a sense I guess.)

--A

[Skyweir]

Yes an immigrant, like anyone, is motivated to find work and a shelter .. basic human needs MOTIVATE.

... a new immigrant has no home to uproot.

Its different for those who are established in a place, through their employment, have accomodation or on a lease, have social support network, including family ties etc. A person might have the motivation to uproot but lack the capability to make the move. Might not be financially capable of uprooting and re establishing.

[Vraith]

Bringing this back to the original topic...
The article talks a bit about Microsoft's work/spending on a different approach...
They think they'll have a powerful, fully functioning system within 5 years, and their approach is superior.
Also mentions that some expect Google and/or IBM to demonstrate quantum supremacy within the next year.
Not much else/more concrete in the article, though.

www.bbc.com/news/technology-43580972

[Skyweir]

Working in collaboration with labs in the US , Australia & Netherlands ..