Artwork by Brian Clarke.
Artwork by Nick Rutledge.
I hope the vehicles of the future do look cooler than sedans and minivans. But of course, by the time we get to the year 2137, the new aesthetic will be just as boring as the current aesthetic.
However, this visual is really the cutting edge:
Artwork by @greatartbot, which does consistently produce good art.
That’s it. I’ve run out of opinions tonight.
I’m dwelling on the future of transportation because of an episode of the Exponent podcast about, well, the future of transportation. Electricity replacing combustion engines, autonomous vehicles, and driving as a service, oh my! Ride-sharing startups like Uber and Lyft are currently filling that last niche, and eventually they’ll do it with fleets of self-driving sedans, SUVs, minivans, etc. No humans required — except for the software engineers and passengers.
Prototype of a self-driving car by Google.
Uber has a cutthroat reputation, and they’ve earned it. I’m not a fan of their company culture, but I think the more interesting question is about the ethics of their business model. They depend on low-paid drivers who are independent contractors rather than employees, and thus are unable to organize and advocate for themselves. In the same vein, drivers have to deal with all the taxes usually handled by businesses, and they don’t get overtime or health insurance.
Is this arrangement immoral? On the one hand, we have labor regulations because companies will exploit people in every way they can. We need those laws. (Capitalism is not a foolproof system!) On the other hand, drivers opt in. They choose to work for Uber.
Who bears responsibility — the company who created the system, or the individuals who choose to participate?
Here’s the opening of “EARTH PAVED OVER”, a very short story by Ritter Coldriss:
“The plains had been paved over centuries earlier to better accommodate the living mini-malls that endlessly wandered the countryside, searching for customers. A thousand years before that, the mountains & the seas were leveled & drained & paved over. Once the second & third moon appeared in the sky, extra parking became a necessity.”
The idea of living mini-malls is hilarious. Hopefully they aren’t too lonely, roaming the wasteland like that. Although it’s uncertain — are they sentient? Merely autonomous? Hmm.
Desert photo by WhoIsCharley, available for $28 on Etsy.
In other news, economist James Bessen argued somewhat convincingly that automation will create more jobs than it destroys. We’ll see, won’t we?
“Automation reduces the cost of a product or service, and lower prices tend to attract more customers. […] So when demand increases enough in response to lower prices, employment goes up with automation, not down.”
Exolymph is not usually just links, but my brain is short on commentary at the moment. Enjoy the weekend, comrades.
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