I used to do work with chitosan, synthetic nacre, and keratin-based biomaterials. While they will have their direct uses we will need a cultural shift if they are to substantially replace petroleum-based materials.
Nice. I've heard a little about chitosan and am aware of keratin but not as a biomaterial. The case the article makes is that functional biomaterials with superior properties have not been made at any scale but that it is on the way.
If anyone had the time I highly recommend the podcast “The Last Days of August”by Jon Ronson. It chronicles the suicide of a pornstar in conjunction with the rise of mindgeek.
In some ways cyclists are slow enough compared to how fast a car can accelerate. Even a moped or motorcycle can use speed assert its presence and maintain safe stopping distance between other cars.
Especially in a urban area where everyone is stuck trying to get to home/work/etc, most cars appear to be looking for opportunities. Opportunities to get ahead, to squeeze through a left turn lane before oncoming traffic, to find an empty bike lane to drop off an uber eats order. With that opportunity, get ahead” mindset, cyclists do not register. Until, of course, something happens.
quote: He wrote that, overall, the parents seemed perfectionistic and preoccupied with abstractions, rather than showing a genuine interest in people.
I find this sentence interesting in comparison to the phrase "dumb people talk about people, average people talk about things, smart people talk about ideas" that I've seen in various forms on the internet.
Hot take: People are over-optimizing for grand impact, while neglecting the more profound impact on the local level. Most people will not be senators, but I think many people, with some work, can run for office as an alderman, mayor, or county representative.
First off, just because the HN community lays on criticism doesn't meant that the people making the criticism don't think the technology is a good idea. If I spend the energy to criticize $technology, it means that I care about it to an extent. There's a baseline level of interest. If I didn't care about $technology, then I wouldn't spend the energy to break down into concrete, detailed criticism.
Also, the author quotes Peter Thiel, claiming that the current cynicism towards self-driving technology is a type of "indefinite optimism" that hampers people's ability to plan the future. This is juxtaposed with the 1950's-1960's America, where Thiel claims "definite optimism" reigned. That type of indefinite optimism, at least in 1960's America, did not account for minorities, people of color, people of disabilities, etc. There was no future plan for them. Indefinite optimism, though it may appear lethargic and slow, at least is able to investigate the multitudes of edge-case scenarios that any $technology will face.
