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Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#571

Personal vehicles will be getting both bigger and smaller. What's different from the past is that electric motors scale much better than IC engines. Both the world's smallest vehicles (kid's toys) and the largest vehicles (huge mining trucks) are both electric. First the small. Cities will soon start to ban all but electric vehicles in their downtown cores (already happening in some Chinese cities). The primary reaso…

I think this is a good insight, and I hope this comes to pass, but a couple points:

> the world's largest vehicles (huge mining trucks) are electric

What about cruise ships, freighters, freight trains, and aircraft carriers? They're diesel or nuclear-powered. Or maybe nuclear still counts as having an electric motor, just with a nuclear generator instead of a battery?

> only EV's that are half the width of a normal car lane will be allowed in the downtown core

Honest question: wouldn't tipping be a major problem for half-width cars? And the amount of space needed between cars wouldn't go down much, so if you need at least 4 feet of clearance on either side, and your lane is 5 feet wide, your cars can only be 1 foot wide. This explains why most vehicles thinner than a car are motorcycles or electric scooters.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#573
post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably because it's not true. You can see the definition of M1 changed at the exact time that chart shows a spike. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/current/default.h...

What exactly was the change in definitions and is it possible to account for the change or is information missing?

According to Investopedia, "in May 2020, the definition of M1 changed to include savings accounts given the increased liquidity of such accounts."

If you look at M2, which already added these in, the increase looks much smaller.[1]

[0]https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/m1.asp

[1]https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2NS

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#574
post #503

Preimplantation polygenetic testing. The idea is that, when doing IVF, you sequence the genome of all the embryos and implant the ones that you predict will have properties that you like. This already exists for monogenetic screening (for parents who don't want to pass on heritable diseases for their children, where those diseases are localized to one gene). But the idea here is that, by checking thousands of genes,…

I don't think there is any genetic basis for intelligence: if there was, then you would expect that the offspring of the geniuses we had in the past to have an higher chance at being extremely intelligent than other people. But this doesn't seem to be the case, as you usually never hear about the sons or daughters of such geniuses, as they seem to be like other "normal" people in most cases. I admit I'm not bringing…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#575
1. Passive radiative heating/cooling (paints, coatings, etc.,)

2. Low power electronics and energy harvesters (thermal/clothing, kinetic energy, rf energy harvesters etc.,)

3. Physical logistics networks (similar to Internet Protocol with standard physical containers and transfer networks - land, sea, rail, air)

4. Ubiquitous drone delivery (last mile & long haul)

5. Fiat digital currency/payment networks

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#576

The stumble over abandonment of ICE vehicles. By 2030 (8 years from now) at least six manufacturers will have stopped making ICE vehicles entirely, and India claims it will ban the sale of ICE-only vehicles. By 2040 (18 years from now) over half of all new cars sold will be electric, and the UK and France claim they will ban the sale of ICE-only vehicles. However, there's still not a plan that makes all that sustaina…

> we need 30% more grid capacity, an insanely higher number of chargers (1 out of 4 are duds) / service companies / land, China still controls most of the resources for production (of raw resources, manufacturing, & assembly) and now they want the chips too.

> Basically there are so many thing sthat can go wrong in the next 18 years ...

There has to be a name for this particular kind of response to change (usually positive change[0]). Please don't read this as crapping on your points -- they're all valid.

The problem is that it's identifying problems that "may occur in the future" using what technology we have, today, to solve them. It also presents those in a vacuum and ignores the unknown of what the world could look like after new vehicles sales gradually transition to 80% electric. We can speculate more easily on the negative, but it's a lot harder to predict the positive -- at least, the "societal changing positive effects".

Consider that newer EVs can power your home during a power loss, or integrating EVs into the grid, itself. Reliance on traditional automobiles and how we rely on them is changing, as well. My driving habits, due to the vast availability of fully-remote work and the purchase of a OneWheel have been drastically reduced[1]. I went from ~20 gallons/week to ~10 gallons/month of gas. I've done the math a few times and it's stupid for me to own an ICE vehicle. I own it out of a desire of convenience that could probably be eliminated with Uber and when my kids are out of the house, I probably will no longer own a car. Until then, however, my car could basically be filling in that 30% gap (or whatever the gap happens to be at this very moment).

Articles that recently hit the front page of HN related to Geothermal conversion of Coal Plants[2], the myriad of posts related to companies attempting the modern-day alchemy called "Nuclear Fusion", there's a lot of energy/money being spent in the space, much of it having nothing to do with reducing climate change but providing for an increasingly electricity dependent future.

Even the incredibly slow-moving electric companies have made some pretty serious progress. I think back on my short life; I happen to currently live in the city I grew up in -- losing the power for a few days in the summer was a "normal thing", as was losing it during every miserable thunderstorm. The price of whole-home generators and the hardware to integrate it were so cost-prohibitive that few people owned one. I still do not, however, I've lost power maybe four times this year for under ten seconds. I've lost power once in three years for over an hour (still restored in under four hours).

[0] I'm thinking something succinct like Hanlon's Razor.

[1] 2,800 miles and going since I bought it. I grocery shop with it ... it's a good upper body workout carrying 6 bags back 1-3 miles.

[2] Filed under "I'll believe it when I see it" but still.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#577

WWIV started, WWIII was the global war on terror. WWIV will be between major powers again. Better bring a hat!

I wouldn't use those terms but my comment was similar: The end of the US/NATO hegemony / The rise of a BRICS equilibrium

There's to be a big war, too. Between the powers. Probably nuclear. So exciting!

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#578

Personal vehicles will be getting both bigger and smaller. What's different from the past is that electric motors scale much better than IC engines. Both the world's smallest vehicles (kid's toys) and the largest vehicles (huge mining trucks) are both electric. First the small. Cities will soon start to ban all but electric vehicles in their downtown cores (already happening in some Chinese cities). The primary reaso…

I think the recent electric scooter boom and subsequent pushback by communities shows that: - There is (IMHO huge) pent-up demand for last-mile style electric transportation: scooters, bicycles, etc. - The electric drive technology is starting to reach a point where it can support a whole new space of designs that make this sort of transportation appealing to a wide variety of users (i.e. not just fit young adventurous people; the elderly, young children, etc.) - Sadly, infrastructure, laws, and social norms move way too slowly and are the limiting factor for what could be a major quality-of-life improvement for many many people.

Note that "EV's that are half the width of a normal car lane ... probably less than $10k." is a pretty good description for the electric cargo bikes that are already starting to emerge.

I would love to see cities and towns adapt faster to accommodate things like this:

The Car-Replacement Bicycle (the bakfiets) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQhzEnWCgHA

How to Transport Kids by eBike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCvx65egUDE

This American Mayor is Creating the Ultimate Biking City https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlVWv9O0qQ4

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#579

80% of all USD have been printed since 2020. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL

There’s a lot of demand for those dollars. As long as the world continues to bring on 50-70m households to the middle class each year, we should be fine.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europeans would rather go Japan - ie. keep their national identity and downsize, than America - healthy demographics, but constant cultural clashes and crime waves.

I doubt that Japan would like to have them.

He means that Europeans want to mimic Japan, not that Europeans want to move to Japan.
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