Can eCommerce Save the Environment? – David Eagleman
Posted by admin in Ecommerce Tuesday, 31 August 2010 22:00 25 Comments
Complete video at: fora.tv Did you know the UPS trucks that deliver your online purchases save millions of gallons of gas every year by never making left turns? Neuroscientist David Eagleman cites this as one example of how online shopping and email can benefit the environment by reducing pollution and conserving energy use. —– Neuroscientist and fiction writer David Eagleman presents “Six Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization.” Civilizations always think they’re immortal, Eagleman says, but they nearly always perish, leaving “nothing but ruins and scattered genetics.” It takes luck and new technology to survive. We may be particularly lucky to have Internet technology to help manage the six requirements of a durable civilization. But if the Net is so crucial, what happens if the Net goes down? It may have to go down a few times before we learn how to defend it properly, before we catch on that civilization depends on it for survival. – The Long Now Foundation David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and a fiction writer. During the day, he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law at Baylor College of Medicine. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia, and neurolaw.
@kaje01
Perhaps you didn’t get what I was saying or I wasn’t clear.
Purchasing the products made in China IS the problem. Getting them posted is window dressing.
You want to be more eco-friendly, buy things you need made locally. In other words, pay more. Yes, I know, sometimes it means it’s not available but, most of the time it is.
Don’t blame others, blame ourselves.
nothing can save the environment where the environment has been industrialist.
@LokiClock, Maybe it’s a better way to spend our bus transportation budget–to phase out the bus system by merging the two services and using a wide variety of different vehicles and a smarter network to move the most people for the least cost. I think we could be rid of bus stops entirely, offer a genuine door to door service that is both a lot faster and maybe even cheaper than the public cost today. I’ve used buses for much of my life simply because I hate driving so much. We could do better.
@ananiasacts The problem doesn’t apply to taxis the same way, because they are constrained to one, point-to-point route at a time. The algorithm’s goal is to find the most efficient order in which to visit each point in a multi-point route. It would work for schoolbus routes, though. Probably not as well for city bus routes.
dont know if it can save the world but im sure it will help. and i do beleive in the future this will be a everyday thing getting crap dleived to you.
No, but technological investments can.
I wonder if a taxi service could pull off the same trick with people, effectively cutting the cost of getting around without diminishing the quality of the private vehicle experience significantly. All it would really need to do is come up with an iPhone app that computed the cost of the ride plus tip beforehand and be able to guarantee a fast enough service. I’ll bet a lot of folks would give up their cars if they could save a great deal without being too inconvenienced.
@soundscapenyc, because in a grid, going straight followed by three rights equals a left. The computer programs that calculate the optimal route for a given collection of packages are probably a lot easier to write if you can only either go straight or make a right turn. If you take into account the higher rate of accidents, and longer wait times involved in making left turns, this counter-intuitive approach ends up using less resources.
im trying to wrap my mind around how the UPS truck no longer makes left turns??
The internet will save the world.
A friend of mine told me that the UPS warehouse in Secaucus, NJ has the road leading out from the warehouse to the NJ Turnpike and they all have to make left turn to get on the on-ramp.
@drchiodo What you are missing is “the products are made in china”
Good news is always nice to hear
As a web developer and Internet geek, I support this message
Awesome video. Future is glorious.
I think he made up the left turns thing.
from now on, no more left turns for me too…
jup there goes those jobs and those and those
What about the fact that the products are made in China? So we save 1% of impact while we ship products made 10000Km away that have to be shipped to the West before going to the customers house?
What am I missing?
I just can’t wait for the day when we can actually fax a package.
@gasttheplast @Th3Wab3 I too want an answer that Th3Wab3′s question.
He is a troll; ignore him.
@gasttheplast I’m curious as to how he is full of shit?
Ecofriendly is cheap.
He is so full of SHIT