Can eCommerce Save the Environment? - David Eagleman

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/04/01/Six_Easy_Steps_to_Avert_the_Collapse_of_Civilization

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.

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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.

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[ananiasacts]

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.

[drchiodo]

@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.

[jeremyhall35]

Great Content, Keep up the Good work



[pocketocrisps]

@ananiasacts Great idea. That would be very ideal.

[befranklintoo]

nothing can save the environment where the environment has been industrialist.

[ananiasacts]

@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.

[LokiClock]

@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.

[FXThug]

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.

[truvelocity]

No, but technological investments can.

[ananiasacts]

@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.