Category: Random Stuff
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Did you hear the $40 billion joke about people, planet and profit?
Did you hear the $40 billion joke about people, planet and profit? We need to restore biodiversity and reduce global emissions on the planet. People need to change behaviours to help this to help themselves. But perish the thought that such trifling matters should get in the way of profit.…
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I asked Chat-GPT to write me a poem about road investment
Is Artificial Intellgence influenced by past data? Is this going to shape our future? I asked Chat GPT to “Write me a poem about road investment”. This is what it said: The road stretches out before us,A ribbon of asphalt and dust.A path to adventure, a gateway to growth,A vital…
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Is Mastodon the David to topple the Goliath of Musk-owned Twitter?
Is Mastodon the David to topple the Goliath of Musk-owned Twitter? I know not everyone on LinkedIn is on Twitter but I guess you may have heard Musk paid $44bn to buy Twitter with the deal going through on October 27th. He’s the man in charge now. What could go…
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There will be no driverless cars on a dead planet
Anthropomorphism. One of the biggest words in my vocabulary – one I added right near the beginning of my personal journey deeper and deeper into the world of future mobility. I was delighted when Adam Hill, the Editor of ITS International Magazine asked me this summer whether I would share my thoughts on…
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Are you an egalitarian, hierarchist, individualist or fatalist?
Are you an egalitarian, hierarchist, individualist or fatalist? And which of these worldviews do we need to save humanity from itself in the face of a climate emergency? Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being the external examiner for Frank Chuang‘s PhD at UCL. His thesis is titled “Exploring…
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The Matrix is coming…in fact it’s already here
I thought in the future we might be living in the Matrix. Now I realise many have been all along. In 1999 one of the most amazing films ever (in my book) was released, ‘The Matrix’. It was written by the Wachowskis, two sisters who are trans women. That alone…
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Clowns and Suns – twilight zone politics and soaring temperatures
Are you feeling hot? This is 2022. Aren’t you wondering what it might feel like in five years time, in ten years time? On my Twitter feed at the moment are two abiding symbols – the sun and clown icons. Simultaneously soaring temperatures seem everywhere and politics has entered the…
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What A-Level subjects did you take?
What A-level subjects did you take (if you did)? I did Maths, Physics and … French. I recall being asked to go and see the Head of Chemistry at my school, Mr Fox, who sternly advised me that this was a perilous choice for my career ahead. Science, Technology, Engineering…
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Mobility dynamics: trend reversal or retracement?
“Changing mobility” – it was Phil Goodwin some years ago who highlighted the double meaning of ‘changing’ in a phrase like this (one of many insights from Phil that have stuck with me). It can be an adjective (mobility is changing) or a verb (mobility can be changed). The fact…
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From traffic-flow theory to people-flow theory
From traffic-flow theory to people-flow theory. This is what happens when a transport professor has insomnia! Thoughts welcome – I’ve posted this while still sleep-deprived!! This is my musing regarding how highways dominated by cars compares with highways dominated by buses. If speed were a crude proxy for convenience then…
What the hell is going on? 