TED Community » Greg Worden

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Sustainability, renewable energy, physics, transhumanism, whales, oceans, aquaculture, and so much more.

An idea worth spreading

Sustainability is about Creative Destruction!!!

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Sustainability, sustainable energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and EVERYTHING!

Comments

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• A reply on Conversation: Is Gun Control Over? New 3D printers threaten to make the issue obsolete.

  Nov 30 2012: The best analogy is probably music piracy. In the days before high-quality MP3 formats people could pass along recordings made on tape cassettes. Piracy there was limited by the distribution of the physical media. The Internet exploded this as on person or a group of people could upload millions of songs on peer-to-peer networks allowing millions of people to download them subverting the normal market. As 3D printers become ubiquitous as I would expect them to be one day, the designs for these guns will be available on the Net either through public websites or through more covert peer-to-peer networks. It will be far easier for someone to fabricate a gun.
  
  Yes, quality control is a big issue as they note in the video but my expectation is that 3D printing is going to be so popular that companies are going to pour money into them and soon they'll be able to print in far greater strengths, possibly sintered metal as Peter points out below.

• A reply on Conversation: What impact will driverless cars have on America's transportation infrastructure? Will passenger trains be obsolete?

  Nov 30 2012: You're absolutely correct that trains are idea for Japan, much of Europe and parts of China. High-speed rail here in the US has been a very hard sell. We've been talking about it for 30 years. There are obvious places such as Richmond to Boston corridor or San Diego to San Francisco but it is so expensive and so hard to get permitting for new rights-of-way that it hasn't happened yet. Amtrak, at least on the East Coast, even with Acela is very slow. They're also less flexible than cars. It will be exciting to see how things shape up.

• A reply on Conversation: What impact will driverless cars have on America's transportation infrastructure? Will passenger trains be obsolete?

  Nov 30 2012: Good point. My expectation is that they'll follow the same model we're seeing now with electric cars. There will be some driver aids at the low end but the fully driverless cars will be very expensive just as the all-electric Tesla Model S is nearing US$100,000.

• A comment on Conversation: Are unions in the US still relevant?

  Nov 20 2012: There's a short but interesting video on the Twinkie issue at the Economist, one of the most balanced news magazines available: http://www.economist.com/

• A comment on Conversation: Are unions in the US still relevant?

  Nov 20 2012: Ahhh, the vaunted TPS is truly impressive. It's really a system that has evolved over a very long period of time with a unique culture within Toyota. The great thing is that Toyota values the opinions and skills of their employees already. No union required.

• A reply on Conversation: Are unions in the US still relevant?

  Nov 20 2012: You're absolutely correct that the company was very poorly managed. They were in serious trouble and the union simply made the situation worse.
  
  But you make an interesting point that the US doesn't have the best worker protection in the world. That's certainly true. Who has the best? I suspect Norway and Germany would be at or at least near the top. Germany clearly has been able to maintain manufacturing competitiveness with very labor involvement. So there is clearly some middle ground.
  
  You're also right that inequality is soaring right now.But are unions the right model? That seems to restrictive. What is the optimal model to promote worker mobility, rights, decent salaries, mitigation in terms of layoffs, and something to promote equality?

• A reply on Conversation: Are unions in the US still relevant?

  Nov 20 2012: It's very true that the company was very mismanaged for a long period of time. Clearly they were in trouble already and the union merely gave them the deathblow. Although a judge has now ordered mediation so perhaps there's still a chance. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/hostess-and-bakers-union-agree-to-mediation/

• A reply on Conversation: Are unions in the US still relevant?

  Nov 20 2012: Universities are fascinating because tenure is a form of a union unto itself. Tenure is great but it doesn't necessarily lead to great professors or great outcomes for students. I remember several of my undergrad professors who routinely wrote the wrong assignments or equations on the board, couldn't remember the material, or were otherwise too busy to bother helping students. They were protected by tenure and the dean wouldn't hear any complaints. That's a system that needs a rethink too.

• A reply on Conversation: Are unions in the US still relevant?

  Nov 20 2012: Thanks for posting, Pat. I thought your article was going to be pro union but it certainly is not. What it does do, is point out some of the inherent difficulties with union contracts. The fact that Twinkies (yuck) could not be loaded onto the same trucks as Wonder Bread (double yuck) is not surprising in a union scenario but insane by operations management efficiency standards. I remember a story about Chrysler pumping out Jeeps as the recession deepened. They couldn't sell them and had so many they had to rent parking lot space from other car companies. It was because the union contract specified how many Jeeps they had to make at that particular plant.

• A reply on Conversation: Are unions in the US still relevant?

  Nov 20 2012: Public unions are definitely a common theme in this discussion!