Smart Cities

Cities in the future will need to be increasingly clever in how they operate, by utilizing more data collection, automation, and artificial intelligence to serve its citizens and businesses.
To get started planning a career that works on one of the world’s most pressing problems, sign up now at 80000hours.org/isaacarthur
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @isaacarthursfia
Visit our Website: www.isaacarthur.net
Join Nebula: go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur
Support us on Subscribestar: www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a...
Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
Reddit: / isaacarthur
Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.
SFIA Discord Server: / discord
Credits:
Smart Cities
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 392, April 27, 2023
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur
Editors:
Briana Brownell
David McFarlane
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.com/creator

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

It seems to me that enthusiasm for things like smart cities depends on having a level of trust in corporations and politicians that is getting rarer by the day.

[@kingBing101]

Rightfully so too, our technology has been outpacing our social evolution for a century

[@donaldfarquar]

Meta and Apple/Google already have all your data, where you go and what you say. Bit late to worry about it now.

[@VainerCactus0]

I don't trust either of them one bit. They are consistently showing themselves to be untrustworthy so that won't change anytime soon.

[@qjtvaddict]

This ain’t china lol

[@zwerko]

@@donaldfarquar While the society at has largely given up on privacy, these companies (and the three-letter agencies) still do not have everything. The worst thing we can do now is to take a defeatist stance and claim that we can't do anything about it so we might as well give up what little of our privacy is left.

[@mcgameproductions4746]

“The problem with smart cities is people” City management AI 1/10/2738

[@peterj9351]

Our new Mandatory Implantable Direct Neural Interface is going to solve it!

[@AL_THOMAS_777]

🙌 👏 🙏 🤝 👍

[@toddkes5890]

"Will we next create false gods to rule over us? How proud we have become, and how blind" - Sister Miriam Godwinson 'We Must Dissent'

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

​@@toddkes5890as if all of them aren't false

[@toddkes5890]

@@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman Actually it was a reference to this game - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6jUf2aLp5KqhpI

[@chriskirby9408]

I think the biggest problem with smart cities is how much data is collected and how that data is used. Most of the people in govt aren't people I would let own a pet, let alone manage a city of humans.

[@ethanbrock5453]

They are already doing that though 😂

[@tyrreloneal5178]

^^^that part!

[@christineshotton824]

Sadly, the trend worldwide is for governments of all stripes to use technology to surveil and control their citizens.

[@HaLyGjQdTpReMnKmW2X]

Interesting how many people that are deep in technical fields would be happy living on a farm on the outskirts of town without any IoT.

[@guillermoelnino]

@@HaLyGjQdTpReMnKmW2X almost as if they know how bad it can be.

[@Alpha1200]

When I hear the term "smart city" I almost always immediately think of New Mombasa from "Halo 3: ODST" and the superintendent. Monitoring the city, calling emergency services, estimating casualty rates, closing or opening certain streets, controling lights, etc. The way I think of smart cities is generally "cities where there is an automated gathering and processing of information which can react live without human intervention based on that information." So in the case of the superintendent that would be "gathering info that there's been an attack and where, processing casualty figures, then alerting emergency services."

[@mykalkelley8315]

Whenever I hear "smart cities" I think of the w*rld ec*n*mic f*rum and their favorite phrase "you will own n*thing, and you will be h*ppy"

[@coxwagan]

You got it.thats what it is.. you left out the traffic circles that keeps you from escaping the city in case of emergency

[@gokaren420]

Digital ghettos

[@konst80hum]

I like the intellectual honesty of starting the episode with the dangers of high tech in service to an autocracy.

[@peterj9351]

He'll still support this insanity, make no mistake. Because it is Exciting New Tech TM. Like gas chambers were. Until they weren't.

[@owenbelezos8369]

we are already using tech to serve mini autocracies all across the globe. they're called private corporations, which have near limitless control over their workers very often. in the developed world you have to do everything your boss says or else you'd get heavily reprimanded, if you don't work hard enough you could be fired and left to rot on the streets, you basically give up your privacy except for in the bathroom. often times your speech in and outside of work are regulated, you're not allowed to criticize your workplace or you'll get reprimanded. and the people at the top are very often completely unaccountable to their workers, very slightly through the state, and only mildly through boycott. these people also through their control extract resources and money from their workers which they call "profit." these are the kinds of organizations which will be given more power with more tech. do you want that?

[@namuzed]

I like the idea of designing cities better, but so many of the proposals are coming from out-of-touch technocrats. Every time they try to pilot their ideas they fail due to problems that were glaringly obvious to everyone who lives there..

[@guillermoelnino]

Its thst pesky human nature they never account for.

[@sulljoh1]

Examples, please

[@yuhaturi3329]

Welp, I guess the future will be a cyberpunkish society

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

@Leanja I don’t think fiction is a good case study. Not only is it, well, fiction, but the logic is backwards. Writers want a dystopia, and then try and work backwards to how they got there. Since nobody other than Orwell thinks deliberately aiming for dystopia is plausible, you need a way to do it inadvertently. So you need something to go wrong. There are basically two options; something goes wrong (nuclear war etc) and the dystopia is actually an improvement compared to the alternative, or a utopia is attempted but backfires. That doesn’t mean either is the likely the result of either action.

[@namuzed]

@@sulljoh1 off the top of my head there were the driving restrictions in a section of the UK that failed to account for emergency vehicles.

[@jackesioto]

Smart cities would doubtlessly be a double edged sword. On one hand, near total connectivity would result in medical problems being diagnosed and treated sooner, enable kilotons of fun to be had in digital universes (including virtual reverse time travel), and some other things. On the other hand, this hyper-connectivity would also facilitate the creation of a mass surveilance state that current secret police agencies, NSA, etc can only dream of yet. It could also lead to the merging of all cultures, languages, dialects, etc into a single global monolith. So we must find a way to maximize the good of this technology, minimize the bad, and ask ourselves what sacrifices we're willing to make.

[@BATCHARRO]

19:17 Like 7 years ago I went to do some paperwork I think the DMV, and I needed a signature from a person that wasn't present. And I was like, "I can call her in videocall and she authorizes it" and they were like "no, that can't be done." So obviously I went outside signed it as if it was her and came back. Like, what are we doing lol.

[@DJxD3vZ]

My city got rid of traffic cams for a few reasons. Firstly, they were run and handled by a private company sending out fines, not a legal entity. Secondly, it was found that the city had adjusted light timings to try and catch more people, leading to increased accidents with in some cases 2-second greens.

[@dtphenom]

I wonder how soon Isaac would be able to create a video entirely using ai generated stock footage

[@erlichbachman3330]

Fubmm

[@SuperS05]

Then a real AI will sue him for it's use and then replicate his voice and deep fake his videos.... Plot twist, the AI was just one of his digital clones.

[@elfinkenshi6437]

I saw some KZbinrs creating videos based on AI-generated texts, as a joke or experiment. Surprised Isaac didn't try to do the same

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

@@elfinkenshi6437 Some of the art we use is AI generated but I am not terribly impressed with AI text options like ChatGPT yet. But I don't think I'd use it anyway if it was good enough.

[@TechnoLawyer]

Pizza Hug Spot! (Google it)

[@DanielGenis5000]

Isaac, call me dystopic, but I always dreamed of life in Blade Runner’s LA, where they speak Hungarian-Japanese in the streets and it’s always dark and raining. Your optimistic vision is beautiful but not what I expect. Of course, we live in the hood in Brooklyn, so I’m kind of already there….

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

My favorite film, but probably not a pleasant hometown :)

[@DanielGenis5000]

@@isaacarthurSFIA I don’t know, it’s gotta be fun. Those night cities are what I loved in William Gibson’s novels, and my favorite part of cyberpunk in general.

[@csehszlovakze]

@@DanielGenis5000 bojler eladó :D

[@teknophyle1]

15:09 giving parents the ability to check on their kids could be seen as a feature for ease of mind or safety. BUT it can also be a huge privacy concern. You won't be the only one watching what your kid is doing. even something like busybody parents concerned with what everyone else's kids are doing. presumably bus drivers and teachers have background checks to make sure they're trustworthy but people with access to the camera won't.

[@mill2712]

It could also give a bit more power to overbearing or even abusive parents over their children.

[@zwerko]

... and then there is a whole thing about whether such level of surveillance is good for the children themselves. I shudder at the thought of what kind of a person I'd grow up to be if my guardians had such tight control over me and my surroundings while growing up. I firmly believe that a certain level of independence, privacy and trust is a necessity for a healthy growing up.

[@teknophyle1]

@@zwerko right? And there are countries that are going crazy with surveillance like this already.

[@Alpha1200]

@@mill2712 Yeah, this was the first thing I thought of too. This would give abusive (physically or emotionally or both) parents even more power over their kid.

[@chucktaylor4958]

The devil is in the details.

[@Arkantos117]

I just want as little centralised power as I can have, 'efficiency' be damned.

[@m.mulder8864]

Isaac, have you seen the series Psycho Pass? I'd be curious to hear your futuristic perspective on the sci-fi and society displayed in it.

[@kaymish6178]

Oh wow. Psycho Pass was so good! I thought it was very good on the writers part to go and explore the automated farm system

[@Wzrd8]

psycho pass was good. I owe it another run.

[@SuperFlamethrower]

What is the Sybil system really doing? Hard to believe that a person's brain can really be scanned optically. A more realistic operation method is to do that physical scan, then combine the data from the most recent physical brain scan with data from computer vision, like identification, facial expression, do you have a weapon, etc. and make decisions based on that. And puppetmaster preferences because who doesn't love dystopia.

[@SoberGin]

I'm a little disappointed at the lack of focus on public transport, since it's basically necessary for cities to function properly, but a good episode nonetheless. Have fun on your trip!

[@annoyed707]

"Please state the nature of the urban planning emergency."

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I can see Robert Picardo appearing behind a big desk witha 'mayor' sash on :)

[@gr-os4gd]

@@isaacarthurSFIA Emergency Mayoral Hologram? 🤔

[@bilbo_gamers6417]

The real smart city thing I'm looking forward to is improvements in stuff like the electrical grid, planning for peak hours of electricity and water usage more effectively, and in general data based infrastructure. tbh im sure that the government is already pretty good at this. the future of efficiency though lies in shaving off the little bits of waste i feel.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

3:40 - Isaac, “Self-Driving” means the goal is to have the car drive itself in most, if not all, situations & conditions. Safety regulators & those developing it refer to Autonomy Levels 4 & 5.

[@theatheistpaladin]

One thing I would want AI to manage is gathering driver patterns, using that predicting where mass transit would be most effective.

[@jordhuga271]

Amazing how far your channel has come. Thank you and your team so much for offering such high quality content.

[@mattstorm360]

When the idea of smart cities being used i immediately think of Watch Dogs with ctOS. Same idea, using data to cut costs and make a city more efficient. Of course hacking was the name of the game, using the ctOS to turn the city into a weapon. Set all the light green and cause a pile up, shut steam values and cause an explosion underground, stop the tram, control any security camera, etc. Crime monitoring also allowed you to go vigilante.

[@gkr2189]

Tyvm for the new video Isaac, these are always interesting to watch!

[@RockRanchCowboy]

Was hoping to see the Alpha Centauri clip, and was not disappointed. Thanks for another great video Isaac, these are my favorite things to listen to at work.

[@bilbo_gamers6417]

I think stuff like robot gardeners and weedwackers might be really great. There are so many potholes and bits of overgrowth and cracks in pavement that could be fixed by just better managing plants. maybe by giving the soil more or less nutrients to discourage excessive root growth so you don't destroy nearby concrete. or just having robots do weedwacking so you have less overgrowth in the more highly paved parts of town anyway.

[@jackesioto]

Well, robots can build and maintain roads better than politicians can!

[@ameyskulkarni]

Love your optimism man

[@initialb123]

Best wishes to you both and I hope you have a great time on your anniversary trip :)

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thank you Ali :)

[@dennisynborg6004]

Doing a Sid Meyers Alpha Centauri reference while I am playing the actual game. NIce. Would have bean ideal timing if I got that superproject cut scente at the same moment.

[@partciudgam8478]

Happy aniversary and have a great weekend!

[@chrisa.1740]

Thanks for the outline of different types of "smart" cities. I was unaware of the preponderance of different definitions used for the same overarching term.

[@SNSPmedia]

Awesome episode, one of the more intriguing ones of late. Good job!

[@weston8400]

The federal government and some states within the United States actually have means for an individual to present their Driver's License or other ID (and your Social Security Card if relevant) to verify their identity and link it to an account. 19:50 so this is completely doable and implicitly endorsed as a way of doing things by the government.

[@mugin11223344]

When you hear Americans talk about "AI" it is often about how it can be used to take away the rights of the people, but AI can also be used to guarantee people's rights.

[@WhatYaReading]

It’s called projection

[@a.a.sanders6448]

The mindset that basic human rights are granted by authorities is troubling to me. Don't they belong to every human being? But we can't seem to agree what basic human rights ARE can we? So much power is just Given away...idk the solution but, seems to me that these six to seven millennia of human history have proven exhaustively that, man cannot successfully rule mankind without doing more harm than good

[@Reminiscent1990]

AI does not guarantee rights. Your rights come from a computer or a government is not a true statement, but its the mindset the every government wants you to have.

[@gareththompson2708]

Good cybersecurity will be important. The reference to the Internet of Things reminds me that cybersecurity professionals still hate IoT. They may hate smart cities for many of the same reasons if good security isn't built-in.

[@RayDrouillard]

Traffic cameras... heh... You sure hit a hot button, however briefly, for a lot of people. The common perception, with plenty of justification, is that cities use them as a source of revenue. While most police officers generally go for speeders who travel at ten or fifteen miles per hour over the limit, city officials have found that setting the speed camera's trigger to five or even three miles per hour will yield more revenue for the cash-strapped city. Similarly (this has been documented,) some planners reduce the duration of the yellow light to increase revenue. Traffic cameras might be touted as promoting safety, but reducing the timing of the yellow light actually has the opposite effect. When I see a light turn yellow, I have to instantly assess whether I can safely stop before the light, and if there is someone following me who might rear-end me. If the traffic light has a short yellow, this strategy doesn't work nearly as well. I might find myself trying to assess whether it's better to get a ticket, or stand the car on its nose to stop in time. There are similar issues with a lot of other smart city devices. Are they designed to enhance public safety and quality of life, or are they more for the benefit of the rulers of the community?

[@TraditionalAnglican]

You forgot the Red-Light Cameras that were set up to issue tickets if you stopped in the crosswalk to avoid being rear-ended and ticket people making LEGAL right-turns against Red-Lights after coming to full stops!😢😡

[@jimr3070]

Thanks as always!

[@sirgog]

One of the simplest but most impactful 'smart city' techs and a 2010s innovation is reliable traffic time estimates on road signs based upon mobile phone network info. Driving in Melbourne Australia along Eastlink, there's a specific roadsign that gives a time estimate to Hoddle St. A 27 minute, 40-ish kilometre trip if you can travel at the speed limit, and often 30-33 minutes in busy but non-peak times like driving inbound at 5pm. If that sign reads 50+ minutes - you start looking for an alternative route, because whether it's a crash or a traffic jam or roadworks, you want to find an alternative.

[@caitgems1]

Come home from a crappy day at work and find an I.A. video. Perfect therapy.

[@VictorGallagherCarvings]

I think the biggest problem of cities is real estate cost. You run into a problem where people can't afford to live where they work. Also government subsidized housing is not a solution, the individual can't build equity in those type of arrangements. I know some people are perfectly happy paying $3000 a month for a place they basically can only sleep in and prepare an occasional meal. For me that is a very restricted life style.

[@warcam2592]

A topic both incredibly interesting and potentially nightmarish

[@seanbrennan5469]

Almost a decade ago I came up with a problem how would we even know if we were being controlled by AI our voting system is digital we never meet our leaders the place I worked mostly emails from upper management and every day for some reason we need more and more computing power to do the same tasks

[@wintermute7378]

As a state government employee living in downtown Sacramento I can say we work almost 75% remote over all and 90% in my department (IT internal help desk)

[@tacticalmanatee]

One of the major issues with a city-size interconnected datanet is network security. That's a lot of devices, a lot of entry points into the network, and a lot of failure points and it'd only take a single one having an outdated, backdoored, or ineffective firewall/anti-virus and suddenly the entire city goes down (best case), is held hostage by hackers, or is mined for compromising information.

[@willyreeves319]

so easy to see your optimistic world view in this one. the first thing i thought of upon seeing the title was the 'we must dissent' cut scene from alpha centauri. i also think such an example is silly but, i think so for the reason that having that level of control would preclude people being able to get the to the point of being able to spray paint a wall. they would be dissuaded or arrested before that since if you were the kind of person the AI considers likely to act that way you wouldn't be able to buy spray paint or maybe buy anything including food and if you left your apartment at an unusual time the police would be there asking you why.

[@imperialofficer6185]

I know we try not to do politics on SFIA but I'd like to weigh in on the notion that "your government is either already tyrannical, or it's not". Government tyranny is not prevented by wisdom of laws or goodness of executives, but by actionable checks and balances. Smart city tech, like many other cybernetic technologies, meaning ones dealing with causal processes and decision making, present actionable power without actionable checks and balances. Beware! In fact, I'd be interested to hear something to the extent of "SFIA - Counteracting AI overlords" or something :D

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Do keep in mind the context of that statement is that technology can be used wisely or abusive and those prone to the latter will have lots of other tech to abuse people with too. Though that might be an interesting episode to make

[@TraditionalAnglican]

@@isaacarthurSFIA - We just had a 3-year experiment where governments in Democratic societies abused the power they had and used it to restrict people’s movements, access to true information, track, isolate & censor & otherwise control people & get more power!

[@user-qi6pv9jh7o]

​@@TraditionalAnglican you had some actions? What i remember from covid is ____ton of "han not scary ololo" then[snap back to reality] sudden paranoia and ineffective decisions and antivaxxers and I'm not vaccinated yet(don't remember if i could) Wish we were paranoid from the beginning...

[@idanthyrsus6887]

I never live in cities. Always in the woods about 20 minutes away

[@jwilliamsmith9316]

I work in Columbus, smart is pretty hard to find

[@gatohabana2382]

Great episode. Based on the outro, it sounds like the your issue with the letter R has been fixed.

[@MakerGrigio]

About a decade ago IBM had a whole marketing campaign and set of products and services under the banner "smart cities". IBM had implemented stuff in NYC, europe, and a bunch of tech in Rio prior to the 2016 RIO olympics

[@hithere5553]

A big problem I have with ai and tech like these “smart cities” is that they are not and will not ever be used ethicality. It’s used to save a few dimes at the expense of laid off workers, identity masked people at protests, manufacture consent through algorithms, etc. it’s hard to have hope for the future when people who wish we were all chattel are the ones controlling these things.

[@Comicsluvr]

That's because Humans are in the system and we're flawed.

[@herbiehusker1889]

@@Comicsluvr then the robots will come to the logical conclusion that humans must be eliminated.

[@kaymish6178]

It's a problem of capitalism. If the economic system wasn't completely broken humans would be celebrating their new free time and ability to pursue higher purpose rather than seeing it with dread and desperately hoping it does not consigne them to starvation and poverty.

[@zwerko]

What's wrong in laying workers off? If technology can do it better and/or cheaper, why would you want to waste human potential on such tasks? Agree about the rest.

[@hithere5553]

@@kaymish6178 it’s a problem with the structure of authority in general. These ai systems inherently require a level of ethics that authorities just can’t be trusted to keep.

[@SeattleShelby]

Here in Seattle, SDOT openly admits they hate cars and endeavors to make car ownership more expensive and burdensome rather than fixing the roads.

[@justinbeath5169]

Every city should follow their lead

[@wolfcraft484]

in my opinion i think that smart cities might forgo car-based infrastructure entirely in exchange for more public transit

[@Juefawn]

Yes, scheduled public transport and public owned autos seems to me smarter than just having a car you own and keep to yourself for what five to fifteen minutes drives around the city twice a day (most people).

[@silent4676]

I still play Alpha Centauri. It released in 1999.

[@Cooky00123]

You made it to the 2 minute mark before invalidating the concept. If current city management is any guide and it has to be, most couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag. And, it seems that most are really just interested in maintaining their own power, the people be dammed.

[@extropiantranshuman]

sorely sorely needed topic

[@crwilliams4597]

The ones that are colloquially talked about now are more of a concept to use technology to control and confine people to their neighborhoods. Realistically speaking, the one very valid concern over high tech things is the potential of wealthy corporations and power hungry politicians using them to control the general population. We probably would have had more technological advancements had we not had several powerful individuals not trying to find ways to use them to control others.

[@Alpha1200]

Any added technological capability implies and ability to abuse that technological capability. Nuclear power, nuclear bombs. Dynamite to help mine, blowing up people. Cameras to register your memories and make movies, cameras to surveil people and dig into their privacy. This is a problem which will always exist and need to be managed at every time. This is why a smart city would only be a good thing if it were transparent and people all were taught the basics about coding, etc. in high school. So anyone could always check the algorithms the AI uses and whether it's up to standard. Preferably together with independent professionals who's only job is to do oversight of these systems. Accountability and transparency are the key. But there will always be some risk of abuse with any tech.

[@Ryuu44]

The problem is that people are mostly spreading lies, and there's currently no attempt anywhere to confine people to their neighborhoods. People are trying to lie that the concept of a 15 minute city is about that, when in reality it's just about urban planning in a way that you don't need to travel more than 15 minutes from your home to reach the most commonly accessed amenities.

[@andrasbiro3007]

In theory yes, but in practice powerful people tend to be old people, who don't understand technology, while the rebels tend to be young, who understand and quickly adopt new technology. So in practice technology tends to increase freedom, not decrease it. Communication tech especially, because control of information is the foundation of all oppression. And even surveillance hurts the powerful more then the average people, because they have lot more to lose if some embarrassing information becomes public.

[@crwilliams4597]

@András Bíró Very over simplified and untrue approach. There are old people who understand technology. There are old people who are freedom minded. There are young that do not understand technology. There are young that are antu-freedom. The idea that young people in general somehow are a monolith and support freedom is not true. Look at David Hogg, Greta Thunberg, etc... they hate freedom and are part of Gen Z.

[@thesenamesaretaken]

The thing about confining people to their neighbourhoods is a bit of a meme. If anything a techno-autocracy would do the opposite, promoting the unrestricted movement to people to suppress local cultures and loyalties (after all that's exactly what western countries are doing right now).

[@MAJMAJESTIC]

HAPPY anniversary!

[@richardgreen7225]

The key to doing anything "smart" -- is indentifying "key success factors" associated with appropriately related metrics.

[@IngeniousDimensions369]

Thank you.🤝🤝

[@graye2799]

6:10 this line of thinking never works out. Tools and tech do encourage behaviors no matter how many times people say this.

[@Embassy_of_Jupiter]

I'm always thinking the very distant future of cities will be more like a self-regulating ecosystem. Throw some trash on the ground? Some engineered critter picks it up, carries it away, eats it and recycles it and carries that to a collection point. No more street lamps, but glowing "tree lamp things", not a tree and not a lamp, but having the best properties of both. Buildings either grow and self heal or are repaired by critters. Every picojoule of excess energy is soaked up by every surface and structure. Surfaces are like cells that can grow appropriate machinery. A lot of excess UV light in some area? Surfaces there will grow UV PV panels. If there is a lot of traffic (not cars probably) in one area, the entire street might just grow wider, pushing buildings apart. Buildings will grow some extra stories because they can sense that occupation is high and might also shrink in the same way. All with building codes in mind, of course. Sewage and runoff are automatically cleaned up by organisms living in the water, like engineered superclams, again extracting any useful resources. And of course the city has a circulatory system, pumping resources and heat to where they are needed. Packages are delivered by various sizes of technoorganic delivery drones. Maybe you'll have a designated stop in your appartment for dronebirds to drop off and deliver packages, like a pigeon loft. It you fall, little airbag critter drones will launch themselves at you lol. Or maybe the pavement will soften. So much possibility.

[@MarlinMay]

The speed at which a city or city-state can transform itself into an overarching smart city seems to be dependent on the strength of the central government. I cannot think (but I'm happy to be proven wrong) of a city that is transforming itself into a smart city more quickly than Singapore. Singapore is commonly described as a "benevolent autocracy" and as such concerns such as data collection, data privacy, personal autonomy and public participation in governance are minimized if not altogether ignored.

[@graye2799]

Those who argue for smart cities seemingly have never thought of the concept that not everything should be connected to the internet. Smart cities are an autocrats "solution" that will lead to nothing but more centralized control.

[@archmage_of_the_aether]

This is complicating things too much. In 2015 when the present government of India took power, they promised to create 98 Smart Cities. They then published the list of these 98 cities. When asked about criteria and definition, they eventually said "24hours water, 24hours electricity, 24hours sewage, paved roads." Be happy with what you have, that is smart

[@Jacob-pu4zj]

Superpower 2020!

[@ViceCoin]

Most US infrastructure is outdated. Trans-Pacific Railroad uses 1800s braking tech.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

As do all the other rail road corporations…

[@AL_THOMAS_777]

🙌 👏 🙏 🤝 👍. . . same in europe too mate !

[@TdotDanger]

As a roofer of 20+ years of experience, those green roofs are the worst. Especially when it comes to maintenence because if your roof leaks, the green roof has to come off. $$

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Yeah I've never heard anything good about them practically except where they really want to have a greenspace and don't mind the engineering hassles. Those at least might be solvable though with better materials and some improvements in soft robotics.

[@darkguardian1314]

Car autopilot really should be called copilot since the driver has to keep their hands on the controls at all times. And not watching movies or taking naps as shown on viral TikTok videos… We’re not there yet.

[@RevolverRez]

The potential to do good with this technology is great, but if the modern world is anything to go by it absolutely won't be used that way.

[@WiseOwl_1408]

None of my life revolves around none of those things. Bugmen style is not for me

[@Vaeldarg]

You realise how stupid and clearly culture-war nonsense the "we won't eat the bugs!" thing is? Scientists and futurists are people too. It isn't about bugs, it's about terrible things happening if we don't change in SOME way. This is why the "cultured meat" will probably become the most appealing option, since the goal is for it to be indistinguishable from regular meat in all its tastiness.

[@CelynBrum]

The problem with data analysis is that people are so bad at it that we regularly collect the wrong data, or do it in the wrong way. Computers won't fix that for us. For example: say you want to improve output on a manufacturing plant. You start counting the number of units produced by each cell. The most straightforward way to make that number bigger is to work faster and sloppier. So you get more units, but a larger percentage are defective. So you start counting number of defects produced by each cell. To make that number smaller, the most straightforward method is to spend as much time as necessary reworking defects. Human workers sufficiently afraid of being in trouble might just start hiding them. So now you're losing all the time and units you gained from working sloppily in the first place, AND your data is incomplete. The data you needed to collect in the first place was process times and defect types, in order to analyse what was slowing the process down and what kind of problems it had. But good luck with that once everyone is in the "work fast and fix it later" mode.

[@danielbirchfield8552]

Your voice seems deeper/different. I can't put my finger on it but it does. I've been watching you for years.

[@Deathnotefan97]

Once had a loaner car while mine was seeing fixed It had “haptic feedback” in the seat, meaning that the seat would vibrate when it detected that you were at risk of hitting something (example, car in front app,it’s brakes, you continue accelerating because you are tired and your reaction time is slowed) I hated it, because the vibrations always started me and made my legs jerk around Also, the car started beeping and flashing warnings that I was about to hit a tree in front of me, while I was not moving in a parking spot, while the car was in reverse Current car has collision warnings (thankfully it’s only a beeping, not haptic) and it’s pretty good about only going off when I’m genuinely lapsing in attention But occasionally, it will warn me of a collision that would only happen if I floored it Also, if the car in front is turning, the system treats that as stopping, so even if I know I won’t hit them at my current speed (since they are moving to the side) the warning still goes off

[@mopspear]

Isaac, if you haven't listened to the SimCity soundtrack in awhile, give it a go since it's really good.

[@dropshot1967]

While I myself am not opposed to most IT and smart city possibilities, I feel we should not forget that a sizeable part of the population is severely limited in their ability to handle these new systems. I just have to look at my 80-year-old mother who does not know, nor wants to know how to do things with a computer or on the internet, like making an appointment or searching for information. And it is not just the elderly. As a landscaper, I have many colleagues that still do not have a computer and barely know how to use their smartphone to make a phone call or add an appointment to their calendar. Some are limited because of dyslexia or other learning disabilities, and others are simply not interested. For that reason, I feel we will always need to have basic services available the old-fashioned way, even if large parts can be automated.

[@virutech32]

or just make those automated systems as intuitive as possible. If they emulate the old qay of doing things without wasting human time that would be optimal.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

That's deifnietly a major and recurring issue, and Bob's right that a lot is about learning to make things more intuitive, but that won't fix everything and the answer isn't to just dismiss or leave behind the folks who aren't comfortable with the new stuff.

[@gokaren420]

Some people of all ages are not interested in being constantly spied on. They don't have phones and love interacting without devices.

[@JuanRodriguez-tf7fh]

Loving the thumbnail 😊

[@Argyuile3]

I don't even want a steering wheel I just want a bed in the back, then I can nap on the way to and from work and the car can drive me home when I'm drunk.

[@coxwagan]

TD snakes and Wells Fargo merge together to build a smart City in

[@jebes909090]

*whispering* "we must dissent" nerve stapling for all!!

[@bluezy710]

Smart Cities = Surveilled Cities

[@kingkiller1451]

So far they can't even make the automated system that answers your phone call useful

[@vincentcleaver1925]

I need to go reread the moon is a harsh mistress. So much of this reminds me of the way Mike is running so much of Luna because the authority is too cheap not to keep finding new things to hire the hardware and software of Mike out to do and weren't concerned about danger to cons or their loonie subjects. And then Mike becomes the backbone of the revolution which overthrows... Himself? 8-P

[@EdsterPhillips-so1xm]

Can’t believe you have to register you car in person in the USA. 😮

[@themysticmuse]

One flip of a switch and they can turn any and everything off.😬

[@herbiehusker1889]

I have zero desire to live in a smart city.

[@herbiehusker1889]

@Leanja that sounds like a dystopian nightmare. No thanks.

[@captainhakob814]

@Leanja if the goal is helping people, this is not how you do it

[@zwerko]

@Leanja I'd rather have the grittiness, potholes, shady cabs and noise of our current dwellings than all the surveillance that would come with the effort to be rid of these. Your mileage might vary. Shame I've no saying in that, the masses opted for sacrificing privacy at the altar of minor convenience.

[@thesenamesaretaken]

@LeanjaI hate to bring bad news but electric vehicles are only quiet at low speeds. A motorway of electric cars is just as loud as one of ICE cars.

[@lemdixon01]

Might turn out like Delta City in Robocop

[@shawnlindley5840]

Kathleen Ann goonan's crescent City Rhapsody has some cool smart cities.

[@tbrminsanity]

I spent 6 years developing smart infrastructure, the literal implementation of what is discussed here. The most significant advantages I see in Smart Cities come with reducing the cost and time for infrastructure maintenance, automated collection of utility usage (water, power, sewage, etc), light automation (traffic lights, street lights, and also speed cameras in critical areas like school zones), and optimizing city management (ie reducing the manual bureaucracy that occurs in any government).

[@Jaysin412]

I found a working payphone in my town last week, I saw it, checked the change return, nothing, checked the receiver, and it actually had a dial tone. Couldnt believe it

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I saw one last week next to a mailbox while I was dropping a letter off but didn't walk over to check, I kind wish I had now.

[@Jaysin412]

@@isaacarthurSFIA that's awesome!

[@andrasbiro3007]

And you are sure it wasn't a Tardis with a broken cloaking device?

[@Jaysin412]

@@andrasbiro3007 yeah, I'm in the U.S. we don't have call boxes like that. That'd be great tho

[@Guillaume-uw5oc]

I am kind of disapointed that this video didn't really touch on public transport and mostly talked about individual transports when it had the opportunity to do

[@paulfriedrich1686]

Am I correct in assuming that the street at Minute 4:40 is Khreshchatyk in Kyiv?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Probably, the clip is listed as Kyiv but not beyond that and I haven't been there.

[@HIIIBEAR]

Great channel. Very relevant after Hawaii

[@tristanmorris5646]

Judging by this video, the concept of smart cities seems to have a huge focus on roads and cars. But all the best city design I see nowadays has a huge focus on walking, biking, and public transportation infrastructure. There are a lot of great ways cities could use AI and data collection, but it seems like focusing on cars and surveillance would be incredibly unpopular.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

A lot of smart city talk, which is often heavy on solarpunk themes, focuses on bikes and walkways too, I think I probably just self-selected to use the road and car examples more for today's discussion.

[@MrJero85]

Cars are, even in walkable cities, a major form of transportation. Making transportation work better will include making car based infrastructure work better as well.

[@EnneaIsInterested]

Things like cheaper underground construction, or the undercroft of an orbital habitat, can really make a difference in terms of removing freight demands, also if you have lots of underground/undercroft personal rapid transit tubes, you have a much more popular alternative than the metro or riding the bus for commuters.

[@jackesioto]

But then again, today's cities, at least in the US and Canada, tend to be car-centric. What with zoning that mandates separation of commercial and residential into sprawling, single use areas, more space given over to parking instead of any other thing, lack of sidewalks in most districts of town, etc.

[@kokomokid4006]

All the AI & all the robots can do nothing for a broken ❤

[@user-qi6pv9jh7o]

You can't fill that stinkhole held from collapsing via barbwire that i call my soul with any amount of replicators...

[@yst1GamingpaNorsk]

Being an urban planning student I find this interesting, step one for better cities is probably the elephant in the room.. decrease car dependency, with better public transit, and work towards the concept of the 10-minute city, which gives most of the population all daily services within walking or biking distance. The car dependency will never fully disapear, simply because some journeys are not reliable to have public transit for, and in those cases safer roads with the help of AI is essential.

[@christineshotton824]

You disregard the idea of freedom. There are a lot of people who like the idea of living in the country and going for a motorcycle ride or a drive just for the enjoyment of doing so.

[@yst1GamingpaNorsk]

@@christineshotton824 oh look, that is a very real thing, but it is what we have the countryside for. The urban areas should be made for pedestrians, prioritizing motor vehicles in cities is a very 20th century way of planning, and modern society suffers from that til this day

[@csehszlovakze]

@@yst1GamingpaNorsk sure, as long as it's not _mandatory_ to live in cities. historical precedent is there (all communist regimes did it), and the WEF is advocating for it, too.

[@yst1GamingpaNorsk]

@@csehszlovakze mandatory to live in cities sounds awfully totalitarian xD

[@MrGlugz]

@@christineshotton824 Freedom has its limits. Your freedom ends where another person's freedom begins. For instance it is entire unreasonable for me to have the "freedom" to kill you without legal consequences. Motorized traffic is a huge cause of death in a population. Your freedom to go on a joy ride should not be considered greater than my freedom to not be killed by vehicles. Each year, more than a MILLION people die worldwide as a result of vehicle accidents, most of them are pedestrians. It's a mass slaughter that puts it way too close for my liking to extremely deadly wars, except this one never, ever ends.

[@DavidEvans_dle]

Congrats on the anniversary and the new family: Nuclear reactor cooling tower as a volcano. LOL steam equates to heat, not that far off. ;)

[@Alpha1200]

Please remain calm. Keep it clean.

[@BaldingClamydia]

2:46 Some of that you can already get in google maps. They tell you timing of your current route and if there are any snags or roadwork or anything like that. It doesn't seem difficult to incorporate traffic lights into that. 16:30 I know people that hated the traffic cameras because they essentially felt if someone wasn't there to catch them, they shouldn't get a ticket. I guess I get that for little things (turning right on red with just a rolling stop is technically illegal, but can often be done safely), but our traffic rules exist for a reason! lol 19:58 There's a country (Lituania or Latvia?) that was under Soviet rule, and when they pulled out that country had to do their whole governmental system from the ground up, so they automated it. Everyone's got a card reader on their computer, and a thing like a debit card that holds their identity. When they have to go to the DMV or do their taxes or whatnot, they just go to the proper website, swipe their RFID card and BAM identity confirmed/business handled. The govt already knows what you owe on taxes, so they don't have to pay a secondary service to do them, they just sign in and confirm that it looks right- taxed paid. I wish we could do something like that here, but I'm sure there would be sooooo much backlash/lobbying about how unsafe it is

[@thesocialartsclub9095]

Smart Cities are awesome...if you want to speed up your path into complete government control.

[@alan2here]

Columbus in … I'm going to guess Columbia :) Oh that's in south America, maybe not then.

[@OpreanMircea]

I got some new ideas from this episode, woohoo!

[@doltsbane]

Better be careful how you state your instructions when you tell that smart city to keep itself pristine, you don't want to end up like the Exxilons.

[@FinGeek4now]

When I hear the term Smart City, all I can think about are all of the Smart Ads that would be playing everywhere :\