XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: jclarkeusenet@cox.net   
      
   In article , bap@shrdlu.com says...   
   >   
   > On 17/01/14 15:03, Chrysi Cat wrote:   
   > > On 1/17/2014 7:35 AM, J. Clarke wrote:   
   > >> In article , bap@shrdlu.com says...   
   > >>>   
   > >>> On 17/01/14 13:01, J. Clarke wrote:   
   > >>>   
   > >>>   
   > >>>>> No, I'm using a pod for a single delivery. A pod is closer to an   
   > >>>>> envelope than it is to a vehicle.   
   > >>>>   
   > >>>> An envelope doesn't have wheels, an engine, or a control system.  Or   
   > >>>> are   
   > >>>> you just using the word "pod" to refer to what is currently called a   
   > >>>> "box"?  If so, how does your "pod" system change anything?   
   > >>>   
   > >>> A pod doesn't have any of those either.   
   > >>>   
   > >>> There's no reason in principle that a pod couldn't be the size of a box   
   > >>> or an envelope. While we're replacing the transport industry it's not   
   > >>> much more effort to replace the postal services too.   
   > >>   
   > >> I'm sorry, but calling a box a "pod" doesn't change anything at all.   
   > >>   
   > > Unless I _really_ miss Bernard's meaning here (and God/dess, I hope I   
   > > do, because if I'm right his ideas are scarier even than I was   
   > > originally thinking of):   
   >   
   > You're very close. I've refined the concept a bit in my own mind and so   
   > I think it's time for a more detailed explanation of my current thinking.   
   >   
   > I started out thinking of a replacement for the domestic car. As I've   
   > thought about it more I realised that the same technology that could do   
   > that could do more. In fact what I am now considering is a way to   
   > streamline and automate generic logistics tasks. Moving a person is the   
   > same class of problem as moving a letter.   
   >   
   > >   
   > > Everything is in its little pod. Your 'home' itself may be a pod. The   
   > > only things that ever move on the streets are crawler-chassis of varying   
   > > speeds, with a manipulating arm to pick up a pod and install it atop the   
   > > crawler. Everything is somehow point-to-poing despite the fact that he's   
   > > now turned every transportation event, whether living or inanimate, into   
   > > cargo shipping and as FedEx can attest, that's best done via   
   > > hub-and-spoke, which his system doesn't seem to be. If you order a   
   > > single unit of milk, it gets packed at the farm, never sees a warehouse,   
   > > and is delivered to your door--apparently with nothing else in the   
   > > shipment.   
   >   
   > If you want a gallon of milk you send out a software agent to tender for   
   > the supply of a gallon of milk, stipulating your requirement for either   
   > low cost or fast delivery. If you specify fast delivery Bezos dairies   
   > will offer to deliver it from their nearby hub. Your agent holds an   
   > auction and Bezos dairies might bid lowest. It will be dropped into a   
   > priority queue at the dairy, packed in a standard-size insulated box and   
   > sent out. From the dairy it goes to your local hub and then gets packed   
   > on a robotic crawler vehicle that's scheduled to go past your door. On   
   > its way past it drops off your milk and at the same time picks up any   
   > mail you have ready for collection. If there's a passenger waiting it   
   > will offer them a suitable sized empty pod to travel in. Probably some   
   > standard multiple of the simple cubic-foot pod.   
   >   
   > A standard pod holding a cubic foot would cover most people's mail   
   > requirements and their fresh food requirements because it only needs to   
   > deliver what you have ordered since the last Bezos Logistics crawler   
   > went past ten minutes ago.   
   >   
   > Incidentally you could stipulate low price rather than fast delivery for   
   > your milk in which case Bezos dairies would probably offer milk left   
   > over from yesterday, selling it cheap rather than having to pay to dump it.   
   >   
   > > Yeah, he'd _need_ all retail and commercial buildings gone in order to   
   > > make room for all the extra roadspace/railspace all the   
   > > crawlers-including-what-we-now-call-train-flatcars would need.   
   >   
   > Just a bit more on my comment that retail businesses are doomed. Retail   
   > is going to look very different in five years time when even more of our   
   > shopping is done online. Retail establishments will stop being places to   
   > shop and start to become showrooms. Manufacturers will pay showrooms to   
   > carry their products. Customers will select what they want and order it   
   > for delivery. It will take a while for this model to reach grocery   
   > stores but it's already working for some high technology manufacturers.   
   > The need for personal vehicles will go down as the need to carry   
   > groceries back from the shops declines.   
      
   So you envision "standard crawlers" going past every house every 10   
   minutes?  Would these be in addition to the ones that are supposed to   
   get us to work or would they be the same ones that get us to work?  And   
   how much will it cost to run these crawlers empty when there is nothing   
   for them to carry?  And why "crawlers"?   
      
   > > Ugh. The Soviet version of Utopia would be more appealing. And then you   
   > > add in that with no reason to go anywhere, everyone would become even   
   > > more shut-in than I already am. And my car just left its garage last   
   > > night for the first time in 2014.   
   > >   
   >   
   > Nonsense. Hire a pod and get Bezos Logistics to ship you to Hawaii.   
      
   And how much is it going to cost per passenger to fly a planeload of   
   your "pods" to Hawaii vs a plane load of passengers in cattle-car-class   
   seats?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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