The Best is Yet to be

High-speed rail

A type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail services, typically offering speeds of 300 km/h or more.

Bertha

The name of the largest tunnel-boring machine that became stuck 120 ft below Seattle during the construction of the tunnel project.

Megaprojects

Large-scale, complex ventures that typically cost billions and take many years to develop, with a significant economic impact.

Iron law of megaprojects + said by who

A concept which states that large projects are often over budget and fail to meet deadlines, coined by Bent Flyvbjerg.

Windsor-Quebec corridor

A proposed high-frequency rail corridor that connects Windsor and Quebec City, estimated to require an investment of $6 to $12 billion.

Big Dig

Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project, known for being one of the most expensive highway projects in the US, costing over $15 billion.

Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel)

An underwater rail tunnel between the UK and France, spanning 31.4 miles and completing a journey in 35 minutes.

Sejong City

A planned city in South Korea intended to relocate government offices from Seoul to alleviate congestion, partially completed since 2012.

Three Gorges Dam

The largest power station on the Yangtze River in China, completed in 2012, which displaced 1.3 million people.

Khazar Islands

Proposed artificial islands in the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, facing doubts over their feasibility.

NBN

• National broadband network NBN: “built and fully operational”

• Paul Fletcher 

  • 35,000 premises unable to connect 

  • 100,000 in August 2020 

  • 11,86 million premises wired 

FTTP

• fibre-to-the-premises network (start: 2009)

  • Slow, inexpensive 

  • 2013: - right govt - 350k connected 

FNN

• Fast National Network - 2007 left-Australian Labor Party

• 25 Mbps inadequate - adoption of digital telemedicine 

  • Struggle to compete with faster

Canada HSR

• ¾ 2023: 50% via rail trains trips on time 

• Montreal -> toronto: 5 hours 8 mins (driving only 30 mins longer)

• $300 

• Only G7 country without high speed  

  • Windore -> Quebec City 

  • Calgary -> Edmonton 

• 6 - 40 billion 

• Promised high speed rail campaigns - but no trains 

  • Eg. Ontario - Kathleen Wynne 

  • Alberta: Alison Redford - Former Premier of Alberta

  • Michael Ignatieff and Stéphane Dion: Liberal leaders who included high-speed rail in their campaign promises.

Canada HSR failure

• Via rail - owns 3% of train tracks; other owned by CN Rail 

• Density

• Windsor-Quebec corridor (populated region) high-frequency rail investment - $6 to $12 billion

However will not reduce travel times significantly

Eurasia Land Bridge

• Transcontinental railway

• 8000 miles total 

loneliness as public health concern

• US surgeon Murphy: “As bad as smoking 15 cigs daily”

• 1 in 4 older people in isolation 

• 50% risk of dementia, 30% risk of coronary artery disease 

• Africa: young pop - isolation caused by lack of peace, climate crisis, unemployment etc

  • 12.7% adolescents experience loneliness compared to 5.3% in EU

loneliness around the world

1 in 12 people experience loneliness level that can cause health problems - Epdemiologist Melody Ding (Sydney Uni)

• North European: lowest rates (2.9% young adults, 2.7% middle-aged, 5.3% older adults) - due to welfare systems and social security

Japan’s tech cure for loneliness:

• Paro - robotic seal @ Tokyo SIlver Wing for the elderly like Uraki  

• Residents talk to seals, and conversations start between residents

• Manager Sekigichi: elderly live alone, more interaction at the center with robots, but need human contact 

• Takanori Shibata (Institute of Advanced Industrial Science): “interaction with Paro improved loneliness”

japanese loneliness

• 6.24 million elderly and 18.4 million adults live alone 

• Kodokushi - people die alone and remain undiscovered - ~30k each year 

• Japan’s Old Men are the World’s Loneliest, psychologist Junko Okamoto: “loneliness superpower” 

increased loneliness linked to traditional families falling apart

• Western nuclear families instead of traditional, multigenerational households - used to serve as a safety net

Karoshi death by overwork

aibo robot dogs

• Relaunch after Sony retired in 2006 

• Some hold funerals when robots stop working

Pepper robot - Softbank Robotics

• Humanoid - subsitute children/grandchildren 

• Silver wing: Pepper - midday exercise sesh

Telenoid R1 

• Design to have faces projected on when they speak 

• Provide company - 2013: 30% men in 20s never dated

• Anime VR companion - Gatebox - for young men to have company

• AI virtual assistant - Couger startup

  • Follows user around from device -> device 

Founder: Atsushi Ishii: “relate on perosnal level, less lonely” “humans and AI should have relationship like friends”