Follow your guide

It looks like progress on the assistive technology front with Google's Project Guideline, "an artificial intelligence system designed to help blind and vision-impaired people to run races by themselves." 

Main point: It's "an attempt to give those people more independence. They wouldn't necessarily need to rely on a tethered human guide or a guide dog to help them around a course."

Things to know:

• "...a runner attaches an Android phone to a Google-designed harness that goes around their waist."
• "...use the phone's camera to track a guideline that's been laid down on a course."
• "...audio cues to bone-conducting headphones when a runner veers away from the line."
• "...doesn't need an internet connection to work, and it can account for a number of lighting and weather conditions."

Points to ponder:

• An external system using one's smartphone.
• Someone will need to lay a line on the road to track.
• Lane control for runners could be another way to look at it.
• Entirely on the smartphone, so less vulnerable to Internet glitches at the wrong moments.

Learning from the movers and "shapers"

 It takes one to know one. I saw an article where Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, shared some things he learned from getting to know top movers and shakers like Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

Main point: "Dalio often sees common threads in these leaders’ personalities."

Things to consider:

• "'Quite often, you have people with imagination who are not practical, and people who are practical with not much imagination,' Dalio said. People like Musk and Gates 'had both of those things.'"
• “They were passionately, unwaveringly committed — so that it’s a high — to make discoveries,”
• "...their real advantages come from knowing how to deal with what they don’t know more than anything they know"

What he concluded:

• "Dalio calls these standout leaders 'shapers.' A shaper is 'someone who comes up with unique and valuable visions and builds them out beautifully, typically over the doubts and opposition of others.'"
• "Those people with leadership qualities are often 'simultaneously creative, systematic and practical. They are assertive, open-minded at the same time.'”
• "...shapers often display a passionate creativity and are not afraid to stand their ground, as they are 'independent thinkers who do not let anything or anyone stand in the way of achieving their audacious goals.'”

One challenge for our own personal development is how to identify the tangible things we can do to become shapers in our own right. Some thoughts that came to mind:

• I wonder if we can weave those threads our own calling.
• Determining our own capacity takes honest self-reflection.
• A singular focus helps avoid discouragement.
• Knowing what to do when you're in uncharted waters.
• Brings sculptors and other artists to mind.
• Artists use the right tools to realize their vision.
• Living in the paradox of being open and unyielding at the same time.

Walmart and driverless vehicles

Did you know Walmart is testing driverless vehicles?

Main point: "As Walmart looks to compete in retail's delivery wars against rivals like Amazon, autonomous vehicles will ultimately play an important role in its ongoing strategy of improving delivery times to customers. So too will drones, as the company has already agreed to iniital pilots with a trio of drone companies, including DroneUp and Flytrex."

Other items in the article:

• "A Walmart Neighborhood Market in Bentonville, Arkansas, will soon start receiving shipments delivered via a driverless box truck, as part of the retail giant's expanded pilot with autonomous vehicle startup Gatik."
• "...the Gatik pilot has logged 70,000 operational miles 'in autonomous mode' with a safety driver behind the wheel to monitor deliveries since its launch in 2019."
• "Walmart's expansion of initial tests will see Gatik's 'multi-temperature Autonomous Box Trucks' operate that same two-mile route without a driver starting next year."

AI and bias

 An article described reviewing research articles for bias as a way to think about eliminating bias in assessments.

Main point: "More strategic use of AI systems — through what I call “blind taste tests” — can give us a fresh chance to identify and remove decision biases from the underlying algorithms even if we can’t remove them completely from our own habits of mind."

Basically, it controlling for variables that aren't significant. For example, would an article be more likely to be published just because the reviewers knew who the author was? 

The article also gave the example of blind taste tests, describing how people preferred the taste of one drink if they knew the brand name but preferred the other drink if the brand names were hidden.

The article argued for "the value of creating blind taste tests for AI systems, to reduce or remove bias and promote fairer decisions and outcomes across contexts."

Autonomous vehicles in Germany

There was an interesting article that described autonomous vehicle testing in Germany.

• The startup had a specific goal: "In partnership with Moovit, the mobility-as-a-service startup Mobileye acquired in May for $900 million, Mobileye aims to build full end-to-end ride-hailing experiences with its Luminar lidar-equipped vehicles using Moovit’s platform and apps."
• Main point: "...it [the vehicle] was able to drive autonomously within days of delivering the vehicle thanks to its technology that leverages crowdsourced data to map over 15 million kilometers (~9.32 million miles) of roads daily."

Other things to consider:

• "...driverless cars can potentially minimize the risk of spreading disease because of the reduced human interaction."
• "...the video shows its vehicle reaching speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour (~80 miles per hour) and navigating a left turn on green through an intersection, among other maneuvers. It also avoids an opened car door, a bus pulled to the side of the road, and a vehicle that’s parallel parking; executes an unprotected left turn and lane changes on a highway; and moves around stopped emergency vehicles and down a narrow, congested street."

West Alabama chapter of AND Campaign

Would you be interested in discussing whether West Alabama could use a chapter of the AND Campaign? The promo video on the home page is informative. The other videos on the site are informative as well.

The AND Campaign is explicitly Christian and wants Christians to bring their faith to bear on the issues affecting the cultural and civic life of their communities. If a chapter does start in West Alabama, it would be after the Presidential election so there's no perception of partisanship.

I've talked with some chapter organizers who told me what they're doing in their cities. They shared what moved them to start chapters and what makes their chapters unique in their cities.

Agenda:

• This part would mostly be me sharing what I've learned about the AND Campaign.

○ What is the AND Campaign?

○ What I've learned about the other chapters.

• This would be us discussing the feasibility of an AND Campaign chapter in West Alabama.

○ What cultural/civic needs does West Alabama have?

○ Would an AND Campaign chapter be a value to West Alabama?

○ What kinds of things would a West Alabama chapter do?

○ What kind of work and resources would it involve?

• Wrap up

○ Summarize discussion points and send to attendees.

○ Initial opinion about a West Alabama chapter of the AND Campaign and next meeting.

○ Leroy attends chapter interest meeting with AND Campaign to get more information.

Join me on Zoom on one of these dates/times. Message me via the Contact form on the right to get the link. No age restrictions.

• Monday, 10/19, 7:00 PM Central

• Tuesday, 10/20, 7:00 PM Central

• Wednesday, 10/21, 7:00 PM Central

• Thursday, 10/22, 7:00 PM Central

NOTE: It will be the same content each time. I scheduled multiple days to accommodate people's different schedules. If you're interested in Zooming in, you only have to pick one date/time.

Building good habits

Are you looking for techniques to help you build good habits? I came across an article that addressed that question and suggested a few techniques. 

Main point: "With the right set up, the most difficult things—like losing weight—may be easier and more enjoyable than we thought."

The techniques suggested included:

• "I concocted a scheme where I allowed myself only to enjoy those kinds of indulgences—specifically I got really into audio novels—when I was exercising. I would come home from a long day and I would find myself looking forward to a workout because I was gonna get to find out what happens next in my latest novel. Time flew when I was at the gym. It was really fun to workout. I call that 'temptation bundling' and I’ve studied it and showed that it’s not just me—it can be useful for other people as well."
• "...find a way to ensure that for every meal you have options ready that you are going to enjoy even if they aren’t peanut M&Ms [or your favorite junk food]."
• "Another big thing to think about is restricting your access to that unhealthy food."
• "...the people around us are a huge contributor to our behavior."
• "...figure out a third-party perspective on any kind of disagreement you’re currently having with your partner. How would another person see this conflict and what would they think? This can help relieve some of the emotional tension."
• "One risk when you make plans to change like this is something called the 'what-the-hell' effect. (I love that there’s an academic term called the 'what-the-hell' effect.) A challenge with this kind of rigid plan is you’ll never actually live up to all of your objectives. A big problem can be when you slip up saying, 'Oh, what the hell, I give up.'"

I've used a similar temptation-bundling technique for exercise. I listen to spy thrillers when Nordic walking. It works well.

Try some of the techniques and share your experience.