Trustless, Screenless, Checkoutless

by stink - on Aug 23, 2021 10:51am to technology comments(6)
We're starting to see this trend where if we take something away, usually something quite ingrained and substantive, then we get an upgrade. Well, that generalization may not always work but you get the idea. It can be a whimsical topic but fun to explore nonetheless - let's try it!

We already have trustless, it's what was unlocked by Bitcoin and blockchains. Basically, when people want to remember things as a group they don't have to rely on humans trusting humans anymore - instead, a network of computers arrives at a consensus.

Another one that already exists is serverless. This is where instead of using a traditional app back-end setup, you write a function and the rest is taken care of.

There is one that I think many of us are itching for and that is checkoutless. This is where you select your items from a store and leave without paying and all items are automatically paid for. I believe Amazon opened a checkoutless grocery store. I am guessing this is built with AI and/or more advanced barcoding and cameras.

Another one that appears to be on the horizon is screenless. This is unlocked by augmented reality and I think you can do it in VR too. To clarify, you use screens in AR or VR instead of physical screens. It seems like it would be better to have it in AR. I wonder how far off this is - it seems hard in AR. Maybe it already exists in VR.

Yet another one that we've been flirting with for the last couple of years is driverless. This is when humans don't have to drive their car and instead it's automatically driven by AIs. This one seems great for many reasons including sleeping while commuting, more rideshare options and freeing up parking real estate.

The Peaches 'n' Stink Internet forum (this website) is adminless. There is no admin software and there are no admins or moderators. Instead users use their own whitelist.

Borderless is another. The EU has practically already done this. As I understand it, the country borders within the EU are very porous. Of course doing it on a global scale would be harder. But it would be great to be able to go anywhere without much issue.

It's fun to explore those that are more fanciful - for example, toothbrushless. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to brush your teeth anymore? Maybe it can be achieved via some sort of advanced chemical engineering.

Insuranceless probably appeals to most people. It may be that increased technology is what enables this. For example, once we get driverless cars that don't crash then car insurance will be far less important. As medical technology increases, hopefully medical insurance will become less critical as well.

Prisonless is an interesting one. I'm reminded of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. In those novels I don't think there is any jail, instead, if one gets in trouble, then an AI drone follows you around for some length of time and prevents you from doing anything bad.

After coming up with this list I've come to realize that most of these are driven by advanced technology. Namely AI, AR, VR, blockchains and cameras.

Those are all the ones I can think of. If you know of any others, let me know.
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  • by iloveny123 - on Aug 23, 2021 1:19pm
    I'm surprised Dang lets all of your peaches posts stay up on hacker news
    • by stink - on Aug 23, 2021 3:07pm
      stink posts

      edit: why? I'm writing blog posts and submitting them like every other site that wants more eye balls. Bad writing?
      • by iloveny123 - on Aug 23, 2021 5:53pm
        I like the stroy, but you are promoting a hacker news competitor on hacker news. if he allows it, I'm all for it, I'm more surpised at them then you.
        • by stink - on Aug 23, 2021 7:01pm
          Ah okay. I think that's actually happened before - but they played it off like the take down was for something else.

          I like to not follow you so that new users see half hidden and half showing. Hmm, now that I think about it maybe that's a mistake. But my aim was that the functionality is more obv if 50/50.
  • by reol - on Aug 31, 2021 8:07pm
    Have never read Banks' novels before. They seem interesting and I'll be checking out the series!
    • by stink - on Sep 1, 2021 9:47am
      All the books in the series are very good. I am reading one of his books now, I believe it's called Transitions (which is not in the series but still good).