Cromwell International

> for simple actions there is no need for a touchscreen.

Ok, here's a simple action, that's often solved by touchscreens - Choose a destination from a ticket machine. Let's start with the button-first approach. Here's what the London Underground ticket machines used to look like:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B96DRJQIIAE_y1n?format=jpg&name=small

Impossible to sort, filter, search, translate, display updates...

Possibly very efficient for people who have memorized the exact locations of their stations. At least, until they have to lookup a new destination.

Virtually unusable for:

* Anyone looking for a new destination (huge search time)

* First time users (huge search time)

* Non-English speakers (Instructions are in English)

And it's:

* Terrifying

* Expensive to design/build

* Expensive to maintain

* Expensive to update

Compare that to the modern interface, and I know which I'd rather use:

https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/london-underground/pictures/tube-2014-04-090911.jpg

Genuine question - Why do you think so many systems like these touchscreens?

> Someone needs to solve online identity and reputation (in a privacy-preserving way) so that you can accumulate trust on one site/service and carry that over to another.

The problem is that most of the existing ways of transferring reputation (or the appearance of it) between contexts result in opportunities for arbitrage: celebrity endorsements, scientists supporting theories outside of their field, con artists leveraging social proof escalation, phishing, etc.

We've seen some of the strictest mechanisms of reputational transference leveraged for illicit purposes:

https://cromwell-intl.com/cybersecurity/pki-failures.html

Everything that makes reputation and trust transfers useful and convenient for users creates a huge attractive nuisance for illicit actors, from state level APTs on down to 419 scammers and everyone in between.

Perhaps an indirect way of tackling the problem is increasing the quality and diversity of school lunch programs in low-income areas susceptible to obesity. Compared to lunch programs in some European countries, especially France, US lunch programs are unlikely to inspire much appreciation for healthy eating [0]. In short, get them while they're young. Also, bring back home economics programs for both boys and girls with an emphasis on healthy food preparation. It's a great life skill.

[0] https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/france/school-lunch-menus/

https://qz.com/515148/a-typical-week-of-school-lunch-for-kids-in-paris-vs-new-york/

there are several buildings like this in Manhattan. https://www.cromwell-intl.com/travel/usa/new-york-internet/pictures/375-pearl-007-049.jpg

yeah, it looks less basic than a concrete block, but it is just a big box. this small skyscraper could offer a nice view, but it has no windows.

they used to be filled with telephone switching equipment for all the phone lines, but electronic switching has shrunk those space needs a lot. I think they've turned them into hosting providers for financial companies but I'm not positive.