I made mistakes... • Can you gamify public health? • Flying Autonomous Robots 🤖 (and farming...)
- Can you gamify public health?
- Flying Autonomous Robots 🤖 (and farming...)
- I made mistakes
Thing 1 - Can you gamify public health?
Turns out - yes.
If you control the incentives, you control the outcome.
2013, Moscow, Russia
You find yourself underground, your feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent and arms in front of you.
There's a machine watching you, checking your every movement.
You can feel a drop of sweat tickling your forehead. Can you make it? The consequences are dire. Everyone's watching.
The machine counts 30 perfect squats - you made it. Everyone cheers! 🎉
The machine prints a subway ticket that you don't pay for with your money.
You just paid it with your body, your own sweat. You think about it and feel a bit cheap.
But the blood is pumping and the ecstasy of achievement still hasn't faded.
Enjoy your ride!
2020, Delhi, India
The squat machine arrives in Delhi, India.
2021, Romania
It's in Romania too, at a discounted price of only 20 squats for a ticket. Are rides shorter in Romania? 🤪
These machines are real.
The benefits (and yes, savings) of a healthier population far outweigh the cost of the tickets. Looks like.
Now, who do we need to talk to to get this thing on the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission)?
(source 1, source 2, source 3)
Thing 2 - Flying Autonomous Robots 🤖 (and farming...)
I must be getting old because my fascination with agriculture is ballooning.
Before you question my sanity, it's the high-tech agriculture I'm talking about.
Ok, Z, that's not much better...
Example
Flying drones, packed with AI.
They
- fly around orchards,
- detect fruit, foliage, and other objects,
- pick fruits at the pre-set ripeness,
- provide analytics.
(source)
Thing 3 - I made mistakes
Stop judging yourself based on your past mistakes. You've changed.
- Master Nobody
The point isn't to avoid mistakes - it's to learn from them.
If your mistakes don't change you, if you don't learn from them, you're bound to repeat them.
A decade ago, I built a motivational website to help people through their daily struggles - while generating some income to pay for server expenses.
At its peak, the website received 1M+ daily hits.
Then it all came crashing down within days.
Mistakes I made
1. Depending on one platform for traffic
The algorithm changed and took 99.9% of traffic with it.
2. Depending on one means of monetization
The ads platform we used pulled the plug without explanation or human contact or paying a cent of the money earned.
3. Making myself the bottleneck
The growth of the social media account depended on my direct involvement with the community. Creating great content wasn't enough. I engaged with everyone in comments and eventually found myself DM-ing with dozens of suicidal people, for hours on end, every day.
All while working a full-time job as a software dev, getting a master's degree in computer science, and practicing competitive dancesport.
After the rug pull, gracefully shutting down the site took months to find proper care for everyone.
Why would next time be different?
Because you won't make the same mistakes as before.
You'll either make new ones and learn, or you're going to succeed.
Me? I made new ones.
I'm writing today's issue to the sounds of a whale song.
The melody is nice, and the vibe is soothing, but the lyrics are confusing... I'll see myself out.
'Til next week,
Cheers, Zvonimir