Question
What are the next hard engineering problems that currently resist commoditization?
Answer
Paperwork. Screw Siri. I don't need a personal assistant to tell me where to find the nearest pizza place or move my appointments. I am perfectly happy with my productivity on those fronts. I want a personal assistant that will do my paperwork, keep track of my bills and pay them on time, deposit checks, convert shoeboxes of receipts into neat accounts and expense reports, get my driving license/registration taken care of when I move states, apply for visas and stuff...
I'd use one of the virtual assistant services, except that I find that stuff that's already paperless is basically easy for me to handle. It's the crap that still has a loop through the physical world that's hard to handle.
I estimate that such drag adds about 50% life overhead to people in the middle class. The rich can afford to pay real people to do it all, the poor don't have enough life complexity to have this stuff in their lives in the first place.
When you're done with that, call me. I have thoughts about the next level challenge, "stuffwork." I'd like to go "stuffless."
I'd use one of the virtual assistant services, except that I find that stuff that's already paperless is basically easy for me to handle. It's the crap that still has a loop through the physical world that's hard to handle.
I estimate that such drag adds about 50% life overhead to people in the middle class. The rich can afford to pay real people to do it all, the poor don't have enough life complexity to have this stuff in their lives in the first place.
When you're done with that, call me. I have thoughts about the next level challenge, "stuffwork." I'd like to go "stuffless."