Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech was originally invented to allow socially weaker minorities to stand up for their rights against a powerful establishment. Freedom of speech is not a safe conduct for the majority to make fun of socially weaker minorities. We know from previous century where such fun can lead us. As the Muslims make out the socially weaker minority in our society, we should be particularly concerned about THEIR freedom of speech. Advanced societies and advanced written press should particularly offer a platform to the socially weaker groups.

The terrorist is someone who is essentially impatient. It is his social weakness that becomes unbearable to him and he decides to destroy this weakness in an act of despair. A competition driven society that ignores its spiritual values will see more terrorists at work, no matter what the "cause" is. The reason is that in such society, the consequence of being socially weak is indeed totally unbearable: you are excluded and start suffering from complete alienation. The focus on common, sometimes "forgotten", values in the different manifestations was therefore not a coincidence.

cars, ships, trains and planes connected

All moving vehicles will be connected soon to the Internet. This is valid for cars, buses, ships, trains and planes. There are several reasons for doing this. First, we need to have more and data exchange with the vehicle itself. This is the so-called telematics. Vehicles tend to have more and more sensors and more complicated software, This requires regular sensor reading and software updates. A vehicle is also an object of value; there may be reasons to follow its position, speed and status. This evolution is a part of the so-called Internet-of-Things (IoT) evolution.

In some years from now, cars, ships, trains and planes will be driven by computers. Or they will be remotely piloted by someone who is not inside. This requires reliable communication links. Autonomy and mobility will no longer be the privilege of those who can drive a car. This may seem scary. What if the computer is wrong? Very true, but don't forget how many people die today because of human errors and tiredness.

A second reason why we need data connections to cars is that passengers inside want to stay connected while travelling. This is already happening in buses and trains through the GSM network, but using satellites, we will also remain connected while travelling in ships and planes.

What is the impact on our life? Well first, we will remain connected to our employer even longer. A trip will no longer be an excuse for not answering an e-mail. On the other hand, we will also remain connected to our home base and share our travel experience instantly. There may be security and privacy implications. Social web sites will be used more and more to release travelling frustration. We will share and witness more and more arrogant driving behaviour on Facebook; this is not really what we were looking for, on the other hand it may discourage such driving behaviour. Passengers' smartphones may also relay images of security incidents in public transportation. Tracing relatives who are delayed in traffic will also become more easy. And in the long term, cars will drive for us. This will most probably increase the road capacity and reduce the chance of accidents and traffic jams.

I refer to earlier blogs: "Satellite Navigation can save your life", "e-call" and "Satellite navigation and communication".