I'm pretty sure Tom's idea about walking phones with Pokemon GO have some merit to it, because in Pokemon GO it takes 2 to 12 km to hatch egg, 2 to 20 km to receive a Buddy Candy, 50 km to receive weekly reward... There is a japanese old man who going through Tokyo on a bicycle with like 30 phones with Pokemon GO on them, he became a cultural icon and local symbol of Pokemon GO community.
"99 mobile phones Sitting in an artist's cart Ringtone bells, a text alert: There's many cars on this strasse! The Googleplex springs to life, Opens Waze and Google Maps, But all they do is freeze and crash, The 99 mobile phones go by."
"Ninety-nine dead phones on the cart, Ninety-nine phones without juice, recharge one of them, pass it around, Hundred-and-twenty-three dead phones on the cart..."
The premise of the Hunger Games, where people have television screens but no food doesn't seem to be that fictional after all, given Tom's revelation about the ubiquity of mobile phones. Of course, I am typing this on a phone.
Early this year there was a claim that a startup is trying to give away free TV in exchange for a constantly running ads on a second display *plus* a camera watching the viewer. In a less dystopian frame, we also have government subsidized phones all around the world.
I don't think it's quite because they're so necessary as much as that laying phone cable or water pipes for miles and miles is a huge project while you can put up a cell tower with a microwave link anywhere there's power and a clear line of sight. Adding cell service to a remote area is relatively easy, by design, while transporting material is difficult.
Everyone is surprised about there being more people with mobile and internter than with water, but it makes total sense. To have a phone and internet you need two 'one off' things - a phone you buy once and celltower infrastructure you buy once relatively cheaply, while electricity is easily produced and can be made from essentially thin air (solar/wind). Whereas clean water is constantly consumed (you cant just import a liter of water per person and be done), the infrastructure to produce it locally costs a lot more to establish and maintain, and requires a lot more power compared to cell towers.
@@markusklyver6277and the higher profit margins come from how straightforward it is to install cell towers (and import+sell phones) compared to installing pipes, pumping water, and making sure its safe to drink.
I had a big bagful of 100 random remote controls that I got from a hoarder friend of mine. I put it up on Craigslist and sold it for 50 bucks. The buyer was ecstatic to have seen my ad because he was making a short film about a guy who time travels through his television using a chair made out of -- or in reality covered in -- remotes. I'm sure he didn't expect to get them all in one fell swoop like that!
What I love about this question is that it throws you off! I think everyone and their mother by now knows about the German dude with the cart of 99 phones. And that story has GPS and Google Maps. So everyone makes the correlation that the other story about Nigeria has to have GPS and Google Maps involved somehow. Also the cart in the second question was always in motion, so you also imagine the first cart to be always in motion as well. The First Question actually becomes harder by the existence of the Second Question.
This one was quite easy to get, especially the German one since I think it was in the news all over the place. The one in Nigeria was slightly trickier but I got it quite close
i'm from austria, my first guess was that he was downloading/uploading continously so that noone else could use the mobile tower to highlight how bad cellphone infrastructure was
A better way for the question-setter to convey there are two parts/two answers would have been to say "What's happening in *each case*?" (not "both cases", which implies the same answer for, well, both cases)
Internet access infrastructure can be done with satellites, over air, without much long-term investment. Energy, water, roads, are all physical, incredibly infrastructure heavy things, that need a lot of maintenance over time to keep working. If you replace "internet" with "radio", it suddenly isn't as shocking.
I actually knew this right away. I knew BOTH parts because I recently remembered these stories and re read them. I learned the Nigerian one from a video that was one of those where a guy from his native African country (in this case he was Nigerian) tells a wider audience what Nigeria’s culture is like and the little things in it he noticed the West doesn’t have. Super cool stuff for someone who hasn’t really gone into a cultural dive by a native. An Englishman is probably better at describing his own land better than an American who visited and stayed a while for research, generally.
After the just hearing the question, my mind goes to Maps traffic data. I know of truckloads of phones being used in the same car to make it seem to navigation apps that there's heavy traffic. Mabe the good version of that would be to mark a road as safe ?
Guess I'm old fashioned. I interpreted the Nigeria case as requiring the cart be in motion as well, and rather than fancy solar, it would be a makeshift generator attached to the cart wheels kind of deal.
Knew this one from the title, might have been mentioned in a Tom Scott Video -- yup, with the first few seconds he confirms he's read it. Probably from Tom Edit: Huh, two parter - that was a neat question (didn't get the second part, that was a nicely structured question)
Nigeria used "cell in box" to build out their network. All of stuff for a cell site (electronics, generator, etc) is in a climate controlled 40 foot shipping container. All they have to do is build a standard radio tower and install the antennas on the tower. Dig a hole and bury a diesel gas tank. Then hook everything up and it is fully functional. It can takes as little as two day to go from nothing to a functioning cell site.
"There are people in the world without access to water" is absolutely a tragedy. But why would it be a lesser tragedy if these people _also_ did not have access to cell phones? Cell infrastructure is wireless - there is zero infrastructure cost associated with getting it to your home. And there is zero maintenance cost to the end-user. And if you're evicted, you don't lose access to the cell infrastructure. Unlike plumbing. So of course cellphones are cheaper than running water. That's not a tragedy - that's just math. The tragedy is that humankind collectively has enough wealth to ensure everyone has access to water - but we can't/won't work together to achieve that. The affordability of cellphones has nothing to do with it, IMO.
@@whydoineedanameiwillneverp7790 - Building pressurised water pipes to every home is a lot more expensive than setting up some phone masts, sure, but in most places you _can_ get water the same way you can get wireless data (through the air, from the cloud). It does requires bulkier storage, tough, and the transfer rate can be a bit unpredictable.
@whydoineedanameiwillneverp7790 Simple - you will die without water. And despite the society we've created in the West, you don't actually need the internet to survive.
People can't access services, including help for homelessness, job application, health insurance, and more, without online access--if you don't have a home, a smartphone will do the job. Ergo, including in the U.S., more people have phones that running water and proper sewage.
The question doesn't match the answer. The question asks for something that is happening in both cases, but the answer is two things each of which is happening in only one case.
Has Toby had a stroke? Either that or maybe it's the camera angle, but it looked like one side of her mouth was a bit lower than the other. Probably the camera angle
Tom: I know the answer to this question, so I'm going to stay out of it.
Also Tom: Answers both questions.
I'm pretty sure Tom's idea about walking phones with Pokemon GO have some merit to it, because in Pokemon GO it takes 2 to 12 km to hatch egg, 2 to 20 km to receive a Buddy Candy, 50 km to receive weekly reward... There is a japanese old man who going through Tokyo on a bicycle with like 30 phones with Pokemon GO on them, he became a cultural icon and local symbol of Pokemon GO community.
Yeah, I could've sworn I've seen a picture of someone doing that, must be the Japanese man you mentioned. So it certainly does make sense as a guess!
IIRC, he also wears a full Ash cosplay
Honestly I was surprised that Tom had never even tried Pokemon Go
He's recently deceased if the report was correct
Google is telling me about a Taiwanese man with 64 phones
"99 mobile phones
Sitting in an artist's cart
Ringtone bells, a text alert:
There's many cars on this strasse!
The Googleplex springs to life,
Opens Waze and Google Maps,
But all they do is freeze and crash,
The 99 mobile phones go by."
I was trying to read that with the tune in my head! 😂
❤❤
That's actually pretty catchy
"Ninety-nine dead phones on the cart,
Ninety-nine phones without juice,
recharge one of them, pass it around,
Hundred-and-twenty-three dead phones on the cart..."
@@hairyaireywhich song?
The premise of the Hunger Games, where people have television screens but no food doesn't seem to be that fictional after all, given Tom's revelation about the ubiquity of mobile phones. Of course, I am typing this on a phone.
Early this year there was a claim that a startup is trying to give away free TV in exchange for a constantly running ads on a second display *plus* a camera watching the viewer. In a less dystopian frame, we also have government subsidized phones all around the world.
I don't think it's quite because they're so necessary as much as that laying phone cable or water pipes for miles and miles is a huge project while you can put up a cell tower with a microwave link anywhere there's power and a clear line of sight. Adding cell service to a remote area is relatively easy, by design, while transporting material is difficult.
We do be living in a society
Everyone is surprised about there being more people with mobile and internter than with water, but it makes total sense. To have a phone and internet you need two 'one off' things - a phone you buy once and celltower infrastructure you buy once relatively cheaply, while electricity is easily produced and can be made from essentially thin air (solar/wind). Whereas clean water is constantly consumed (you cant just import a liter of water per person and be done), the infrastructure to produce it locally costs a lot more to establish and maintain, and requires a lot more power compared to cell towers.
Also better margins on mobile in terms of profit
@@markusklyver6277and the higher profit margins come from how straightforward it is to install cell towers (and import+sell phones) compared to installing pipes, pumping water, and making sure its safe to drink.
99 Red Mobile phones, carted under summer sky.
Take out "phones" and it works better.
@@colmwhateveryoulike3240only in the (inferior) English version. The rhythm matches in the original German version.
@@ClementinesmWTF Oh yes true!
I had a big bagful of 100 random remote controls that I got from a hoarder friend of mine. I put it up on Craigslist and sold it for 50 bucks. The buyer was ecstatic to have seen my ad because he was making a short film about a guy who time travels through his television using a chair made out of -- or in reality covered in -- remotes. I'm sure he didn't expect to get them all in one fell swoop like that!
That's a really cool story :)
What I love about this question is that it throws you off!
I think everyone and their mother by now knows about the German dude with the cart of 99 phones. And that story has GPS and Google Maps. So everyone makes the correlation that the other story about Nigeria has to have GPS and Google Maps involved somehow. Also the cart in the second question was always in motion, so you also imagine the first cart to be always in motion as well.
The First Question actually becomes harder by the existence of the Second Question.
The first part does indicate the cart is in motion though. It says it contains 50 phones and is "going around" the city.
This one was quite easy to get, especially the German one since I think it was in the news all over the place. The one in Nigeria was slightly trickier but I got it quite close
i'm from austria, my first guess was that he was downloading/uploading continously so that noone else could use the mobile tower to highlight how bad cellphone infrastructure was
A better way for the question-setter to convey there are two parts/two answers would have been to say "What's happening in *each case*?" (not "both cases", which implies the same answer for, well, both cases)
That case was very famous in Germany. It was absolutely brilliant!
I heard about it once from my classmates, would have loved to have been there haha!
Internet access infrastructure can be done with satellites, over air, without much long-term investment. Energy, water, roads, are all physical, incredibly infrastructure heavy things, that need a lot of maintenance over time to keep working. If you replace "internet" with "radio", it suddenly isn't as shocking.
Also can't really turn a profit on water
I actually knew this right away. I knew BOTH parts because I recently remembered these stories and re read them. I learned the Nigerian one from a video that was one of those where a guy from his native African country (in this case he was Nigerian) tells a wider audience what Nigeria’s culture is like and the little things in it he noticed the West doesn’t have. Super cool stuff for someone who hasn’t really gone into a cultural dive by a native. An Englishman is probably better at describing his own land better than an American who visited and stayed a while for research, generally.
After the just hearing the question, my mind goes to Maps traffic data. I know of truckloads of phones being used in the same car to make it seem to navigation apps that there's heavy traffic. Mabe the good version of that would be to mark a road as safe ?
Guess I'm old fashioned. I interpreted the Nigeria case as requiring the cart be in motion as well, and rather than fancy solar, it would be a makeshift generator attached to the cart wheels kind of deal.
Knew this one from the title, might have been mentioned in a Tom Scott Video -- yup, with the first few seconds he confirms he's read it. Probably from Tom
Edit: Huh, two parter - that was a neat question (didn't get the second part, that was a nicely structured question)
"I'm gonna sit this out.
Anyway, here's the answer."
Nigeria used "cell in box" to build out their network. All of stuff for a cell site (electronics, generator, etc) is in a climate controlled 40 foot shipping container. All they have to do is build a standard radio tower and install the antennas on the tower. Dig a hole and bury a diesel gas tank. Then hook everything up and it is fully functional. It can takes as little as two day to go from nothing to a functioning cell site.
I heard cat instead of cart and began to imagine straping 99 phones to very angry cat
"There are more people in the world with mobile phones with internet access than with running water in their home."
What a sad world we live in!
Literally a cyberpunk dystopia. Enjoy the ride.
Don't worry, I'm sure Elon is working on wireless water.
"There are people in the world without access to water" is absolutely a tragedy. But why would it be a lesser tragedy if these people _also_ did not have access to cell phones?
Cell infrastructure is wireless - there is zero infrastructure cost associated with getting it to your home. And there is zero maintenance cost to the end-user. And if you're evicted, you don't lose access to the cell infrastructure. Unlike plumbing. So of course cellphones are cheaper than running water. That's not a tragedy - that's just math.
The tragedy is that humankind collectively has enough wealth to ensure everyone has access to water - but we can't/won't work together to achieve that. The affordability of cellphones has nothing to do with it, IMO.
@@whydoineedanameiwillneverp7790 - Building pressurised water pipes to every home is a lot more expensive than setting up some phone masts, sure, but in most places you _can_ get water the same way you can get wireless data (through the air, from the cloud).
It does requires bulkier storage, tough, and the transfer rate can be a bit unpredictable.
@whydoineedanameiwillneverp7790 Simple - you will die without water. And despite the society we've created in the West, you don't actually need the internet to survive.
More Tibees and Julian please
People can't access services, including help for homelessness, job application, health insurance, and more, without online access--if you don't have a home, a smartphone will do the job. Ergo, including in the U.S., more people have phones that running water and proper sewage.
I'm sure I first heard about this on one of Tom's channels...
I thought of Pokemon Go as my answer too 😂
Oh, CART! I heard her say "cat".
The question doesn't match the answer. The question asks for something that is happening in both cases, but the answer is two things each of which is happening in only one case.
Perhaps it’s meant to be interpreted as what is happening in *each* of these cases versus a common thing across both. Still confusing though
Ah, New Zealand (Toby)! Until now I hadn’t heard her speak for long enough a time to figure out where she’s from.
Yep I said that it's a basic need for everyone in a job interview.
Knew this from just seeing the title
A phone a day drives the cars away
Two thoughts after reading the video's title: an AR Game (like one of the three Niantic ones), or artificially generated traffic jams!
I was stuck thinking that they were doing the same thing in both places and trying to work out why it was helpful in Nigeria, but annoying in Germany.
I know about this one 😃
my guess for the Nigerian answer would have been that they are using the hotspot tied together somehow to be a mobile wifi cart type deal
I wanna guess it’s 50 Nigerian princes😬😂😂
I see Tibby I click
My guess for Nigeria at 3:12 or so : letting the people take selfies
Me reading the title: its the google maps thing?
Me after reading the question and Tom's answer: it is the Google maps thing!
Well I was way off
I was thinking like all the phones have alarms going off and it's some kind of modern replacement knocker-upper
Also sell coffee and call it a "mobile internet cafe"
New solutions for new technology problems :-)
A lot of the banking infrastructure in Africa was based on mobile phone banking.
Since it was Nigeria, I was expecting some sort of Nigerian Prince scam
Just the title:
I know this. Cologne I think?
I was thinking it was to do with pokemon go
Nah, I'd win
Great, gotta make sure the Nigerian's all have fully charged phones. Wouldn't want them to miss a call from one of their scam victims!
Has Toby had a stroke? Either that or maybe it's the camera angle, but it looked like one side of her mouth was a bit lower than the other. Probably the camera angle
What?