IWSF – Ch 290

The debate continued, and Kang Jin-hoo unleashed a barrage of remarks as if he had made up his mind.

“I understand the feeling of disliking nuisance facilities in front of your house. But, unless it’s a landfill or a factory spewing dust, what’s the problem with rental housing, dormitories, special schools, or fire stations being built in the neighborhood? This situation is not only due to local egoism, but the fault of politicians is the greatest. There has been no proper principle in promoting projects so far. If residents strongly opposed, they made things that should have been done not happen, and if there was no opposition, they forcibly pushed through things that shouldn’t have been done. It is also a problem that they have indiscriminately offered various support measures to reach a compromise once there is opposition. Because of this, if even a slightly disliked facility is to be built, they unconditionally oppose it first. Thinking that the saying ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’ is not wrong. But if it is the right thing to do and a necessary thing, someone must do it.”

At the moderator’s request for final remarks, Mayor Won Sang-hoon wiped sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and said,

“Ah, yes. Our Seoul City will continue dialogue and communication to solve the youth dormitory issue by gathering opinions from residents and university students, and I would like to say that we must move towards a productive conclusion and a national grand compromise that everyone can accept through social consensus.”

Following him, Kang Jin-hoo looked at the camera and made his final remarks.

“I want to ask the public. First, are university students targets to be avoided? Second, are dormitories nuisance facilities? Third, do you think the environment will worsen if dormitories are built in the neighborhood? If all three are no, then what on earth are you opposing for?”

***

The effect of the public debate was immediate.

In a real-time viewer poll, 77 percent of respondents said dormitory construction should be allowed, more than three times the number who said it should not be allowed.

The Seoul City bulletin board was flooded with posts criticizing the mayor.

– Mayor Won Sang-hoon foolishly went to the debate and got completely owned.

-ㅋㅋㅋ Kang Jin-hoo stripped him bare, even his soul.

– Why did he even go there?

– Is this what they mean by ‘if you stay still, you’ll at least stay in the middle’?

– So unfortunate ㅜ Our mayor needs to prepare for the presidential election.

– Please do run for president. I’ll campaign against you ^^

– Yeah. Absolutely not voting for him.

– But I still don’t understand, why are the residents opposing it?

– Kang Jin-hoo is right. It’s his land, his money, he’s building his own building, why are they stopping him?

– I live in front of Korea University, and I am in favor of dormitory construction. I ask other residents to please stop opposing for the sake of opposing.

In front of City Hall, landlords were still gathered, protesting.

Mayor Won Sang-hoon buried his head in his hands.

‘Why did I do that?’

He was in a completely hopeless dilemma.

Kang Jin-hoo had never made empty promises. If the dormitory permit was not issued by the set date, he would truly scrap the basic science support plan entirely.

If the ₩1 trillion support package were to be lost, it would be recorded as the worst political blunder. His competitors would gleefully tear him apart over it.

Above all, there was no justifiable reason to oppose dormitory construction. If he had tied it to basic science support and made unreasonable demands, he could have refused it readily.

However, as Kang Jin-hoo said, it wasn’t like he was asking for an increase in floor area ratio or special favors. The problem was that they were not issuing a permit for construction that was originally planned according to the law, just because residents were opposing it.

In this situation, OTK Company announced specific basic science support measures.

They weren’t going to execute ₩1 trillion immediately, but first execute ₩100 billion, and plan to spend about ₩50 billion annually over the next 20 years. They also decided to cooperate with universities and academia to create an organization to select research project support recipients and scholarship recipients.

The science community couldn’t hide their anticipation.

Professor Kim Ho-min, who had avoided interviews after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, appeared in the media and stated his position regarding this matter.

“Science is not a hungry discipline, and it should not be. For the development of science in Korea, the housing rights issue of students must be resolved first. I earnestly ask for the public’s support for this issue.”

Except for some landlords and local residents, the majority of the public favored and supported dormitory construction.

As public opinion turned, lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties, who had opposed it out of consideration for local residents’ votes, quickly backed away. Only Assemblyman Ma Sang-tae of the Free People’s Party continued to call for the construction of a Korean medicine hospital in his constituency to the end.

Mayor Won Sang-hoon felt like crying.

‘Why is this happening to me? What did I do wrong?’

From the beginning, he had no intention of confronting Kang Jin-hoo. He just wished Kang Jin-hoo would at least pretend to compromise or yield.

For foolishly stepping forward, his presidential ambitions and everything else seemed to be going down the drain.

In the end, Seoul City decided to accept all 19 dormitory construction plans, a day before the date Kang Jin-hoo had stated.

As soon as the permits were issued, construction companies that had signed construction contracts began construction simultaneously.

When their protests to Seoul City didn’t work, studio apartment owners and residents went to each district office to protest. Some district council members sympathized with them out of concern for votes, but district heads diligently avoided them.

‘The mayor got completely owned like that, what do you expect us district heads to do?’

***

Residents’ opposition had somewhat decreased, but studio apartment owners’ protests continued.

Some blocked the construction site entrances and lay down, or even resorted to physical force, but regardless, dormitory construction proceeded as planned.

As expected, after Seoul City issued permits, Gyeonggi Province and other regions, which had been holding back due to public opposition, also issued permits.

We gathered at Hyun-joo noona’s house for dinner.

Mother also came to visit with CEO Im Soo-mi. Regardless of age, they seemed to be getting along like friends.

Mother and CEO Im Soo-mi were delighted watching the baby.

“The baby is so pretty. Our Jin-hoo was this cute when he was young too.”

Ellie, who was listening, asked.

“Really, Mother? Jin-hoo was very cute when he was young?”

“Of course. People all thought he was a girl. I’ll show you baby pictures later.”

“……”

What about my right of portrait?

Taek-gyu, fascinated by his first nephew, stared at him for a long time. Even I had to admit, the baby was indeed pretty.

His skin was snow-white, and his eyes were sparkling.

“Is raising a baby manageable?”

At Taek-gyu’s question, Hyun-joo noona shook her head.

“Don’t even talk about it. He cries so much, I couldn’t even sleep for a few hours yesterday. I always just thought I wanted to have one, I didn’t know raising them would be this hard.”

Even with a nanny, she must be constantly worried.

“When are you returning to work?”

“I’ll go back as soon as my maternity leave is over.”

Of course, Hyun-joo noona had no intention of quitting her job. If talent like noona quit their jobs because they gave birth, it would be a national loss.

In Korea, work and childcare seem like incompatible problems. However, actual statistics from developed countries show that the more women work, the higher the birth rate.

Conversely, it means that people avoid childbirth if job security is unstable or they are worried about career breaks due to childbirth. Perhaps because of this, Korea’s birth rate is the lowest among OECD countries.

Even in this situation, the government is just telling people to have babies without any real solutions.

As the baby burst into tears again, Henry rushed over and picked up the baby. He looked as skilled as one could be, not like a first-time dad.

Hyun-joo noona said to us, looking at us.

“I heard you stirred up another big thing this time.”

“Big thing? It’s just building dormitories.”

“Anything you do in Korea becomes a big thing. You probably got insulted again.”

Judging by her asking like this, she probably doesn’t watch the news or internet much. She must have been too busy taking care of the baby.

Taek-gyu patted my shoulder and said.

“Of course. If you search for his name on portal sites, all sorts of insults come up as related search terms. I dare not tell Geon because he might be shocked if he heard them.”

“……”

I, too, would be shocked if I heard it.

***

After acquiring Eunsung Trucks, CarOS continued unmanned truck driving experiments.

Logistics trucks that run at a constant speed on fixed routes were the first area where automation would be applied. CarOS, having already completed several experiments, proceeded to a public demonstration. The platooning technology, in which five trucks drove in a convoy, was astonishing.

If the lead truck brakes or accelerates, and then the following trucks react, the distance narrows or widens. However, if information is transmitted to the following trucks the moment the lead truck makes a move, they can reduce or increase speed almost simultaneously.

The safe distance for platooning is usually about 15 meters, but even in case of sudden maneuvers, it did not widen to more than 10 meters, and even if the gap widened, it quickly narrowed again.

Thanks to convoy driving, air resistance was reduced, and there was also a fuel efficiency improvement effect of more than 10 percent compared to driving by a skilled truck driver.

The autonomous driving experiment traversing around the Great Lakes was broadcast live through video sites. In case of emergency situations, people were seated in each truck, but they did not make any manipulations.

Experiments simulating cases where other cars cut in or various accident situations were also passed without any problems.

When fuel ran out midway, the trucks entered a rest area side by side. After refueling, they immediately departed.

The trucks loaded with cargo arrived at a warehouse on the outskirts of Detroit after driving 500 miles. Everyone waiting applauded and welcomed them.

There, Daryl said.

“With the commercialization of unmanned trucks, the logistics system will drastically change in the future.”

This sparked fierce pros and cons debates within the United States.

[CarOS, Ushering in the Era of Driverless Cars]

(Omitted) CarOS has successfully completed the logistics truck driving.

CarOS has filed hundreds of patents related to platooning and driverless cars, and has received temporary unmanned truck operation permits in Michigan, where its headquarters are located, and in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, which are included in the Rust Belt. California, Nevada, and New York are awaiting approval.

Trucks without drivers running on the road are now a reality. Some people are concerned about traffic accidents. It is natural to have these concerns as there have been several accidents so far where drivers were injured or pedestrians were hit due to errors in autonomous driving technology.

However, the dangers of new technologies tend to be exaggerated compared to reality.

When automobiles first came out, cars hitting people was news-worthy. In fact, horse-drawn carriages caused more accidents.

The same is true now. Countless traffic accidents occur every day. Accidents caused by human-driven cars are treated as nothing special, but accidents caused by autonomous driving become huge issues.

However, statistics show that the probability of autonomous driving causing an accident is less than 5 percent compared to humans. That’s because autonomous driving does not drink and drive or drive drowsy like humans, and does not do other things while driving.

The AI that controls unmanned trucks is also the same. Unlike other truck drivers, it doesn’t sleep, doesn’t rest, and doesn’t eat. It doesn’t receive daily wages, and doesn’t go on strike.

If all logistics trucks become unmanned, accidents will decrease and costs will be reduced. There is no reason for companies to not welcome this. If logistics costs decrease, product prices will also be cheaper, so consumers will also welcome it. However, not everyone is happy.

One problem is the jobs of truck drivers, of which there are 2 million in the United States alone. The Teamsters union has already announced strikes and protests, demanding job security and the revocation of unmanned truck operating permits.

This is just the beginning.

Driverless cars will definitely expand their domain. For people who reluctantly drive to commute, this fact may be welcome, but not for people whose job is driving.

After truck drivers all lose their jobs, who will be next? If you are a taxi driver, bus driver, or Uber driver, can you really continue doing that job in 10 years?