Thread by @balajis

Tech needs to build the remote economy, now.

Every single function that can be made remote-capable must be made so. Yes, video chat and productivity. But also telemedicine, autonomous delivery robots, more.

We need to safeguard the lives of doctors, nurses, delivery personnel.

Rationale: remote work protects information workers. But we need to figure out how to protect everyone.

As stopgap, all workers for delivery services who choose to continue should get training, protective gear, military-style hazard pay.

What China did:
ft.com/content/6a1169…

But that's a stopgap.

Next level would be a cloud kitchen with a videotaped ingredients-to-food-to-delivery-robot process.

Each piece of this exists, it's "just" snapping them together.

You want to remove as many humans as possible from the loop, to protect them & customers.

Similarly for Amazon: maximally autonomous transfer of package from factory to truck for delivery. Minimize number of humans, video tape the process.

It's like Fedex Tracking Number 2.0 or farm-to-table. Everyone now has an interest in auditing the hygiene of their supply chain.

How governments can help:

1) encourage autonomous vehicles and sidewalk delivery robots as public health measure
2) for safety, turn some roads into autonomous-only roads, perhaps at certain times of day