Whenever I see a post like this I think it's circling around a different problem. It would seem that the overall task or project that a person is using the computer for in a particular moment is important but there is no modern OS (that I know of) that keeps track of this context.
Such a system might be a sort of metadata API for tasks or projects. The system would have a built in task tracking application that would interface with this API. (Which could be pluggable) The metadata for a task could hold a lot of information. For example a default directory where files for the task are stored could be created when the task is created. Other applications like a word processor could query the API to find out where to store its files. Web browsers could store what pages a user looks at for a task. E-Mail clients could offer the current task as a folder to store messages in. When the user switches tasks the currently open applications would be messaged and could open files the user had open when they were perviously working on that task. Finally when a user marks a task as completed all the files and messages related to that task could be archived together.
For the novice user of this system things like the file system go away. Their view is the projects that they are currently working on. The file system will still be there under the covers but user doesn't need to see it. The power user might have tools for developing common project workflows.
But does it have to be that way? Shouldn't things cost less for everyone? Shouldn't people have more free time? Wouldn't a society where people's basic food and housing needs are met at near zero cost be less stressed and less inclined to violence?
I wanted to comment on the blog but the comment link seems broken.
This is basically the algorithm I use however instead of using a recursive call I have a variable that keeps track of the current position. When I run in to a dead end and need to backtrack I mark the cell with a special backtrack flag and find the only neighboring cell that I can move back to that does not have the backtrack flag.
I think one of your problems is going to be peak usage times where a lot of people are traveling to or from work in the morning or afternoon. What would be interesting is to conduct a study. Get a bunch of volunteers in different cities to log their departure location and time as well as their destination. Then run then simulation to see how many shuttles it would require and how full each would be.
The term Intellectual Property is bad and I really wish it could get removed from common usage. Property is not a term that should be applied to something that is infinitely copyable without cost. You steal my my car and I can't use it anymore. You use my idea and I can still act on my idea.
However that does not mean that there should be no protections. If we go back to the US constitution where its patent and copy write law comes from:
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"
It was felt that innovators would be discouraged taking on a lot of up front cost developing an idea if it could copied before they could recover that cost. If we were to stop thinking in terms of property and start thinking in terms of a limited time exclusive right to attempt to recover upfront cost then I think things become a lot clearer. The value of an idea is a nebulous concept however the cost to develop that idea is not.