re: #185 goddamnedfrank

The thing is we already live in a country where well over 30K people die every year in automobile accidents, 39% of which involve alcohol. AIs don’t drink, they don’t get tired, distracted, or angry, and the bar for implementing the option of self driving functionality shouldn’t be perfection so much as “are they more reliable than the average person.” And if the tech is not there yet it is very, very close, your anecdotes notwithstanding.

I’ll agree to they should be more reliable than the average person. A standard of better is much preferable to a standard of perfect (which might never be obtainable).

Now if we can have a disinterested government doing the testing, rather than the corporations which stand to profit (“more doctors recommend Camels than any other cigarette”), I would be much less sceptical about the issue.

(The issues of Uber muscling its way into cities and states and ignoring regulations, rapey drivers, and sexually-harassing managers are not anecdotes. They represent the company’s culture. Why should I trust that company at all?)