[LINK] Spells Against Autonomy

[Kim Holburn]

> On 2017/Mar/23, at 3:58 PM, Robert Brockway <robert at timetraveller.org> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 23 Mar 2017, Kim Holburn wrote:
> 
>> I have lived in cities where pedestrians can just walk over a road and cars will avoid them (mostly).  Every country and city is different of course.
>> 
>> You say "If my driverless car is stopping every few metres while on city streets to allow a jaywalker across" like it's a bad thing.  Also like a DRIVER.  If you are in a driverless car you are not a DRIVER any more. You will be in the back seat doing something else.  Surfing the interwebs or whatever people in the driverless car era do.  You probably won't notice.
> 
> For the moment (AFAIK) someone still needs to be ready to take over driving if the computer fails.  It is fair to say that this requirement will be eventually removed.

This is a dangerous path.  At a certain point your remove enough of what humans do, they lose concentration, get bored, focus on something else.  You can't bring your concentration back fast enough when the car is moving at speed to be able to make rational decisions.  It has to be all or little.

> Sitting in a car isn't as comfortable as sitting at home and the range of activities I may do is reduced.  That may change a bit but I actually don't think we'll get to the point where I don't care at all.  The constant stopping and starting of the vehicle may actually be annoying even if I don't have to sit in the driver's seat too.  I'd liken it to sitting on a commuter train now, perhaps being a little more comfortable.

When cars are designed to drive you they could make them much more comfortable.

-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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