Every article about ChatGPT and cheating, it was like... y'all don't have bluebooks? They were a very regular appearance back when I was in school, and... it's hard to believe that they went away.
I took a trip in a Cruise before they shut down. It was around twice the time it should have taken due to avoidance of legal left turns (leading to a genuinely strange route) and bizarre and jarring sudden braking and acceleration. There was a large plexiglas shield between the passenger and "driver" area, preventing air conditioning from reaching the passenger compartment, and it was hot - it was like riding in a taxi with broken AC. It was a strange and unsettling ride.
I've also ridden in a Waymo, and apart from the strangely small amount of clearance into the rear passenger compartment (I am tall), the ride was smooth and refined.
I'm willing to give Cruise some sort of pass on the San Francisco issue - a body hit by another vehicle had been suddenly thrown into the path of the Cruise at close range, a terrible and confusing situation for any human or automated driver - but based on my experience, they did not generally have things worked out in a commercial fashion and needed to hit pause until they did.
It was a truly strange experience being in San Francisco in the mid-aughts, with the vibes quickly turning away from the idealistic but flawed freaks and geeks (now largely retired) to the brogrammers and techbros of the latter half of the aughts who are still with us today.
It's as if the techbros tried to emulate the positive aspirations of their hippie-tech forefathers and, over the past decade, were just like "naah, forget it."
Once upon a time, we geeks truly believed that computing and telecommunications would bring us together. It's truly depressing seeing this generation of money-addled idiots set us back thousands of years using the tech we created.
At some point, the Jobs folks took the helm from the Woz folks, and it went from being curious, eccentric (a compliment, if ambiguous) people doing fun stuff to "How can we take over the world from the finance bros (“east coast”, NYC) and the political establishment (DC)?" Andreessen Horowitz, for example.
> "Once upon a time, we geeks truly believed that computing and telecommunications would bring us together."
There were historical precedents, like the printing press, which was hoped to bring morality and education to the masses but brought penny dreadfuls and yellow journalism along with it, and radio / television, which was hoped to bring culture and education to the masses and brought us soap operas and more yellow journalism along with it, that should have clued geeks in about what humanity would do with computing. Technology can't solve humans being human.
Blaming human nature mystifies the power relations that shape society. Penny dreadfuls and yellow journalism were the result of the commodification of culture under capitalism. The internet failed to bring us together because it was shaped and appropriated by corporate power to fragment solidarity, extract data, and commodify attention. In each case, it’s the profit-seeking of a minority class that bends technology toward commodification and cultural degradation. But let’s blame human nature instead of the power structures that generate these outcomes.
For your consideration, the Smart Fortwo electric drive. They really tried. Not a success. While I never owned one, I drove them several times and I liked them!
Indeed, the Smart was a highway-legal car. In the US, it's been possible for years and years and buy a golf cart functional as a "city car" for far less than $12k that you can only use on residential streets or in planned communities. They're very widely available. Virtually nobody actually does this. At least in the US, it's an existing option that is not a viable market segment whatsoever.
Most larger cities in the USA have expressways/interstate highways through the core or as beltways or both. Yes you can get around on surface streets but most people will want the option to use the faster roads.
I've driven EVs since 2013 across several states and I've never once encountered a functioning public charging station in the US that has a credit card reader and does not require payment and/or access via an app. I'm all in favor of it, and I understand they technically exist, but perhaps your specific locality requires that? It's in no way my experience.
Kayfabe is the issue. Wrestling exists in the space where any intelligent person says "you're putting me on" and can't entirely connect. Either the matches need to be legitimate sporting events, or the performances need to be even more heightened, so much so that they have clear athletic, dramatic or metaphoric intent.
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