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The gif is sped up. This vid is actual speed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI I think it's awesome. Bu

The gif is sped up. This vid is actual speed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI I think it's awesome. But, it obvious that the current implementation will inspire the creeps in lots of people. Sci-fi horror has put an unfortunate bad rap on robotic tentacles and chromed vertebrae.

netcan 11y ago
Do you think that without sci-fi horror robotic tentacles and chromed vertebrae would seem more friendly? All my instincts are screaming "evil thing!"
mortenjorck 11y ago
It's funny, if that thing were simply anodized, say, a diffuse white with some blue accents, I imagine it would look far less threatening than its current "Terminator" chrome appearance.
- DanAndersen 11y ago
  Considering Elon Musk's public statements about the risk of advanced AI, perhaps he finds it helpful to cultivate a sense in society that "Terminator-like" AI is starting to happen now.
  - tripzilch 11y ago
    If that were the case, it should have a bright red LED 'eye' somewhere :) It's about just as common as the chromed tentacles, and often co-occurs (2001, Terminator, Matrix, probably more).
kmfrk 11y ago
Time to jack in and take on Agent Smith.
gboudrias 11y ago
This is incredibly uncanny.
bendykstra 11y ago
I bet if you exposed another mammal like a monkey or a cat to that recharging tentacle, it would be frightened by it too. We are wired to be afraid of snakes and snaky things. It's one of the most common phobias. Sci-fi horror merely tapped into that fear.
- eric_h 11y ago
  > We are wired to be afraid of snakes and snaky things Are we really wired for it, though? I've personally never had that fear. Perhaps it's a little more nurture than nature? </anecdata>
  - jonchang 11y ago
    "Experiment 1 results indicated that observer rhesus monkeys acquired a fear of snakes through watching videotapes of model monkeys behaving fearfully with snakes. In Experiment 2, observers watched edited videotapes that showed models reacting either fearfully to toy snakes and nonfearfully to artificial flowers (SN+/FL-) or vice versa (FL+/SN-). SN+/FL- observers acquired a fear of snakes but not of flowers; FL+/SN- observers did not acquire a fear of either stimulus. In Experiment 3, monkeys solved complex appetitive discriminative (PAN) problems at comparable rates regardless of whether the discriminative stimuli were the videotaped snake or the flower stimuli used in Experiment 2. Thus, monkeys appear to selectively associate snakes with fear." Experiment 1 shows that monkeys become afraid of snakes through watching videos of other monkeys being afraid of snakes. Experiment 2 shows that monkeys don't acquire a fear of flowers if shown a video of other monkeys being afraid of flowers. Experiment 3 shows that monkeys can still be conditioned in other tasks using videos of either flowers or snakes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2230660 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2230660
    - nothis 11y ago
      So, is it obvious that monkeys aren't afraid of snakes if they never see other monkeys act afraid before? Because that's what I'd test first. Further, if there's a learned fear of snakes, that might not be coincidence, even if it's not genetic.
Eric_WVGG 11y ago
yeah I excitedly showed that to a friend sitting next to me and she straight up shrieked
ams6110 11y ago
It seems completely, extravagantly unnecessary, but that's much like many other qualities of Tesla cars I guess. Is it really too much work to plug in a charging lead by hand?
- Already__Taken 11y ago
  Same reason keyless entry exists.
- ceequof 11y ago
  Robot cars don't have hands.
  - ams6110 11y ago
    There are several much simpler ways a robot car could connect itself for charging. This is just gee-whiz tech for its own sake, and it's fine for Tesla to do, don't get me wrong. But as someone who can't afford to buy a Tesla, and who wouldn't spend that kind of money on a car even if I had it, I'd rather see the R&D going into more affordable, more practical EVs that I might actually consider purchasing.
    - kalleboo 11y ago
      Because the people who are skilled with robotics should instead be working on chemical engineering and process management? I'm tired of seeing this fallacy of "one thing being developed means that another thing is being put on the sideline". It looks to me like Tesla have the best people on the jobs they need to be on, and just adding "more" isn't going to speed things up more than having more mothers will speed up pregnancy.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
      - leephillips 11y ago
        May I borrow that line? It's a great way to express a point that I frequently try to make.
razster 11y ago
Wouldn't it be faster to just have a post that would align with the vehicle, being already at the correct height to start out with, quickly find the connector and wham-bam thank you ma'am. Snake version will always be slow due to the number of motors needed, imo.
logicallee 11y ago
>The gif is sped up. was considerably more impressive at snake speed!

netcan 11y ago

Do you think that without sci-fi horror robotic tentacles and chromed vertebrae would seem more friendly? All my instincts are screaming "evil thing!"

mortenjorck 11y ago

It's funny, if that thing were simply anodized, say, a diffuse white with some blue accents, I imagine it would look far less threatening than its current "Terminator" chrome appearance.

DanAndersen 11y ago
Considering Elon Musk's public statements about the risk of advanced AI, perhaps he finds it helpful to cultivate a sense in society that "Terminator-like" AI is starting to happen now.
- tripzilch 11y ago
  If that were the case, it should have a bright red LED 'eye' somewhere :) It's about just as common as the chromed tentacles, and often co-occurs (2001, Terminator, Matrix, probably more).

kmfrk 11y ago

Time to jack in and take on Agent Smith.

gboudrias 11y ago

This is incredibly uncanny.

bendykstra 11y ago

I bet if you exposed another mammal like a monkey or a cat to that recharging tentacle, it would be frightened by it too. We are wired to be afraid of snakes and snaky things. It's one of the most common phobias. Sci-fi horror merely tapped into that fear.

eric_h 11y ago
> We are wired to be afraid of snakes and snaky things Are we really wired for it, though? I've personally never had that fear. Perhaps it's a little more nurture than nature? </anecdata>
- jonchang 11y ago
  "Experiment 1 results indicated that observer rhesus monkeys acquired a fear of snakes through watching videotapes of model monkeys behaving fearfully with snakes. In Experiment 2, observers watched edited videotapes that showed models reacting either fearfully to toy snakes and nonfearfully to artificial flowers (SN+/FL-) or vice versa (FL+/SN-). SN+/FL- observers acquired a fear of snakes but not of flowers; FL+/SN- observers did not acquire a fear of either stimulus. In Experiment 3, monkeys solved complex appetitive discriminative (PAN) problems at comparable rates regardless of whether the discriminative stimuli were the videotaped snake or the flower stimuli used in Experiment 2. Thus, monkeys appear to selectively associate snakes with fear." Experiment 1 shows that monkeys become afraid of snakes through watching videos of other monkeys being afraid of snakes. Experiment 2 shows that monkeys don't acquire a fear of flowers if shown a video of other monkeys being afraid of flowers. Experiment 3 shows that monkeys can still be conditioned in other tasks using videos of either flowers or snakes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2230660 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2230660
  - nothis 11y ago
    So, is it obvious that monkeys aren't afraid of snakes if they never see other monkeys act afraid before? Because that's what I'd test first. Further, if there's a learned fear of snakes, that might not be coincidence, even if it's not genetic.

Eric_WVGG 11y ago

yeah I excitedly showed that to a friend sitting next to me and she straight up shrieked

ams6110 11y ago

It seems completely, extravagantly unnecessary, but that's much like many other qualities of Tesla cars I guess. Is it really too much work to plug in a charging lead by hand?

Already__Taken 11y ago
Same reason keyless entry exists.
ceequof 11y ago
Robot cars don't have hands.
- ams6110 11y ago
  There are several much simpler ways a robot car could connect itself for charging. This is just gee-whiz tech for its own sake, and it's fine for Tesla to do, don't get me wrong. But as someone who can't afford to buy a Tesla, and who wouldn't spend that kind of money on a car even if I had it, I'd rather see the R&D going into more affordable, more practical EVs that I might actually consider purchasing.
  - kalleboo 11y ago
    Because the people who are skilled with robotics should instead be working on chemical engineering and process management? I'm tired of seeing this fallacy of "one thing being developed means that another thing is being put on the sideline". It looks to me like Tesla have the best people on the jobs they need to be on, and just adding "more" isn't going to speed things up more than having more mothers will speed up pregnancy.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - leephillips 11y ago
      May I borrow that line? It's a great way to express a point that I frequently try to make.

razster 11y ago

Wouldn't it be faster to just have a post that would align with the vehicle, being already at the correct height to start out with, quickly find the connector and wham-bam thank you ma'am. Snake version will always be slow due to the number of motors needed, imo.

logicallee 11y ago

>The gif is sped up. was considerably more impressive at snake speed!