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"autopilot" "autonomous" Why is it so surprising that people think the prefix "auto-" means automatic or autonomous.

• mikeash 10y ago
  It does mean automatic. Automatic does not mean "no human intervention or supervision" though. And it's surprising because "autopilot" has been a real-world technology for about a century and that real-world technology almost never allows pilots to leave the plane unsupervised.
  • alistairSH 10y ago
    A non-pilot probably has very little clue how an actual airline autopilot works. Nor would I expect them to.
    • mikeash 10y ago
      I wouldn't either, but I would expect either knowing that or not knowing how it works at all, not "knowing" that they're fully autonomous. But I'm probably expecting too much.
  • Buttons840 10y ago
    I typed "define automatic" into Google and got "working by itself with little or no direct human control".