4 ms·

A big part of this is movies. When they show auto-pilot in the movies, people get up and just leave. There are countless times I have seen this play out in the

by electic 10y ago

A big part of this is movies. When they show auto-pilot in the movies, people get up and just leave. There are countless times I have seen this play out in the movies and people think cars with the same name should behave the same way.

mikeash 10y ago
Do you have an example? The only one that comes to mind is Airplane! where the whole thing is played for laughs. I'm not questioning it, I'm just unfamiliar.
- etendue 10y ago
  Demolition Man, I Robot, or Minority Report
  - mikeash 10y ago
    It disturbs me that all the examples so far are science fiction. If people are inferring real-world capabilities from SF movies then we're totally screwed!
    - etendue 10y ago
      I don't see why my examples should in any way "disturb you". Science fiction frequently is an inspiration for products and ideas that are made real, examples are legion. I judiciously selected I Robot and Minority Report because Audi and Lexus, respectively, had product placement for future design concepts.
      - mikeash 10y ago
        If these movies are in fact the reason why people overestimate the capabilities of Tesla's system, then that means people's inability to distinguish science fiction from reality is getting people actually killed. That's pretty disturbing! Note, I'm not saying it's wrong, just awful.
        etendue 10y ago
        I am not trying to imply that people are having difficulty distinguishing fiction from reality. I am noting that real auto companies have deliberately placed product concepts in media to prime people's expectations of what future products will look like and what they will be able to do. Independently, there are also proper level 4 systems under active development getting plenty of popular press coverage. I also note that the very public face of Tesla frequently makes very public and (in my opinion, overly optimistic) declarations of their product's capabilities both present and future, for example (Jan 2016), "The Model S is 'probably better than humans at this point in highway driving' according to Musk." [0] It doesn't strike me to be all that far of a leap for an average person to conclude that the future has arrived. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/11/elon-musk-tesla-cars-no-driver-model-s https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/11/elon-musk...
    - pjc50 10y ago
      Other way round: real-world capabilities are built out to meet the SF expectations. Star Trek communicators -> mobile phones. Star Trek computer -> Alexa/Siri et al. (Besides, the alternative is for the layman to infer capabilities from marketing material, which is even more outlandishly fictional) Oh, and if you want an exhaustive list of when something appears in media, TVtropes will always deliver: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6zj22p5kr47sfh2uoy8fffry http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6zj22p5kr47sfh2...
    - RodericDay 10y ago
      automatic washing machine automatic login / logout / lock automatic debit of monthly bills automatic reply to calls / emails automatic plant watering
      - mikeash 10y ago
        > automatic washing machine Will happily flood the house if something goes wrong. > automatic login Frequently requires manually reentering credentials. > automatic debit of monthly bills Will happily send your life savings to the power company if they typo a couple of extra zeroes on your bill. > automatic reply to emails Notorious for massive screwups when people enable them without adequate controls, especially when multiple people on the same mailing list do it at the same time. All of these examples seem to reinforce the idea that "automatic" does not mean "requires no human supervision."
        electic 10y ago
        > Will happily flood the house if something goes wrong. It isn't supposed to flood the house. It is designed to be automatic. Meaning no supervision. Tesla's Autopilot isn't designed this way yet carries the name. Let's keep going. > Will happily send your life savings to the power company if they typo a couple of extra zeroes on your bill. This has nothing to do with automatic payment being poorly designed. It is designed to pay the balance without your intervention...hence automatic. > Notorious for massive screwups when people enable them without adequate controls, especially when multiple people on the same mailing list do it at the same time. Depends on how it is implemented. There are usually more knobs to this feature and it is designed to have you program it. Based on programming, settings, etc, it will do whatever you set it to without you having to be there...hence automatic reply.
        mikeash 10y ago
        I'm not saying automatic bill pay is poorly designed, I'm saying it requires supervision to make sure it doesn't do anything stupid. We don't expect "autopay" to be foolproof, we expect it to handle the mundane stuff.
    - ceejayoz 10y ago
      > If people are inferring real-world capabilities from SF movies then we're totally screwed! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI_effect
- electic 10y ago
  Captain America - Civil War
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

by electic 10y ago

mikeash 10y ago

Do you have an example? The only one that comes to mind is Airplane! where the whole thing is played for laughs. I'm not questioning it, I'm just unfamiliar.

etendue 10y ago
Demolition Man, I Robot, or Minority Report
- mikeash 10y ago
  It disturbs me that all the examples so far are science fiction. If people are inferring real-world capabilities from SF movies then we're totally screwed!
  - etendue 10y ago
    I don't see why my examples should in any way "disturb you". Science fiction frequently is an inspiration for products and ideas that are made real, examples are legion. I judiciously selected I Robot and Minority Report because Audi and Lexus, respectively, had product placement for future design concepts.
    - mikeash 10y ago
      If these movies are in fact the reason why people overestimate the capabilities of Tesla's system, then that means people's inability to distinguish science fiction from reality is getting people actually killed. That's pretty disturbing! Note, I'm not saying it's wrong, just awful.
      - etendue 10y ago
        I am not trying to imply that people are having difficulty distinguishing fiction from reality. I am noting that real auto companies have deliberately placed product concepts in media to prime people's expectations of what future products will look like and what they will be able to do. Independently, there are also proper level 4 systems under active development getting plenty of popular press coverage. I also note that the very public face of Tesla frequently makes very public and (in my opinion, overly optimistic) declarations of their product's capabilities both present and future, for example (Jan 2016), "The Model S is 'probably better than humans at this point in highway driving' according to Musk." [0] It doesn't strike me to be all that far of a leap for an average person to conclude that the future has arrived. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/11/elon-musk-tesla-cars-no-driver-model-s https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/11/elon-musk...
  - pjc50 10y ago
    Other way round: real-world capabilities are built out to meet the SF expectations. Star Trek communicators -> mobile phones. Star Trek computer -> Alexa/Siri et al. (Besides, the alternative is for the layman to infer capabilities from marketing material, which is even more outlandishly fictional) Oh, and if you want an exhaustive list of when something appears in media, TVtropes will always deliver: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6zj22p5kr47sfh2uoy8fffry http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6zj22p5kr47sfh2...
  - RodericDay 10y ago
    automatic washing machine automatic login / logout / lock automatic debit of monthly bills automatic reply to calls / emails automatic plant watering
    - mikeash 10y ago
      > automatic washing machine Will happily flood the house if something goes wrong. > automatic login Frequently requires manually reentering credentials. > automatic debit of monthly bills Will happily send your life savings to the power company if they typo a couple of extra zeroes on your bill. > automatic reply to emails Notorious for massive screwups when people enable them without adequate controls, especially when multiple people on the same mailing list do it at the same time. All of these examples seem to reinforce the idea that "automatic" does not mean "requires no human supervision."
      - electic 10y ago
        > Will happily flood the house if something goes wrong. It isn't supposed to flood the house. It is designed to be automatic. Meaning no supervision. Tesla's Autopilot isn't designed this way yet carries the name. Let's keep going. > Will happily send your life savings to the power company if they typo a couple of extra zeroes on your bill. This has nothing to do with automatic payment being poorly designed. It is designed to pay the balance without your intervention...hence automatic. > Notorious for massive screwups when people enable them without adequate controls, especially when multiple people on the same mailing list do it at the same time. Depends on how it is implemented. There are usually more knobs to this feature and it is designed to have you program it. Based on programming, settings, etc, it will do whatever you set it to without you having to be there...hence automatic reply.
        mikeash 10y ago
        I'm not saying automatic bill pay is poorly designed, I'm saying it requires supervision to make sure it doesn't do anything stupid. We don't expect "autopay" to be foolproof, we expect it to handle the mundane stuff.
  - ceejayoz 10y ago
    > If people are inferring real-world capabilities from SF movies then we're totally screwed! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI_effect
electic 10y ago
Captain America - Civil War
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]