3 ms·
> Do I think Hotz has a viable product? Yes. (A comment over at Jalopnik linked to a Tweet where an actual human rider / journalist experienced the Hotz vehicle
by defen 10y ago
> Do I think Hotz has a viable product? Yes. (A comment over at Jalopnik linked to a Tweet where an actual human rider / journalist experienced the Hotz vehicle and was quite impressed)
Journalists being shown demos in controlled circumstances are a notoriously unreliable source of information about the viability of a product.
- got2surf 10y agoThat's a fair point, and we shouldn't over-weight one journalist's experience. However, I think that in this case, the author of the tweet has a lot of credibility (https://twitter.com/AlexRoy144/status/791996855114694657 https://twitter.com/AlexRoy144/status/791996855114694657) as the holder of multiple performance driving records. You're right that it is only one anecdotal perspective, but it's kind of like a prominent Apple blogger tweeting that a new Microsoft product has phenomenal UI. It's just one perspective, but (to me) it's interesting enough to merit further consideration.
- sangnoir 10y ago> You're right that it is only one anecdotal perspective, but it's kind of like a prominent Apple blogger tweeting that a new Microsoft product has phenomenal UI To stretch your analogy: when the FCC sends Microsoft questions about the product's RF emissions, does the prominent blogger's endorsement really matter? Firstly, RF is out of the blogger's wheelhouse and secondly, hypothetical Microsoft ought to have planned for regulatory compliance from the beginning, or at least have the technical specs recorded somewhere.
- 6stringmerc 10y agoOh come on, do you understand the concept of journalism? It's a reporting profession. It's not goddamn PR.
- defen 10y agoI'm just saying that there are many cases where "a single instance of a journalist having a good experience with a revolutionary pre-release product" turned out to have been the company deliberately misleading the journalist. I'm not claiming that happened here, but I am claiming there is a non-negligible chance it happened.
- 6stringmerc 10y agoFair enough, I'm not trying to say the profession is 100% on the up and up and you're right, people can be manipulated. That doesn't mean it's reasonable to prima-face like you did and dismiss a journalist's impressions (being cited on an Auto enthusiast site mind you) as worthless. It just struck a nerve because I'm a pretty cynical person but do my best to weigh what I've seen / gathered, and while I do admit I think George is an interesting underdog type character and sympathetic in that regard (so to speak), I'm noticing a lot of open hostility toward the product being cloaked in dislike of the person.
- got2surf 10y agoI'd agree with this. The journalist in question (Alex Roy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Roy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Roy) is an auto enthusiast and race driver, and is well respected even in auto enthusiast circles, which are notoriously anti-self-driving-cars. Journalists can be manipulated, but Alex Roy's tweet (https://twitter.com/AlexRoy144/status/791996855114694657 https://twitter.com/AlexRoy144/status/791996855114694657) is more an endorsement by a car enthusiast with 30+ years of high performance driving experience than a journalist, IMO.
- 6stringmerc 10y agoThanks, I appreciate your context because I think such quality of sources matter. In this instance, I thought it was appropriate to include a 3rd party of sorts who really doesn't have skin in the game.
- blhack 10y agoI'm legitimately not sure if this is sarcasm or not.