3 ms·

When the alleged dangers are scary/obvious, and the benefits hard to comprehend, easy to oppose. I remember when credit cards, caller ID, online shopping, tax

When the alleged dangers are scary/obvious, and the benefits hard to comprehend, easy to oppose. I remember when credit cards, caller ID, online shopping, tax software, etc were all new. Each was loudly denounced as evil for various reasons; eventually the benefits became so obvious that we all now use those techs with little concern - even though many/most of the concerns were warranted. Just became too convenient to use them. Self-driving will be the same. Scary concept to hurtle down the road completely & existentially subject to a machine built of (per A.C.Clarke) pure magic. Once in one, and seeing how smoothly & smartly it transports you, people will quickly embrace self-driving cars ... especially when they discover how too darned convenient it is to use them. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And self-driving neural-net cars, to most, are flat-out magic.

gibolt 7y ago
Most people have 0 experience with it, and 0 experiences seeing it (at least that they are aware of). If you gave a random sample Tesla-level autopilot with their current car and walked them through how to use if, I'd guess that at least 75% would want to use it regularly. Familiarity and basic understanding work wonders on shifting the human mind.
josefx 7y ago
> I remember when credit cards I have one because I need it for online booking, my first one was revoked because I apparently cost them more by not using it enough. I practically don't see a significant benefit, most places accept other forms of payment. > caller ID faked and missing all the time. > subject to a machine built of (per A.C.Clarke) pure magic. As a software dev. I really would feel much safer with pure magic. I will buy your self driving car the moment Linux went a year without new significant bugs or exploits. Not even bug free, just no significant bugs. I do not trust the industry in its current state to produce a complex piece of software that can reliably control a car in an even more complex and constantly changing environment.
- ctdonath 7y ago
  You're the anomaly. Most people find "swipe and pay later" far more convenient, "pizza shop already knows where to deliver" & "oh it's Joe, I'd better answer" far more convenient, etc. Yes they're imperfect, but the flaws aren't "all the time" - they're lost amid the overwhelming convenience. Opposite your "complex piece of software that can reliably control a car" is "humans who damage/injure/maim/kill other drivers with alarming frequency" (but the aforementioned overwhelming convenience mitigates our concern). Sure we want "no significant bugs", but rapidly reaching the point where even the existing & concerning bugs are better than facing distracted/drunk/debilitated/dumb human drivers.
  - josefx 7y ago
    > Most people find "swipe and pay later" far more convenient, As I said most places accept other options of payment and the pay later part seems completely irrelevant unless you have money management issues. > "oh it's Joe, I'd better answer" Usually it fails for people I know. Which makes it anoying since I usually can call back my mother later as she tends to call every few days, but have to answer when its my landlord who only calls when I missed something important. > but rapidly reaching the point where even the existing & concerning bugs are better than facing distracted/drunk/debilitated/dumb human drivers. Amount of drunk drivers I face daily on average: 0.0001. Amount of self driving cars is see daily if we adopt them completely: ~500. I would still take my risk with running into that one drunk driver over several thousand buggy cars daily.

gibolt 7y ago

Most people have 0 experience with it, and 0 experiences seeing it (at least that they are aware of). If you gave a random sample Tesla-level autopilot with their current car and walked them through how to use if, I'd guess that at least 75% would want to use it regularly. Familiarity and basic understanding work wonders on shifting the human mind.

josefx 7y ago

> I remember when credit cards I have one because I need it for online booking, my first one was revoked because I apparently cost them more by not using it enough. I practically don't see a significant benefit, most places accept other forms of payment. > caller ID faked and missing all the time. > subject to a machine built of (per A.C.Clarke) pure magic. As a software dev. I really would feel much safer with pure magic. I will buy your self driving car the moment Linux went a year without new significant bugs or exploits. Not even bug free, just no significant bugs. I do not trust the industry in its current state to produce a complex piece of software that can reliably control a car in an even more complex and constantly changing environment.

ctdonath 7y ago
You're the anomaly. Most people find "swipe and pay later" far more convenient, "pizza shop already knows where to deliver" & "oh it's Joe, I'd better answer" far more convenient, etc. Yes they're imperfect, but the flaws aren't "all the time" - they're lost amid the overwhelming convenience. Opposite your "complex piece of software that can reliably control a car" is "humans who damage/injure/maim/kill other drivers with alarming frequency" (but the aforementioned overwhelming convenience mitigates our concern). Sure we want "no significant bugs", but rapidly reaching the point where even the existing & concerning bugs are better than facing distracted/drunk/debilitated/dumb human drivers.
- josefx 7y ago
  > Most people find "swipe and pay later" far more convenient, As I said most places accept other options of payment and the pay later part seems completely irrelevant unless you have money management issues. > "oh it's Joe, I'd better answer" Usually it fails for people I know. Which makes it anoying since I usually can call back my mother later as she tends to call every few days, but have to answer when its my landlord who only calls when I missed something important. > but rapidly reaching the point where even the existing & concerning bugs are better than facing distracted/drunk/debilitated/dumb human drivers. Amount of drunk drivers I face daily on average: 0.0001. Amount of self driving cars is see daily if we adopt them completely: ~500. I would still take my risk with running into that one drunk driver over several thousand buggy cars daily.