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I have a bridge to sell you across the pacific ocean. So far it's only 100 feet long and may be technically a pier... But we aspire to reach Japan in the next f

by foxyv 4y ago

I have a bridge to sell you across the pacific ocean. So far it's only 100 feet long and may be technically a pier... But we aspire to reach Japan in the next few years. If you invest now you get a discount on tolls. Also, we expect to rent out restaurants along the long distance. Please ignore the fact that we have no idea how we're going to do all this. This just in, we're adding Hawaii as a stop! Ignore the fact that the bridge is still technically a pier down at the harbor and only 100 feet long. We've already got our first "Bridge Across The Pacific" at our first stop at the end of the pier.

aeternum 4y ago
Is this the california highspeed rail project?
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  No, because the example is asking for voluntary investment, not forcing people to pay in Via taxes. A better example would be running a Twitter poll if foxyv should have to invest in the pier project.
- foxyv 4y ago
  California HSR would be if I had built pylons without a deck as far as Hawaii and subsequently been sued by all the ships that crashed into it.
- tanseydavid 4y ago
  <golf-clap> Well played!!!
AtlasBarfed 4y ago
This is a very poor framing. The following things are both true: 1) Tesla's technical achievement with the degree of self driving they've already shown is very impressive 2) It absolutely is not ready for regulatory approval and production use. Tesla's software is NOT a 100 foot pier. Is it 30% of the distance across the pacific ocean? Is it 80% but the last 20% is deep choppy waters? Who knows. Videos of self-driving show the driver intervening about, what, less than 1% of the time? Or maybe 5% of the "decisions"? Now, the standard for autonomous driving is probably in the .0001% of the time, and a lot of that would be winter/weather related and good error handling (just stop the car or recognize an area is a difficult area and pre-warn the driver). It is amazing how much a CEO doing annoying tweets morphs the objectivity of people on a site that is ostensibly about engineering and rational thought. How many other companies have shown concept cars of EVs and "when we have self driving" cars with no steering wheels and people seated around a table in a car? Hell, look at this: https://electrek.co/2022/11/28/stellantis-relaunches-lancia-electric-marque-teases-ev-design/ https://electrek.co/2022/11/28/stellantis-relaunches-lancia-... It doesn't have wheels! It doesn't even appear to be touching the ground! And it's the lead image for one of the biggest foot-dragging idiots 15 years after the reality of a production EV trying to say "hey we'll be good at EVs now that literally every carmaker is way ahead of us" and also "please don't fire me as CEO". THAT is a 100 foot pier. You want fraud? The last 50 years of petroleum + ICE car companies in lockstep to ignore carbon emissions. So what were Tesla people buying with "full self driving"? Parlor tricks to impress other people with, and nothing more. Was it oversold? Yeah, but so is everything else in marketing. I would say full self driving was only slightly more oversold than the IoT smarthome (hey, you know all that stuff that lasts 30 years that you replaced with IoT stuff two years ago? Yeah we don't want to support the software anymore). Full Self Driving is LESS hyped that virtually all crypto. A couple more steps past crypto, and you get to Theranos.
- foxyv 4y ago
  > Tesla's software is NOT a 100 foot pier. Is it 30% of the distance across the pacific ocean? Is it 80% but the last 20% is deep choppy waters? Who knows. With that uncertainty, we may instead be building a bridge to Mars. It's a problem that has never been solved and may never be. Selling something that may not even be possible to people is pretty ballsy. But not telling people the reality while selling them something that may not be possible? In any case, donate to my new kickstarter "Bridge to Mars." Our initial plan is to start with some stairs made out of ultra-light carbon fiber. Once we reach $200 we can fund our prototype: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/building-supplies/ladders/step-ladders/17990?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI09yw1-Dq-wIV5RXUAR2j4QNKEAQYASABEgIHEfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds https://www.acehardware.com/departments/building-supplies/la...
- addisonl 4y ago
  I must have missed Stellantis selling a 5-figure "full self-driving" option?
PM_me_your_math 4y ago
Terrible comparison. Absolutely shameless.
- foxyv 4y ago
  It's an aspirational comparison. Not an actual one.
enduser 4y ago
Are you victim blaming people who took Tesla’s marquee advertisement at face value?
- foxyv 4y ago
  Not any more than I would blame George C. Parker's victims: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker#:~:text=Parker%20(March%2016%2C%201860%20%E2%80%93,public%20landmarks%2C%20to%20unwary%20immigrants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker#:~:text=Parke....

by foxyv 4y ago

aeternum 4y ago

Is this the california highspeed rail project?

s1artibartfast 4y ago
No, because the example is asking for voluntary investment, not forcing people to pay in Via taxes. A better example would be running a Twitter poll if foxyv should have to invest in the pier project.
foxyv 4y ago
California HSR would be if I had built pylons without a deck as far as Hawaii and subsequently been sued by all the ships that crashed into it.
tanseydavid 4y ago
<golf-clap> Well played!!!

AtlasBarfed 4y ago

This is a very poor framing. The following things are both true: 1) Tesla's technical achievement with the degree of self driving they've already shown is very impressive 2) It absolutely is not ready for regulatory approval and production use. Tesla's software is NOT a 100 foot pier. Is it 30% of the distance across the pacific ocean? Is it 80% but the last 20% is deep choppy waters? Who knows. Videos of self-driving show the driver intervening about, what, less than 1% of the time? Or maybe 5% of the "decisions"? Now, the standard for autonomous driving is probably in the .0001% of the time, and a lot of that would be winter/weather related and good error handling (just stop the car or recognize an area is a difficult area and pre-warn the driver). It is amazing how much a CEO doing annoying tweets morphs the objectivity of people on a site that is ostensibly about engineering and rational thought. How many other companies have shown concept cars of EVs and "when we have self driving" cars with no steering wheels and people seated around a table in a car? Hell, look at this: https://electrek.co/2022/11/28/stellantis-relaunches-lancia-electric-marque-teases-ev-design/ https://electrek.co/2022/11/28/stellantis-relaunches-lancia-... It doesn't have wheels! It doesn't even appear to be touching the ground! And it's the lead image for one of the biggest foot-dragging idiots 15 years after the reality of a production EV trying to say "hey we'll be good at EVs now that literally every carmaker is way ahead of us" and also "please don't fire me as CEO". THAT is a 100 foot pier. You want fraud? The last 50 years of petroleum + ICE car companies in lockstep to ignore carbon emissions. So what were Tesla people buying with "full self driving"? Parlor tricks to impress other people with, and nothing more. Was it oversold? Yeah, but so is everything else in marketing. I would say full self driving was only slightly more oversold than the IoT smarthome (hey, you know all that stuff that lasts 30 years that you replaced with IoT stuff two years ago? Yeah we don't want to support the software anymore). Full Self Driving is LESS hyped that virtually all crypto. A couple more steps past crypto, and you get to Theranos.

foxyv 4y ago
> Tesla's software is NOT a 100 foot pier. Is it 30% of the distance across the pacific ocean? Is it 80% but the last 20% is deep choppy waters? Who knows. With that uncertainty, we may instead be building a bridge to Mars. It's a problem that has never been solved and may never be. Selling something that may not even be possible to people is pretty ballsy. But not telling people the reality while selling them something that may not be possible? In any case, donate to my new kickstarter "Bridge to Mars." Our initial plan is to start with some stairs made out of ultra-light carbon fiber. Once we reach $200 we can fund our prototype: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/building-supplies/ladders/step-ladders/17990?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI09yw1-Dq-wIV5RXUAR2j4QNKEAQYASABEgIHEfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds https://www.acehardware.com/departments/building-supplies/la...
addisonl 4y ago
I must have missed Stellantis selling a 5-figure "full self-driving" option?

PM_me_your_math 4y ago

Terrible comparison. Absolutely shameless.

foxyv 4y ago
It's an aspirational comparison. Not an actual one.

enduser 4y ago

Are you victim blaming people who took Tesla’s marquee advertisement at face value?

foxyv 4y ago
Not any more than I would blame George C. Parker's victims: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker#:~:text=Parker%20(March%2016%2C%201860%20%E2%80%93,public%20landmarks%2C%20to%20unwary%20immigrants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker#:~:text=Parke....