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"That line there at the end is the game. Self-driving cars are just worse trains, as evidenced by the time Musk had to actually attempt to deploy his vision, or

"That line there at the end is the game. Self-driving cars are just worse trains, as evidenced by the time Musk had to actually attempt to deploy his vision, or lack thereof. These cars will require physically modifying the environment to make some sort of... let’s call it a “track." Had we spent those $100 billion dollars on a massive overhaul of American public transit, we could have already built the infrastructure we need to solve this crisis. Instead, we have made a few tech entrepreneurs very rich, and we are left with the same political problem as before." This is a pretty succinct indictment of capitalism. I think it was good to grow out of feudalism/mercantilism and I think central planning was a failure, but the current problems are: - bonkers inequality - bonkers waste Weirdly I think these problems are solved by taxation. It shouldn't have been possible to burn $100B on self-driving cars. Companies and billionaires aren't good at spending this kind of money, especially when we have so many humans in poverty and a looming climate change disaster.

spacebanana7 4y ago
SUVs are another example of extreme private waste. I have a lot of sympathy for the individual decisions of my neighbours to purchase range rovers so they don't have to endure the discomfort of potholes. However, it'd be much more efficient if we could somehow crowdfund that same expenditure towards improving the road surface so that all vehicles feel stable. Unfortunately general taxation is quite unsuccessful at fixing these infrastructure issues because resources always get allocated to whatever stakeholders have the most political power. No matter how big a government budget gets all the money seems to get absorbed into defence, healthcare, education, pensions and general administration.
- brokenmachine 4y ago
  >range rovers so they don't have to endure the discomfort of potholes It's not about potholes, at least where I live. Those giant dickhead mobiles in the most affluent suburbs with the best roads have never seen dirt or a pothole.

spacebanana7 4y ago

SUVs are another example of extreme private waste. I have a lot of sympathy for the individual decisions of my neighbours to purchase range rovers so they don't have to endure the discomfort of potholes. However, it'd be much more efficient if we could somehow crowdfund that same expenditure towards improving the road surface so that all vehicles feel stable. Unfortunately general taxation is quite unsuccessful at fixing these infrastructure issues because resources always get allocated to whatever stakeholders have the most political power. No matter how big a government budget gets all the money seems to get absorbed into defence, healthcare, education, pensions and general administration.

brokenmachine 4y ago
>range rovers so they don't have to endure the discomfort of potholes It's not about potholes, at least where I live. Those giant dickhead mobiles in the most affluent suburbs with the best roads have never seen dirt or a pothole.