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EV stops have a big advantage in that they force you to get out and move around a bit. Sitting in a car all day is bad for you. Taking a break every few hours i

EV stops have a big advantage in that they force you to get out and move around a bit. Sitting in a car all day is bad for you. Taking a break every few hours is good. Walking around during that break is ideal. You don't want to give yourself a blood clot on a family vacation.

tines 3y ago
Is there a name for when someone bends over backwards to paint a disadvantage as an advantage? I guess it's the same as the old "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" trope.
- pwthornton 3y ago
  It's the opposite. Supposed advantages often get you into trouble. Constraints, in this case not being able to drive for eight-straight hours, is a good thing. Constraints are often a good thing because they introduce just enough friction to prevent us from harming ourselves.
  - tines 3y ago
    You can make this case for anything though, as with every advantage comes a downside. "Horse-drawn carriages have a big advantage in that they force you to not go as fast, and so they make crashes less fatal. Crashing a car is bad for you. Going slow is good." This isn't a real argument though; how fast I go is my business, and how long I drive is my business as well. If I have two people in a car, we can trade off and solve your "driving too long" problem in a way that doesn't compromise ability. Nobody is going to buy this rationale. An EV can do less than a gas car (in this area), and it's just worse. From your argument, it follows that we should push auto manufacturers to make the gas tanks of non-EVs smaller, so that it's impossible to drive for longer than 8 hours on one tank of gas. This is just a terrible position, it doesn't even merit being argued against. In fact, making up rationalizations like this is so much worse than doing nothing, because it saps the incentive to improve things. If we delude ourselves into thinking that a car that can do less is better, then we'll never make it better, fewer people will purchase them, and we'll blame everyone else for not buying into our delusion.

tines 3y ago

Is there a name for when someone bends over backwards to paint a disadvantage as an advantage? I guess it's the same as the old "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" trope.

pwthornton 3y ago
It's the opposite. Supposed advantages often get you into trouble. Constraints, in this case not being able to drive for eight-straight hours, is a good thing. Constraints are often a good thing because they introduce just enough friction to prevent us from harming ourselves.
- tines 3y ago
  You can make this case for anything though, as with every advantage comes a downside. "Horse-drawn carriages have a big advantage in that they force you to not go as fast, and so they make crashes less fatal. Crashing a car is bad for you. Going slow is good." This isn't a real argument though; how fast I go is my business, and how long I drive is my business as well. If I have two people in a car, we can trade off and solve your "driving too long" problem in a way that doesn't compromise ability. Nobody is going to buy this rationale. An EV can do less than a gas car (in this area), and it's just worse. From your argument, it follows that we should push auto manufacturers to make the gas tanks of non-EVs smaller, so that it's impossible to drive for longer than 8 hours on one tank of gas. This is just a terrible position, it doesn't even merit being argued against. In fact, making up rationalizations like this is so much worse than doing nothing, because it saps the incentive to improve things. If we delude ourselves into thinking that a car that can do less is better, then we'll never make it better, fewer people will purchase them, and we'll blame everyone else for not buying into our delusion.