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I want to get a Tesla because their driver assist is the best in the industry, hands down. However my friends and family have made it clear that it simply is no

I want to get a Tesla because their driver assist is the best in the industry, hands down. However my friends and family have made it clear that it simply is not an option. I hate Elon too, but the cars shouldn't be political. So looks like I will keep burning gas for the time being. As a side note, I hope republicans start buying Teslas as a statement. I might actually be able to forgive Elon if he gets republicans in EVs.

Zigurd 2y ago
"I hate Elon too, but" ... "I hope republicans start buying Teslas as a statement." This is the new "I'm not racist. I just don't see color."
- ben_w 2y ago
  If, somehow, this nonsense causes Republics to think that buying eco-friendly cars is "anti-woke" and buy Tesla cars en-masse to "own the libs", this is still a win for the environment. Regardless, thanks to how Musk is messing around with politics (domestically via DOGE and internationally via personal spats with government ministers and judges in multiple different countries), I don't see Musk's power surviving very long. How long is high-variance, but if DOGE cuts and counter-tariffs hurt too hard, then Congress could flip in 2 years and Trump may find himself impeached yet again and then Musk will have nobody with meaningful power to ask for help.
  - dragonwriter 2y ago
    > How long is high-variance, but if DOGE cuts and counter-tariffs hurt too hard, then Congress could flip in 2 years and Trump may find himself impeached Except that the Trump regime is dismantling enforcement of voting protections, dismantling due process, and directly using force against people expressing dissenting political views, all of which are pretty good signs that there won't be anythig approximating free and fair elections in 2026 for Republicans to lose.
    - ben_w 2y ago
      Hence "high variance". These are interesting times, and between (IMO inevitable) catastrophic domestic economic impact, already ocurring international diplomatic incidents, and near universal domestic support for both the 1st and 2nd amendments, I can't predict anything about this.
- Workaccount2 2y ago
  The single most important thing facing humanity right now is carbon in the atmosphere. There isn't even really a close second. I don't care about anything else Elon does if he successfully gets the right to care about the atmosphere (or care about owning libs via solar roofs and cyber trucks). He would go down as a martyr in my book.
  - Zigurd 2y ago
    What about...? This is mid. I would have gone for the multi planetary million years civilization argument.
  - Jensson 2y ago
    > The single most important thing facing humanity right now is carbon in the atmosphere Preventing nuclear war is still higher.
    - ben_w 2y ago
      The effect of the carbon can cause such a war; the impact of such a war is likely to kill fewer than the carbon. I'm optimistic about the carbon these days. But I also think the Trump administration's position on Ukraine is going to result in a lot of countries developing their own independent nuclear capabilities, and that itself creates more risk of nuclear war. Perhaps it will be limited to Panama and America attacking each other. The world is looking at how worthless has been the signiatures on the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and considering matters accordingly.
  - tzs 2y ago
    > The single most important thing facing humanity right now is carbon in the atmosphere Then supporting Musk makes little sense. He's massively cutting funding for research into addressing climate change or enforcing regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He played a major role in electing a President who says climate change is a hoax, wants to kill renewable energy, wants to greatly increase fossil fuel use, and wants to get rid of any regulations that try to at least reduce emissions from that fossil fuel. He promotes conspiracy theories that explain away things that might have been due to or partially due to climate change, thus downplaying the need to address climate change. E.g., that the California wildfires in the Los Angeles area recently were due to a "globalist plot to wage economic warfare and deindustrialize the United States". Even if a few on the right buy a few EVs specifically because of Musk it won't outweigh the damage the things described above are doing to the effort to fight climate change.
jackstraw14 2y ago
It would not surprise me in the slightest if Republicans start buying swasticars as a statement. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
nebula8804 2y ago
Have you given SuperCruise a chance? I tried Autopilot in a 22 Model 3, Supercruise in an Equinox EV and BlueCruise in a Mach-e. Autopilot is very good but I don't fully trust it because it feels overly confident at times which is scary. Also dont like the fac tthat you have to keep squeezing the steering wheel. Supercruise has a camera monitoring your eyeballs and is only set to run on tested roads that have been mapped out. It just feel like GM is being a lot more honest with their system given these design decisions. Its a really smooth ride in my experience. Im trying to eye a cheap EquinoxEV with supercruise. Bluecruise kinda drove like a super nervous first time driver. Dont really trust it but if you can get it, it does provide some benefit.

Zigurd 2y ago

"I hate Elon too, but" ... "I hope republicans start buying Teslas as a statement." This is the new "I'm not racist. I just don't see color."

ben_w 2y ago
If, somehow, this nonsense causes Republics to think that buying eco-friendly cars is "anti-woke" and buy Tesla cars en-masse to "own the libs", this is still a win for the environment. Regardless, thanks to how Musk is messing around with politics (domestically via DOGE and internationally via personal spats with government ministers and judges in multiple different countries), I don't see Musk's power surviving very long. How long is high-variance, but if DOGE cuts and counter-tariffs hurt too hard, then Congress could flip in 2 years and Trump may find himself impeached yet again and then Musk will have nobody with meaningful power to ask for help.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  > How long is high-variance, but if DOGE cuts and counter-tariffs hurt too hard, then Congress could flip in 2 years and Trump may find himself impeached Except that the Trump regime is dismantling enforcement of voting protections, dismantling due process, and directly using force against people expressing dissenting political views, all of which are pretty good signs that there won't be anythig approximating free and fair elections in 2026 for Republicans to lose.
  - ben_w 2y ago
    Hence "high variance". These are interesting times, and between (IMO inevitable) catastrophic domestic economic impact, already ocurring international diplomatic incidents, and near universal domestic support for both the 1st and 2nd amendments, I can't predict anything about this.
Workaccount2 2y ago
The single most important thing facing humanity right now is carbon in the atmosphere. There isn't even really a close second. I don't care about anything else Elon does if he successfully gets the right to care about the atmosphere (or care about owning libs via solar roofs and cyber trucks). He would go down as a martyr in my book.
- Zigurd 2y ago
  What about...? This is mid. I would have gone for the multi planetary million years civilization argument.
- Jensson 2y ago
  > The single most important thing facing humanity right now is carbon in the atmosphere Preventing nuclear war is still higher.
  - ben_w 2y ago
    The effect of the carbon can cause such a war; the impact of such a war is likely to kill fewer than the carbon. I'm optimistic about the carbon these days. But I also think the Trump administration's position on Ukraine is going to result in a lot of countries developing their own independent nuclear capabilities, and that itself creates more risk of nuclear war. Perhaps it will be limited to Panama and America attacking each other. The world is looking at how worthless has been the signiatures on the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and considering matters accordingly.
- tzs 2y ago
  > The single most important thing facing humanity right now is carbon in the atmosphere Then supporting Musk makes little sense. He's massively cutting funding for research into addressing climate change or enforcing regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He played a major role in electing a President who says climate change is a hoax, wants to kill renewable energy, wants to greatly increase fossil fuel use, and wants to get rid of any regulations that try to at least reduce emissions from that fossil fuel. He promotes conspiracy theories that explain away things that might have been due to or partially due to climate change, thus downplaying the need to address climate change. E.g., that the California wildfires in the Los Angeles area recently were due to a "globalist plot to wage economic warfare and deindustrialize the United States". Even if a few on the right buy a few EVs specifically because of Musk it won't outweigh the damage the things described above are doing to the effort to fight climate change.

jackstraw14 2y ago

It would not surprise me in the slightest if Republicans start buying swasticars as a statement. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

nebula8804 2y ago

Have you given SuperCruise a chance? I tried Autopilot in a 22 Model 3, Supercruise in an Equinox EV and BlueCruise in a Mach-e. Autopilot is very good but I don't fully trust it because it feels overly confident at times which is scary. Also dont like the fac tthat you have to keep squeezing the steering wheel. Supercruise has a camera monitoring your eyeballs and is only set to run on tested roads that have been mapped out. It just feel like GM is being a lot more honest with their system given these design decisions. Its a really smooth ride in my experience. Im trying to eye a cheap EquinoxEV with supercruise. Bluecruise kinda drove like a super nervous first time driver. Dont really trust it but if you can get it, it does provide some benefit.