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Rarely. I feel lost when I use GPS to get places. Alec Watson of Technology Connections points out that GPS routing defaults to minimizing time, even when that
by eesmith 1y ago
Rarely. I feel lost when I use GPS to get places.
Alec Watson of Technology Connections points out that GPS routing defaults to minimizing time, even when that may not the most logical way to get somewhere.
His commentary, which starts at https://youtu.be/QEJpZjg8GuA?t=1804 https://youtu.be/QEJpZjg8GuA?t=1804 , is an example of his larger argument about the complacency of letting automation do things for you.
His example is a Google Maps routing which saves one minute by going a long way to use a fast expressway (plus $1 toll), rather than more direct but slower state routes and surface streets. It optimizes one variable - time - of the many variables which might be important to you - wear&tear, toll costs, and the delight of knowing more about what's going on in the neighborhood.
His makes the point that he is not calling for a return to paper maps, but rather to reject automation complacency, which I'll interpret as letting the GPS figure everything out for you.
We've all heard stories of people depending on their GPS too much then ending up stuck on a forest road, or in a lake, or other place which requires rescue - what's the equivalent failure mode with a calculator?
- zpeti 1y agoOK I don't think I'm going to persuade you if you don't use GPS. Buy 95% of the population do.
- eesmith 1y agoPardon? I said I use GPS. I'm also aware of the failure modes with GPS complacency, including its incomplete knowledge of the variables that I find important. And that's with something that makes mistakes far less often than LLMs and related technology. Which is why I don't think that your mention of GPS use is a strong counter-example to bryanrasmussen's comment against using hallucinating devices.
- johnnyanmac 1y agoyou seemed to have cast off the most important factor in the conversation of "I can check a GPS's work" for some reason.
- sfn42 1y agoIf you drive into a lake or anything like that it's your own fault not the GPS. It doesn't control the car it just tells you directions. And if you know the area well enough to make judgements like the other things you mentioned, you don't need gps. Gps is specifically for when you don't know where to go. I use it all the time, pretty much zero issues.
- eesmith 1y agoI view this thread as part of bryanrasmussen comment "I would not buy a calculator that hallucinated wrong answers part of the time" with zpeti pointing out that people use a GPS despite how it gets the route sometimes. I don't know how to respond to your comment in that context. Do you double-check your calculator all the time, to ensure it's not giving you the wrong answer? As to Alec Watson's commentary about GPS, how do you know the area well enough to make judgements if you always follow the GPS routing which avoids the neighborhood?
- sfn42 1y agoI don't generally keep the entire thread in mind when reading and responding to comments. If I spend a lot of time in an area I learn it and don't need gps to navigate it, however I might use gps just to find specific addresses as I don't usually memorize every street name. I also usually find that Google maps chooses perfectly sensible routes anyway, I don't see much point in trying to second guess it. Oh maybe I can save a minute or two or save a few kilometers by avoiding a highway, honestly who cares? I certainly don't. It will usually offer multiple route alternatives anyway, your ideal route or something close to it is probably among them.