Driving Automation

[TJuser]

You could say we've been creating more technology to solve problems that existing technology causes from the beginning of the age of sail.

Hence why I don't believe in the "automation is taking our jobs". It just opens up opportunities for different skillsets and skilled labor. Either adapt or become obsolete.

Same thing was said for the industrial revolution. The only thing it really affected was unskilled labor and monotonous jobs, while opening up opportunities for mechanics and maintenance teams.

Innovation will always bring a new set of problems to the table. Not that it's bad, but it's a never-ending fight.

Oh, TOTALLY this. Reminds me of a story. My last employer, a year or two before I retired, suddenly banned people from changing fluorescent lite bulbs, which I had been doing for years. Had a yak with the safety officer, who told me that I "wasn't electrically qualified"...

I absolutely EXPLODED. I informed this jackass that 1) I started doing electrical work when I was about 12 - before he was even born, and 2) Who the Hell designed the 1,600 volts PDU and control system for a certain piece of equipment (me), and that 3) I'll give "them" one chance to come change my damn tubes, otherwise I'm doing it myself and we can discuss this bullshit in the HR office. I never heard anything else about it, and I will say that "they" came and changed my bulbs pronto each time I called. Whatever!

Yeah thats exactly the problem. You aren't "allowed" to do something because you aren't "qualified". In a lot of scenarios, it simply removes the ability to learn for a lot of people. Competent individuals figure it out, and the ones that aren't don't, sometimes in a shocking way lol.

Yes safety is important, but there's something to be said for survival of the fittest. Now, any moron can hum through life without actually needing to learn.

Similar to your story, with this school in particular that I referred to earlier. I got in trouble for resetting the breaker on the exact panel I had wired during the school renovation because I might do something wrong. The most simple damn task, flipping a switch.

Remove the "do not eat battery acid" and "do not stick your fingers in this" labels and I think the problem would largely solve itself.





Back to automated vehicles. Because the IQ on the average person now so low, there's almost no choice BUT to have the product do the task for them. It's a genuinely painful decline in intelligence. All people want is for things to be easier and easier, to the point where they have no understanding of how anything in life works. I know of quite a few people that can't simply back a vehicle up without a backup camera. They weren't mandatory 15 years ago and everyone had to learn how to back a vehicle up. It's convenient, but as with any convenience, people become reliant on it without know how to operate without it.

The fact that ford now has a system to invert your steering for people backing up trailers is kind of scary. The grasp of basic physics and geometry are beyond the average understanding a person has nowadays.

 

[Dylan_See_TJ]

Because the IQ on the average person now so low, there's almost no choice BUT to have the product do the task for them. It's a genuinely painful decline in intelligence. All people want is for things to be easier and easier, to the point where they have no understanding of how anything in life works.

I totally agree with regard to the consumer demand for convenience at the expense of everything, but I'd question the notion that people are actually less intelligent than they used to be. I'd say these problems can be much more easily attributed to a massive increase in ignorance on the part of the general public than a decrease in intelligence. People aren't necessary born with lower IQs, but individualist worship of convenience at the expense of capability certainly primes them to be pretty much helpless. Lots and lots and lots of people are almost totally helpless.

 

[TJuser]

I totally agree with regard to the consumer demand for convenience at the expense of everything, but I'd question the notion that people are actually less intelligent than they used to be. I'd say these problems can be much more easily attributed to a massive increase in ignorance on the part of the general public than a decrease in intelligence. People aren't necessary born with lower IQs, but individualist worship of convenience at the expense of capability certainly primes them to be pretty much helpless. Lots and lots and lots of people are almost totally helpless.

I'd say it goes 3 ways. People tend to either resist, accept it and become complacent, or accept it and utilize it in a beneficial way (often requires self control).

You make a fair point though about it not being how they were born. I'd say it's all in upbringing. I wasn't really allowed on computers or phones for much of my upbringing. I played outside until dark, we had enough land to goof off in the forest and river. I started running my dads skidsteer at about 10 years old, same with the excavator. Often on saturdays I'd be helping at the farm, or helping friends with their house renovations. Heck, my first job was running a rock truck, Doosan excavator and komatsu wheel loader.

I get not everyone has that available to them for learning, but when young kids that are at the stage of asking a lot of questions, most parents now just give them a tablet to watch brainrot. They grow up sheltered, never knowing the fun of risking your life for a dare.

 

[Zorba]

Yes safety is important, but there's something to be said for survival of the fittest. Now, any moron can hum through life without actually needing to learn.

Its the end result of the cradle-to-grave Nanny State (tm).

 

[Zorba]

I'd say it goes 3 ways. People tend to either resist, accept it and become complacent, or accept it and utilize it in a beneficial way (often requires self control).

There's a fourth way: Just ignore it. If it doesn't improve my life, I ignore it.

 

[TJuser]

Its the end result of the cradle-to-grave Nanny State (tm).

lazy ignorants love it

There's a fourth way: Just ignore it. If it doesn't improve my life, I ignore it.

Pretty much, but I mean more with stuff that's pushed on you (EV's, screens in vehicles, etc).

 

[Zorba]

Pretty much, but I mean more with stuff that's pushed on you (EV's, screens in vehicles, etc).

I simply ignore all that stuff - it doesn't exist in my world. And the harder I'm pushed, the harder I push back! Its only been recently that I've felt "pushed" with smartphones - Home Depot is the most recent example, you can't rent a tool or a truck from them without one, and there's no good reason for it either.

 

[Squatch]

 

[ColoJeep]

Pilots are well trained and fly under the strictest rules and conditions, yet pilot error contributes to the majority of aviation crashes.

And DEI hiring is the major cause for those crashes , but we can't talk about that reality , it would be insensitive ......

 

[Shank]

We need to consider that there is also a big difference between fully autonomous systems and the "autopilot" systems that are currently available on most new cars.

Here's some food for thought:
Pilots are well trained and fly under the strictest rules and conditions, yet pilot error contributes to the majority of aviation crashes. Meanwhile, autopilot has significantly reduced that.

In my early career (high school) I ran a production machine. After so many times doing the same thing one loses focus and might press go before a part is loaded, etc.

I now program the robots that load machines amongst many other things.

It’s fine to be skeptical of things, its fine to monitor things you are skeptical of, the world is also changing very quickly and some things are actually good/safe/etc.

I am not saying I totally agree with this use case of automation but it definitely can have a place. Just because this forum has drivers that may well be worse off with the features doesn’t mean it doesn’t make a lot of others safer on the road. I’d wager we are a very odd minority here.

Lets not discuss why some are allowed to drive…

 

[KennethS]

I’d wager we are a very odd minority here.

Yep, many of us drive in off-road areas that actually require a level of driving competence.