vader1

I was fighting the changes in the car industry by opting to look for manuals, and having no interest in autonomous vehicles and avoiding trucks and SUV's. But now I think I am going to get a Wrangler JL, I will pick the option that gets the worst mileage I can find. Maybe the diesel and I will pull off the particulate filters. I will let it run in the driveway on Sundays just because, and gas is cheap. And it will bring me great pleasure to know it causes great anxiety in the millennial-save-the-world-by-being-condescending-and-preachy to everyone as if they know something that nobody else does because they are almost 30, live in California, and believe every kind of hysteria they see on TV.

It is the best kind of schadenfreude.

vader1

Are you talking about telecommuting or self driving cars? I am for anything that gets other people off the road. 100% for it. But I choose to stay. I like to drive, and I like to drive what I choose.

TsukubaCody

Do you realize how immature this sounds?

CMK, James & I are not telling you to sell all your cars and never drive again. We all own S2000 (and modify them!!), we just also acknowledge the drawbacks.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/automoti...lerie-1143002/

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/automoti...-cody-1189927/

Also, young people should be concerned about these matters. We have to live with them longer & want to be able to enjoy the world as previous generations have.

vader1

Oh please. You go save the earth Captain Planet, I am gonna keep doing what I am doing.

In the last 400,000 years, the earth has had four warmer periods. (about every 100,000 years) In each of those case the earth had LESS CO2 than it does now. Copy that Mav? Warmer temps, and less CO2. There were no dinosaurs driving SUV's at any of those times. The climate is always changing, and it always has been changing for the last 4 million plus years. The temperature is always going up or down. Sometimes much warmer than now, sometimes much colder than now. And not always in conjunction with CO2 levels. Since we can't explain why the climate was warmer back before invented machines, we can't really explain why it is warm now either can we? Nor can we predict what the temperature will be like 30 years from now. I watched Al Gores movie a couple decades ago and pretty much none of his predictions came true. We still have the same predictions laid out before us, yet they moved the goalpost out another 30 years. And we must ACT NOW OR WE ARE ALL DEAD!!!!!!!! Rep. Occasional Cortex tells us we have just a few years for drastic change or we're doomed! And I should believe it because she is about the dumbest person I have ever heard speak? There were predictions of a coming Ice Age when I was in grade school, the Population Bomb hysteria, the greenies were yelling "Peak Oil" a couple years ago and have egg all over their smug stupid faces.

All of those have come to pass as nothing other than people yelling the sky is falling. They also had data to back their conclusions. And the proponents of all those things had the same goals, telling everyone what to do, how to live their lives, and to collect their incomes in tax for whatever dopey purpose they needed money for. If you actually follow both sides of the argument there are plenty of climate scientists out there who question climate models, and can show that we have been much hotter with lower levels of CO2 in the past. I don't dispute that temperatures have gone up over the last century, but the question is what did you expect them to do? Stay where they were forever when they have been going up and down for eon's? If we are at 400ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, but the last warmer period we were at 200ppm, how does anyone explain it against the current model? They don't, because they can't. They have no idea.

The more I read about the models and climate science then less impressed I am that they have it all nailed down. What does impress me is the ability to make militantly blind followers in a cause by feeding them daily propaganda for their entire lives, and never expect them to question anything in the groupthink, but to defend it like jihadis in some cult.

I have tried to drive cars that get good gas mileage and still give me some fun. I replaced all my light bulbs in our new place with about $1k in LED's, and replaced the HVAC and all appliances with top of the line Energy Star. I live on a private peninsula on a lake and don't dump any chemicals or fertilizer near the water, maintain a couple acres of restored prairie that is very pollinator friendly and expensive to do so. I'd like to put up a couple of panels in the yard, and two double helix wind turbines to catch the wind off the lake and not kill the little birdies with fan blades. I live this way because I like nature, I don't like pollution, and believe in conservation. I don't live this way because I have been fed climate change nonsense that will make me willing to live the way Al Gore wants me to (but does live that way for himself), drive some neutered car, or pay some carbon tax to idiot socialist nincompoops for whatever benefit "the people" need from my income. You be scared of tomorrow if you want, I don't buy it.

JamesD89

I have a friend that makes this argument all the time, but I fear that as cars become less of a necessity there will be fewer enthusiasts, which will probably lead to lower attendance at HPDEs and less revenue for the organizations. These organizations would only be able to survive if fees are raised. Participating in HPDEs is already an expensive hobby, it'd really suck if it was out of reach for most middle-class enthusiasts.

Not a short-term concern, and definitely a pessimistic view, but it still worries me.

Why would you actively choose to drive yourself during a commute? Or commute at all? I love driving, but sitting on a freeway going straight isn't driving. That's time that could be spent reading, studying, sleeping, etc. I'd love being able to spend the 1-1.5 hours a day I spend in traffic doing something to improve myself. Right now it's just dead time

sam_spider

Not all commutes are the same as yours.

I like my commute and enjoy it quite a bit. 18 miles (each way), no traffic, and mostly curvy back roads, less than 5 traffic lights altogether. If I had to do it in an economy car would it be near as fun? Nope. I also doubt it would be enjoyable in an autonomous car.

There are areas where autonomous cars would work and would help out a lot, I don't live in one of them and I'm perfectly fine with that.

vader1

What Sam said. My commute is bad some days, but generally I go 12 miles in 17 minutes so I am mostly moving, much of the time freely. In some areas of the country they are not all bad.

Autonomous cars would help people like my parents who are losing their memory and can shuttle them to the doc or the grocery store. Or people who are disabled or just don't want to drive. As long as autonomous cars are programmed to let faster traffic pass by law, bring em on.

silvio1522

Yoohoo for autonomous cars. Now we can spend more quality time on our phones legally. Hell we can even play Gran Turismo 20.5. Can't wait!

white98ls

Didn't read the whole thread, but a couple of thoughts.

First, tech usually progresses more slowly than people think. There are exceptions of course (smartphones and the internet come to mind), but so many past predictions about what the year 2000 or 2020 would be like are wildly optimistic and fantastical. The world takes longer to shift and develop than many would think, and "the future" isn't that far away. Just gaining trust and acceptance in autonomous cars will take time.

I think autonomous vehicles - whenever they truly arrive - will help a group of people that few think to talk about: the elderly and disabled. I'm on the board of a non-profit which offers a variety of services to seniors, but by far the most-used service is having volunteers drive seniors to doctor's appointments, stores, etc. Uber/Lyft doesn't work well for this because A) most 80-year-olds don't know how to use a smartphone, and B) even if one is called for them, it doesn't wait for them to be done. Autonomous cars would be perfect for people who can no longer drive (a growing population as Baby Boomers age).

S2020

let me see if I get this:
you drive a simulated car while a computer simulation drives the real car.
...in other words...
you while moving, drive a car in the cloud. the computer, while in the cloud, drives a car that's moving?

(not judging, trying to see from a different perspective)