We Don't Need Every Shiny New Toy

Photo: XPeng

I admit it: I love a shiny new toy. I own a Flipper Zero, I have a BambuLabs 3D printer, I’m the target market for Ooh Fancy Emergent Technology That Promises To Improve Life In Vague Inscrutable Ways. Yet, even I am on the side of the California governments trying to fight autonomous vehicle developers.

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My Flipper, despite public outcry, won’t hurt anyone on its own — it won’t even hurt anyone with my assistance, due to my longstanding policy of generally not being a dick. My 3D printer, similarly, harbors no bloodlust within its movable axes. Self-driving cars, however, already do plenty of damage. Let Nick explain:

Teens are often dangerous drivers, that’s not a fact that’s up for debate. But those teens, in many parts of the world, need to drive — there’s no other way to get from point A to point B. Cars, it turns out, have no need to go cruising on their own.

You might argue that I don’t need a Flipper or a 3D printer. Sure, that’s true. But the risks of my little tech toys are far lower, they’re far safer to work with than thousands of pounds of steel and rubber hurtling down the road without oversight. Humans are inherently bad at oversight tasks — if I don’t oversee my printer properly, a print might fail. If someone doesn’t oversee an autonomous car, far worse can happen.

Congratulations, Nick, on your Comment Of The Day win. Here’s a track about a distant, self-driving future.

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