That the woman who was killed was homeless reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a libertarian tech bro friend.
We were discussing whether regulation will aim to stop manufacturers selling features to wealthier clients which are designed to save the driver above all other considerations. For instance Mr CEO is lounging in his $250,000 Tesla and is faced with hitting a bus full of schoolchildren, or a load of us poors. What's stopping the manufacturers from saving his bacon and killing everyone else for a considerable monthly fee?
It's anecdotal of course but my friend was quite sure that regulations to prevent this would not be forthcoming. I can paraphrase the crux of his argument as "look at who's making this stuff and how much money they have". It's just part of the bigger issue of increasing private sector involvement in what's deemed to be in the public interest, but I won't start on that.
We are at risk of trying to run before we can walk. We have some serious social issues to resolve before we hand the future over to a small corral of sociopathic billionaires. An unmanned Uber running down a homeless women seems a tragically apt symbol of this.
That the woman who was killed was homeless reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a libertarian tech bro friend.
We were discussing whether regulation will aim to stop manufacturers selling features to wealthier clients which are designed to save the driver above all other considerations. For instance Mr CEO is lounging in his $250,000 Tesla and is faced with hitting a bus full of schoolchildren, or a load of us poors. What's stopping the manufacturers from saving his bacon and killing everyone else for a considerable monthly fee?
It's anecdotal of course but my friend was quite sure that regulations to prevent this would not be forthcoming. I can paraphrase the crux of his argument as "look at who's making this stuff and how much money they have". It's just part of the bigger issue of increasing private sector involvement in what's deemed to be in the public interest, but I won't start on that.
We are at risk of trying to run before we can walk. We have some serious social issues to resolve before we hand the future over to a small corral of sociopathic billionaires. An unmanned Uber running down a homeless women seems a tragically apt symbol of this.