Taken for a Ride
A guy was killed by his auto-piloted Tesla last week (new story here) and Uncle is looking into it. Of course, he won’t do anything about it. Because “if it saves even one life” is very selectively applied. It applies only when whatever the danger happens to be is something Uncle wants to use as an excuse to impose yet another mandate.
Never to rescind one.
See, for instance, air bags.
Or – lately – cars that drive themselves.
Uncle very much wants such cars and so is prepared to do nothing about their potential – and now actual – lethality.
Because, you see, the point is not that car that drive themselves are “safe” (they’re not, bear with me) though that is much talked up (like airbags, which also aren’t “safe”) and used as the pretext for force-feeding them to us. Note that. We are never given the choice. Never offered whatever the thing in question is and allowed to weigh the pros and cons and then choose for ourselves. Free people are not merely allowed such latitude, they are entitled to it. It is not bequeathed, conditionally, by political parents in a remote bureaucracy but respected as an inviolable moral principle.
Myths, Misunderstandings and Outright lies about owning Gold. Are you at risk?
In a free society, that is.
But we are not free except to do as we are told.
Back to this Tesla thing.
The “driver” (who wasn’t) in the recent lethal incident was reportedly doing something else besides paying attention to what was in front of him. In this case, a big rig making a left turn in his path of travel. The Tesla’s autopilot did not grok the big rig and drove right into it.
Right under it, actually.
According to Tesla, “autopilot is getting better all the time but it is not perfect and still requires the driver to remain alert.” (Italics added.)
Really?
Then why bother with the autopilot?
Isn’t the touted benefit of cars that drive themselves this idea that “drivers” no longer have to remain alert? That they can take a siesta or play Candy Crush or watch a DVD or do some work on their laptops? If they have to remain alert, they cannot do those things, too.
Remaining alert means keeping one’s eyes on the road at all times – not occasionally. It means being prepared to react to changing conditions.
Like a tractor trailer turning left in front of you.
The imbecility of all this makes my teeth ache.
The post Taken for a Ride appeared first on LewRockwell.
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