Many people want your car to kill you instead of them.

[FrodosPet]

On the other hand, they want their car to kill you instead of them.
[hr]
People Want Self-Driving Cars That Save Lives. Especially Theirs

https://www.wired.com/2016/06/people-want-self-driving-cars-save-lives-especially/

Jack Stewart | 06.23.16 2:00 PM

WOULD YOU BUY a driverless car that is programmed to kill you? Of course not. Ok, how about a car programmed to kill you if it’s the only way to avoid plowing into a crowd of dozens?

That’s one of the conundrums an international group of researchers put to 2,000 US residents through six online surveys. The questions varied the number of people that would be sacrificed or saved in each instance—if you want to try it for yourself, see if you’d make a good martyr here. The study, just published in the journal Science is the latest attempt to answer ethics’ classic “trolley problem”—forcing you to choose between saving one life and saving many more.

~ snip ~

So what kind of god do people want as a chauffeur? The study found most people think driverless should minimize the total number of deaths, even at the expense of the occupants. The respondents stuck to that utilitarian thinking, although some decisions were harder than others. “It seems that from the responses people gave us, saving their coworkers was not a priority,” says Jean-Francois Bonnefon of the Toulouse School of Economics. But overall, “do the greater good” always won, even with children in the car.

That’s great—until the researchers asked people if they’d buy one of these greater good-doing cars for themselves. Not a chance. People want cars that protect them and their passengers at all costs. They think it’s great if everyone else drives an ethical car, but they certainly don’t want one for their family.

~ snip ~

[Calculating]

1. Well yeah

Everybody is for the 'greater good' until it involves a personal sacrifice.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

2. Here I am, taking a break from re-reading "IT", and you post this...

Now I have to re-read Christine. Thanks, FrodosPet. That's alot!

[FrodosPet]

5. You are welcome?

[Dr Hobbitstein]

7. The never-ending cycle that is my reading list...

And re-reading list!

Also, had reached the part in It (30 year old spoiler alert) where a long deceased "Belch" Higgins picked up a modern day Henry Bowers in a 1958 Plymouth Fury when I took said break.

[hunter]

3. We could build a society where automobiles, self driving or not, were unnecessary.

But automobiles are a state religion in many nations.

[FrodosPet]

4. If we flap our arms hard enough, we could fly everywhere we want to go

But we cannot begin to flap our arms hard enough.

[KittyWampus]

6. It's called public transportation and community planning

Just as the US was engineered to make cars necessary, so it can be re-engineered to make them unnecessary.

[FrodosPet]

10. So we evacuate the countryside into the cities so EVERYONE will have access to public transportation

I am not discounting public transportation. It is an essential part of society, and we do need more widespread services.

That said, I avoid it as much as I can. To begin with, it is uncomfortable in most weather conditions to wait for the bus. Either the one that was 2 minutes early and you missed it and have to wait an hour on the next one, or the one that is 25 minutes late and then blows by you because you were not right under the bus stop sign, threatening to throw yourself in the bus' path to get the driver's attention.

Once on, if there is a seat available, it is hard plastic and not at all comfortable. Sometimes you can find cool people to talk to, but often the only people you make eye contact with are throwing you a stink eye. You are in this confined space with someone who is loudly and forcefully coughing up visible clouds of phlegm mist. Someone else is trying to sell you what is probably an expired pass. Someone else is having a far too voluminous conversation about far too personal topics. Your equilibrium is never quite right, so at the end of the ride you feel a bit dizzy and queasy.

Good luck building a winning coalition on the "You can't have a car anymore!" platform.

[JanMichael]

12. In every system I have used they can never leave earlier than scheduled. Later sure but earlier?

What kind of rinky dink place have you witnessed a 2 minute before departure case? A few seconds sure but two whole minutes?

[FrodosPet]

16. SMART bus, Detroit suburban system

I have spent way too much car-less time in Southeast michigan, rode more SMART buses than I care to. Very rarely is a bus ride a happy, enjoyable experience. Unless you enjoy seeing your next connection driving away just as you turn the corner (yay! a 30 to 60 minute wait in breezy dampness or perhaps bone chilling cold waiting for the next bus!).

Public transit is rarely enjoyable among people who have a choice.

[hunter]

13. Rural and semi-rural may need automobiles indefinitely.

Cities and dense suburbs can be re-engineered in ways that make automobile ownership unnecessary and undesirable.

My nephew lives in San Francisco. He doesn't own a car and he doesn't need one. When he wants to travel beyond public transportation he simply rents a car.

When he and his cousins are hanging out none of them drive in the city.

I'm amazed watching them. (Smart phones are a big part of that too.)

I've spent many hours in San Francisco either looking for a parking place or walking from whatever parking place I've been able to find.

My kids and their cousins just don't do that. They move about the city unburdened by automobiles.

[KittyWampus]

17. No, but communities can be RE-engineered just as they were 100 years ago.

In fact, that is the history of humankind.

[FrodosPet]

19. Top down engineering of cities in China

"If you build it, they will come!"

Or not.

[KittyWampus]

29. why are you posting jibberish in reply to my post? Autos/roadways were intentionally

ENGINEERED into our country.

And Western Society has transformed itself and it's communities countless times throughout history for one reason or another. Intentionally or not.

[Warren Stupidity]

33. Hmmm. I'm sitting in a hotel in Beijing.

I've been working in China for the past two weeks. I took a bullet train from Nanjing to Beijing for the weekend. I've been traveling all around both cities on their extensive and inexpensive subway systems. China has a huge problem getting to clean production of electricity, but they are working on it. Meanwhile they are investing in public transit infrastructure all over the country. They are actually building cities that work and that will work in the future. We are investing in bombs.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

23. Why don't you guys just go and gentrify Pittsburgh instead?

Take advantage of their light-rail that practically nobody uses and let everyone else just keep their cars.

[hunter]

8. My wife and I by some planning and greater good fortune abandoned the commuter lifestyle decades ago

Unfortunately we are still expected to own cars if we want to be considered fully functional adults in this society.

My car is a big "Fuck You" to car culture.

It's a mid eighties $800 piece of shit with over 300,000 miles on the broken odometer.

I only wash the windows. It has spiders and lichen living on it. When I drive it the spiders figure it's a strong wind, bad weather, and seek shelter.

My relationship with my car is entirely dysfunctional. It continues to live to spite me. Unfortunately as a young person I learned some mad mechanic skills. I can fix most anything that goes wrong with a car.

This is hell.

[redwitch]

9. Where were you today when I needed you?

[yeoman6987]

11. Maybe in 100 years. We can't even get a decent bus schedule.

We can't seem to get subways in every city in America. Good luck. Driverless cars will happen way before public transportation for everyone happens.

[TeamPooka]

14. Be a lot of work for people to clean up the horseshit. nt

[hunter]

15. The electric buses and streetcars in San Francisco don't shit.

Cars, on the other hand, shit in the air we breathe.

[FrodosPet]

18. More like "They do all their shitting at the power plants"

Sorry, I am not trying to be difficult. I agree with you and KittyWampus more than you agree. At the same time, the challenge to the culture of your ideas is MUCH more profound than it would have been a century ago.

Great topic to revisit.

[duncang]

20. Maybe some time in the future

I believe in future of sustainable clean energy and it's use in transportation. I think a shift toward that would help the most. Going with no private transportation could work to a point. But believe some would still be needed. The infrastructure would require massive updates. The roads to me would have to be almost a separate system from pedestrian and bike roads. Also they would either have to be flood proof or a wider range of electric car/truck styles (Propane or hydrogen cars could fill gaps also) would still be required. Some people still have to go to work no matter what. Having a high clearance vehicle to me has always been a priority due to flooding. To me that place is a long time off.

As examples.

I live a fair distance from the city. It would take massive public transportation additions to reach out this far. If everyone lived in a city center with their jobs close by it would be logical for them to use public transport. At one time I worked on a job which you may have to come in no matter what the weather any time of day or nite 24/7. Also had to be there within a hour or 2. You could also be stationed under emergency conditions for a day or more. They would supply cots and food. I have had to go to work during hurricanes. Standing out in a hurricane waiting for a bus to me is not I would put up with. Taking or waiting on public transport when something has the possibility of environmental damage or loss of life is not a option.

Next any service industry or construction person who will be working one area one day then some place else the next day. If they have to move supplies that knocks out public transportation. Trying to work up new bus or rail schedules every time a construction worker changes job location while possible would be a lot harder then someone who works in a single spot such as a office.

There are more instances like that, but the idea is the same. The main thing is you have to consider the full range of needs for any system that is in place. What works for some won't work for others in a rigid public only transportation system.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

22. You can take my car from my cold, dead hands.

The measures that would be required to make public transit tolerable to the motorist public would probably be untenable to those who advocate against private vehicles.

I demand a crackhead free and air conditioned commute.

[hunter]

26. What if people who don't drive cars begin to outnumber those who do?

They may decide they don't want your car in their city.

I can easily see cities deciding to shut out personal automobiles, maybe building huge parking structures for visitors like those outside Anaheim Disneyland or Venice Italy.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

30. I can't see that happening anywhere but Manhattan and San Francisco

Millennials who are too broke and debt laden to afford homes and cars are not a new cultural bellwether, they're just living in poverty.

[Unit 001]

21. Mass public transportation is the answer,

not self-driving cars.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

24. Vote with your feet

If somebody wants to live somewhere with mass transit they can move there. No adult is being held prisoner in the suburbs.

And that doesn't necessarily mean New York or San Francisco. Go live a righteous transit lifestyle in Cleveland, nobody is stopping you.

[Unit 001]

25. You seem rather ignorant of mass transit.

I don't choose to debate a particular topic with a person with nothing to offer. So, good day!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

31. You seem to be avoiding the issue

If somebody wants to live this way, entirely dependent on public transit, nothing is stopping them. So why aren't more people doing so? Well probably because it's a lousy lifestyle.

[FrodosPet]

27. I hate using public transportation

I know public transportation is necessary, but as many good times as I have had in my life, and as many bus rides as I have taken in my life, they have rarely been at the same time.

YMMV

[Adrahil]

35. That depends upon where you live.

Live in the city? Public transit it a good option 99% of the time. But grocery shopping is a huge PITA on public transit. So is any kind of shopping for a large item. Fortunately, I hate urban living and do not live in the city.

[Shrike47]

28. I am old and have a bad rotator cuff in my right shoulder. I avoid busses at all costs.

They're a bitch to get on to, uncomfortable, and a bitch to get off of. And how do you get your groceries home?

[Heeeeers Johnny]

32. What will the car do if there's a riot situation, and you're surronded by an angry mob?

Personally, I want the option to get the fuck out of Dodge as quickly as I can
and save my ass (and my passengers), in the process.

[Warren Stupidity]

34. Human drivers routinely sacrifice other people to save themselves.

I assume you think perhaps that is not the best choice.

So this is just another scary robots post

[Warren DeMontague]

36. I'm not feelin' the panic

but then, I've seen some shitty human drivers in my day.