Posted on 12/09/2017 4:39:03 AM PST by jjotto
The internet is a black hole filled with an endless stream of stupid thoughts and bad ideas. While it’s usually best to ignore it, every so often something breaks through the obnoxious drone of social media that is so egregious, you couldn’t possibly turn a blind eye if you wanted to.
We are obligated to present to you a recent tweet from Vahid Kazemi, a software engineer for Google’s self-driving arm Waymo, and describe how it made us feel.
Kazemi begins his digital announcement stating that he’s driving in Los Angeles. While that isn’t a crime in itself, it is a humblebrag to all the jerks currently occupying flyover states that offer a better standard of living for less money but none of the prestige.
How do I know that? Because I do this all the time, specifically to make myself feel superior to others. Do I actually feel any better when I tell friends in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that I’m currently “enjoying a New York slice?” Not really. But the impulse is too strong to resist when the card is right there for you to play.
Moving on, we come to the infuriating meat of Vahid’s tweet. Here he tells everyone with access to a computer that, over the last two days, he has almost murdered five strangers. He’s also repeatedly lost control of the rental vehicle he has been issued. As someone who drives rentals fairly often, I’ve not had this problem — which means Kazemi is either joking or one of the world’s worst drivers.
However, even if this is just a big goof on his part, there is usually some truth in comedy. I do believe Vahid probably almost killed someone while behind the wheel of a borrowed automobile and I also believe his first impulse was to tweet about it jokingly on a public forum. Which is absolutely hilarious, by the way.
His defense was that the rental didn’t have have the same autonomous features his own car has. We already know that relying on driving aids eventually make you a shittier driver. However, the smugness that comes along with it is a new development. That’s easily the most obnoxious portion of this tweet. Kazemi makes a not-so-subtle case for mandating autonomous vehicles using his own ineptitude as an argument.
I can’t breakdance and I would probably hurt myself pretty badly if I tried. In fact, there’s an video from 2008 of that exact thing happening. But I’m not going to make a blanket statement that indicts breakdancing as evil just because it isn’t a skill I possess. Of course, I don’t work for a company that will make more money once nobody is allowed to breakdance anymore.
Alright, this breakdancing analogy is flying off the rails. The point is that Kazemi said something dumb and contentious without even realizing it. I think that’s what makes this autonomous revolution kind of scary. There’s this sense that it isn’t being controlled by people who love cars. I’m sure the Waymo engineer in question is a fine person, but he said something that outed himself as non-enthusiast bent on ending driving, and that’s rather troubling. It confirms what we’ve all suspected and gives us a face to vent our frustrations upon.
As a result, Vahid ended up being teased over his statement and the zingers kept on coming — even after he deleted the original tweet and posted a backpedaling response (which he also deleted).
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/12/qotd-waymo-dude-drivers-license/#more-1603572
... But what I can tell you is that if you get into your 20s without being to handle a plain-Jane passenger car in ordinary traffic, and you are not a native New Yorker, I’m going to make a few assumptions about what kind of man you are.
In my opinion, a man who is old enough to get his PhD should be able to drive a car, ride a motorcycle, understand most basic types of machinery, operate a firearm, calculate a tip, handle a confrontation with another man whether through diplomacy or force as required, and take a woman on a date (if that’s his bag, baby) without finishing the night either alone or under investigation for harassment.
I’m not saying that you have to engage in the sort of nature-Zoolander cosplay that made former Jalopnik writer Wes Siler a laughingstock. It’s THE CURRENT YEAR and I doubt that any of us will be forced to subsistence hunt in the near future.
But young men should be encouraged to learn and develop the skills they will need to be something other than helpless outside of Park Slope or Mountain View...
Vahid = snowflake in Millennialese.
Adjunct?
Humans should not live in LA. Many of the residents of LA are not human.
Methinks Vahid is an erstwhile humorist.
Be keenly aware that today’s engineers are increasingly Affirmative Action hires that will duplicate the success of AA hires in government and universities.
In my opinion, a man who is old enough to get his PhD should be able to drive a car, ride a motorcycle, understand most basic types of machinery, operate a firearm, calculate a tip, handle a confrontation with another man whether through diplomacy or force as required, and take a woman on a date (if that’s his bag, baby) without finishing the night either alone or under investigation for harassment.
Reminded of an old Robert Heinlein quote. One of my favorites.
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.”
Am I supposed to already know who Kazemi is, and what he tweeted, before I read this article? I’ve read the article, and I have no idea what it’s about.
self-driving cars is part of AI-Artificial Intelligence.
All AI is inflicted with the same problem...bias.
Bias is also the plague of predictive modeling and preditive analytics. Bias is the plague of new tech.
Smart people who are biased think they are too smart to be biased and they truly do not know and are not aware of their bias. Of course, they are also defensive if they begin to get a glimpse of their bias. Revealing the bias, and their ignorance of the bias, might reveal that they aren’t as smart as everybody thinks they are.
I recently had occasion to drive a car with lane departure warning. It shakes the wheel to warn you. It was very disconcerting because it repeatedly 'warned' for no reason at all.
I never want a car deciding things for me, especially one designed by people who can't do what I can do.
artificial=something not the original, fake.
Not sure what business you are in but in my line of work if you are an engineer and can’t cut it (AA or not), you sink to the bottom real quick. Engineering is not a “let’s wait and see how it turns out” profession. The results are right there in front of everyone. In my line of work it was all about doing it better (quality), faster (market share) and cheaper (profit). These three parameters were often at each other’s throat. That is where great engineering and management found its mettle.
There’s nothing like the topic of self driving cars to get some people enraged.
Autonomous cars will be mandated for several reasons:
90% of all automotive fatalities are driver error.
Autonomous vehicles are the left’s “mass transit” dream come true without the heavy infrastructure needed for rail.
People resisted ATMs and preferred bank tellers. How did that go for the “resistance” to automation?
FReepers need to understand that autonomous cars will be forced on the people. Private ownership of a vehicle will be like private ownership of a horse.....something reserved for a select few and only in private settings.
Sounds like a Muslim terrorist to me:
“Kazemi, Kazimi or Kazmi is a surname ...The surname can be linked back to the family of Islamic Prophet Muhammad’s great-grandson Imam Musa al-Kadhim”
‘The Drive’ story is instructive. Waymo/Google is going all-in on actual autonomy instead of driver aids. Driving autonomy is likely to be like fusion energy; useful in just a few more years, decade after decade.
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