[ale] [TOTALLY OT] road trains - what I've been squawking we need for years - fewer drivers!

[Lightner, Jeff]

Given that presumably we all have seen systems go belly up the idea that
we would all embrace this as a be all and end all solution is scary.
Typically the moron that causes an accident in his own car at worst
takes out 1 or 2 others at the same time (and often enough not even
that).

Imagine instead a "train" on the Oakland Bay Bridge at the time of the
last earthquake where one poor drive slid into a large gap caused by one
of the sections falling - would that train continue to push car after
car into such a gap?   This is only one screwup I can imagine - there
are dozens of others.

You guys might want to read Robert A. Heinlein's "Blowups Happen" to see
his story about government mass movement system and issues with same.

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
Preston Boyington
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 11:19 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] [TOTALLY OT] road trains - what I've been squawking
we need for years - fewer drivers!

Jim Kinney wrote:
<snipped>

> The fewer idiots we have piloting cars, the few wrecks so we can make 
> them lighter. The lighter the car, the less fuel is needed to move it.
> 
> I welcome our robotic overlords (as long as it's not running a variant

> of windows :-)


"Another story in our continuing series, the 16 deaths today in a 50 mph

construction zone along Interstate 285 were apparently the result of a 
passenger plugging in an iPod after the vehicle wirelessly updated the 
motion control system.  It is thought that the user was trying the 
latest kernel version in an attempt to get the audio to play correctly 
while the communication system was in operation..."
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