TL;DR: induced demand isn’t just for highways
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Good point from @mkj here:
https://social.mkj.earth/@mkj/11306912875790975999 Percent Invisible did a good episode about this:
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/children-of-the-magenta-automation-paradox-pt-1/
(As always, web text is a summary; full story is in the audio) -
@belehaa
Yes, per the rest of the thread, it’s very much a counterfactual right now, not a reality that’s just around the corner. -
Cave Cattumreplied to concept of a display name last edited by
@thedansimonson @inthehands sadly safety is not a "feature" amenable to scaling in a short VC-funded development cycle. Fundamentally, safety must be backed into the entire development culture, in an org willing to experiment (and lose money) until your safety-critical widgets are really ready. Where "readiness" is decided by a customer with the financial clout to shut you down if you get it wrong, or a government that'll jail you if you lie about performance.
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@fgcallari @thedansimonson
I never thought I’d miss the consumer-driven version of capitalism, but the investor-driven version sure makes it look good. -
@inthehands The whole LLM situation makes me flash back on the daily; I remember clearly what it looked and felt like siting in that software class in the early 90s, talking about expert systems vs neural networks.
The neural networks part shared the story of the tank spotting system that they trained to perfection till it consistently found the tanks. Till they “tried it in prod” and it turned out the training set tank photos were all on a cloudy day.
That data set was at least consistent.
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@donw
That story is such a classic example! -
@inthehands Some years back before I was thoroughly disillusioned I interviewed with an autonomous car company for doing my thing (analytics for insight, auditability, accountability), got to “interview an SVP” where I realized they were more paying heed to the idea they wanted this, rather than actually wanting it. Afterwards, I told the recruiter I didn’t think it’d be a good fit & the recruiter told me the role had been eliminated
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@inthehands @davidzipper I didn't realize this phenomenon had a name, and there must be a million examples now of highway expansions leading to more traffic. He says, as they tirelessly expand all the interstates that swing by here.
The LED example is excellent, though. It's recent, and it's probably relatable. Hands up if you got told off as a kid for leaving lightbulbs on. These days? Not at much. Plus, we've demonstrably made light pollution worse.
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@inthehands @thatandromeda oh, absolutely. I have Subaru EyeSight and it's really good. It reduces fatigue on long drives in ways standard cruise control can't, and keeps a reliable, safe distance.
Although, I've regularly driven the system in two cars, 4 years difference in age, and it's interesting how they've tuned it differently. Where I'm used to it doing one thing in one car, it's subtly different in the other. "Same" system. Doesn't bode well for complete automation.
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@inthehands with apologies for the quick double reply, I just got around to reading that link. Absolutely fascinating. Couldn't help think about accidents I'm vaguely aware of, and ones I happen to know in depth because I've studied them for work, etc.
Will share that with my colleagues.
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@tehstu
It’s a classic. I always keep coming back to it. Glad it’s found a new fan!