What's on your mind today?

[Arturo]

Driverless cars have a long way to go still. In Arizona a woman got hit because the car didn't see her. She was jay-walking at night on a dark part of the road, but I think that the car should still have stopped for her anyway. Watching the video, I don't think that a human driver would have done better than the AI, but I think that the AI should have done better than it did.

Even if you take away the jaywalking at night on a dark portion of the road, like what if it was a fallen rock or something that fell off the back of a another vehicle or a stopped car? Unless I can trust that the cars won't hit any object, whether the object is obeying the laws or not, the cars should still be considered in testing and development.

Maybe they can have motion detectors? Like if something pops in that wasn't there before the AI can know to avoid it. They have technology like that already but I forget what it's called or what it's used for. It's not motion detection though but similar in concept. They use it in cars now actually when they are backing up so the vehicle stops without hitting something like a child.

[Tank]

.. Watching the video, I don't think that a human driver would have done better than the AI, but I think that the AI should have done better than it did.

...

There is a potential problem here. Suppose the roads start filling up with cars with reaction times better than the human drivers around them? We can't afford for the AIs to do any better than the bottom quartile of the human drivers around them.

[Arturo]

.. Watching the video, I don't think that a human driver would have done better than the AI, but I think that the AI should have done better than it did.

...

There is a potential problem here. Suppose the roads start filling up with cars with reaction times better than the human drivers around them? We can't afford for the AIs to do any better than the bottom quartile of the human drivers around them.

I thought about that too and there might be some sort of thing like they did with switching the United States off of TV air waves and pursuing all digital television. All the cars might have to be fitted with a add-on AI that allows them to take control of the car and act as if it were a smart car.

That's what happened here with TV. They gave out coupons and we have these boxes now that are giving you free digital TV as if it were on an air wave. I'm not sure how that works but the picture is definitely clearer when you have one.

[Davin]

Driverless cars have a long way to go still. In Arizona a woman got hit because the car didn't see her. She was jay-walking at night on a dark part of the road, but I think that the car should still have stopped for her anyway. Watching the video, I don't think that a human driver would have done better than the AI, but I think that the AI should have done better than it did.

Even if you take away the jaywalking at night on a dark portion of the road, like what if it was a fallen rock or something that fell off the back of a another vehicle or a stopped car? Unless I can trust that the cars won't hit any object, whether the object is obeying the laws or not, the cars should still be considered in testing and development.

Be interesting to know just what sensor systems, in detail, these cars have. I woukd have thought sensors would stand a better chance of spotting a black clad hunan on a dark night the the Mk 1 eyeball. Is the video avaikable?

My one near miss with a pedestrian was when a wonan, walking in tge same direction as I was driving, side stepped into the road to get round a bunch of people on a crowded pavement. She was only in the road for three or four steps. I was approaching a controlled junction with other traffic on my right (remember we drive on the left) so was, thankfully, not going fast. I hit the brakes about two ibched from her - she never even noticed and hitting the horn was a waste ot time. Had I been 5mph faster . . .

In such circumstances I was probably aware of the possibility such an eventuality subconsciously, I try to consciously "read the road" anyway. Is there any chance that an AI could do anything like that? My bet is that "predictive prevention" allowing for all driving conditions for car AI systems is a long way off.

The video can be seen here:
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/tempe/watch-tempe-police-release-video-of-deadly-uber-crash

As a warning, the woman hit did die.

Yes, I agree there is still a bit to go on driverless cars, but we aren't too far away. I think a breakthrough or two will work, maybe 5 years if we're lucky but I'd guess closer to 15 years.

[Davin]

Driverless cars have a long way to go still. In Arizona a woman got hit because the car didn't see her. She was jay-walking at night on a dark part of the road, but I think that the car should still have stopped for her anyway. Watching the video, I don't think that a human driver would have done better than the AI, but I think that the AI should have done better than it did.

Even if you take away the jaywalking at night on a dark portion of the road, like what if it was a fallen rock or something that fell off the back of a another vehicle or a stopped car? Unless I can trust that the cars won't hit any object, whether the object is obeying the laws or not, the cars should still be considered in testing and development.

Maybe they can have motion detectors? Like if something pops in that wasn't there before the AI can know to avoid it. They have technology like that already but I forget what it's called or what it's used for. It's not motion detection though but similar in concept. They use it in cars now actually when they are backing up so the vehicle stops without hitting something like a child.

They have a bunch of sensors on them, they don't advertise them readily though, probably because they're more concerned about being the one with the best system than working together to create the best system.

.. Watching the video, I don't think that a human driver would have done better than the AI, but I think that the AI should have done better than it did.

...

There is a potential problem here. Suppose the roads start filling up with cars with reaction times better than the human drivers around them? We can't afford for the AIs to do any better than the bottom quartile of the human drivers around them.

I don't know, I think having a faster reaction time with better, more accurate and precise control over the car will only work out better. I mean as long as they are able to solve the current issues. I mean as long as the cars are not trying to drive to the edge of their abilities and remain driving with enough time/distance for humans to be able to react.

[Davin]

So I was reading an article about a guy who invented a new biodegradable bottle to cut down on waste.

But I wonder if that is the way to go. It seems like waste is becoming more and more of a problem and waiting for the things to degrade takes too long, even the things that can be recycled takes a lot of extra stuff to break it down and put it back into something else that isn't always as good as the original stuff.

So why can't we try to make more durable and easily cleaned containers and have like a service at like grocery stores or whatnot where you just take a bottle in, put it into a machine, and it gets filled with the desired liquid and then sealed. Reuse seems like a better way to go than biodegrading. At least I think it would be a smaller footprint.

[jumbojak]

Soda Stream is kind of like that. I think a dispensary system would work well too, if you could get people to think ahead a bit. It's just so convenient to walk into any gas station and grab your favorite drink without worrying about what happens to the bottle when you're done. I know I was a chronic offender for most of my life.

[Dave]

Refillables is great for drinks, but there are loads of other plastics that can't be recycled back into bottles and packages. Some get turned into bridges, like the one over the stream behind my place. But now one company is turning these into roads, replacing some of the bitumen that has to be obtained via other environmentally nasty methods.

https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/meet-entrepreneur-turning-plastic-bottles-roads/entrepreneurs/article/1444010

There are also those recently found bugs that produce enzimes that break some plastics down into constituent compounds thst are nore easy to recycle and reduce our reliance on oil.

Be nice to get companies to reduce packaging, especially thst which serves only a cosmetic function.

When I were a kid every soda bottle also cost a deposit that was refunded on returning the bottle to a shop and you could get beer, wine, port, sherry etc by taking your own container to the booze shop for filling from a barrel!

[Davin]

Soda Stream is kind of like that. I think a dispensary system would work well too, if you could get people to think ahead a bit. It's just so convenient to walk into any gas station and grab your favorite drink without worrying about what happens to the bottle when you're done. I know I was a chronic offender for most of my life.

Yeah, that is one of the reasons for what I was thinking. Can't make people take such a sharp turn, but if the new thing weren't so inconvenient and didn't cost much more over all, it might be easier to succeed. If people could get or bring in a bottle at convenience stores or anywhere and fill it up, then be able to return the bottle to be cleaned and reused, it might work better. I don't know, most times these ideas don't prove out. The each bottle could contain unique identifiers that get linked to an account, so that they would know when bottles are returned and credited to the account. They would be paying mostly for the liquid.

Refillables is great for drinks, but there are loads of other plastics that can't be recycled back into bottles and packages.[...]

It would be great for other things too, like flour, cereal, candy. Almost everything. I take my cereal straight from the store, and put it into an airtight plastic cereal thing that I just wash whenever it gets empty. I could skip the box and bag inside it by just pouring it straight in at the store.

It wouldn't reduce waste to zero, the containers won't last forever, and there will still be other things that wouldn't work with it, so they could still be used for bridges. If I had a few million I'd get a proof of concept tested and developed. Equipment, chemists, and nutritionists aren't free. I could develop the IS and IT portions on my own.

Any way, I'll just have to sit here and hope the waste problems gets sorted by people with better means and ideas than I have.

[jumbojak]

I want to move to a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where there is zero plant life of any sort. I could build myself a hut out of driftwood, fish for my dinner, and befriend a volleyball. All that would be worthwhile if I didn't have to suffer from allergies again. Avoiding scurvy might be tricky but I'd just have to count on the folks at HAF to drop bottles of lime juice and cans of sauerkraut into the sea whenever any of you visit the beach.

[Magdalena]

And tomorrow is, "Cinco to Drinko!" 

[Davin]

[Icarus]

Way back in the bronze age when I was a kid, the beverages were in glass bottles. Plastic did not exist in any form that would make a liquid or solid container.  Bottles were recycled and there was always a small deposit that the buyer had to make when he bought the beverage.

One of the regular pursuits of kids was to collect bottles wherever they could be found.  We then took them to almost any store where they could be redeemed for about two cents per bottle.  Kids and sometimes adults were dedicated bottle scavengers and the world was kept fairly orderly because of the redemption value of the glass containers.

Coca Cola bottles had a distinguished shape and the bottoms of the bottles had raised lettering that identified the city where the bottle originated. The bottler was therefore identified as in Atlanta, Cleveland, Norfolk or wherever.  Even my small town of Lakeland had its own Coca Cola bottler and the requisite identification on the bottom.

For a time after the plastic invasion, there were collectors of glass Coke bottles. The deal was to collect bottles from as many cities as you could.  Travelers often discarded bottles from all over the country and those made good finds for the collectors.

Milk bottles were another deposit bearing container. Some but not all had the names of the dairy on the bottom of the typically quart sized bottle. Those were the days when the Milk man would deliver your milk to your front door very early in the mornings.  As an aside note: That was long ago and the milk was not homogenized. That meant that cream would rise to the top of the bottle and could be extracted for some use, or the bottle could be shaken sufficient to re mix the cream.  Peanut butter was also in glass jars and not homogenized.  The peanut oil would separate and rise to the top. The user had to stir the mixture so as to blend the oil with the peanut pulp.   

Very few bottles of milk, soda, or whiskey found their way into the trash heap and eventually the landfill. Damn few of them ever ended up in the ocean. The exception is the the ones with notes in the bottle that would improbably, but at least possibly, communicate with JJ  on his island with his friend Wilson the volleyball.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

It's Cinco, I'm in San Antonio - BEAUTIFUL DAY.  Two Margaritas on the river, and now lunch.  Hallelujah!!

[Buddy]

I just had a cat saunter into my apartment while I was having a pizza delivered. She was definitely not my cat.