A couple of days ago I followed a self-driving car around San Francisco for 10 minutes. It is a VERY cautious car.
It would drive me absolutely crazy to silently creep around town but many people think that they would like self-driving cars.
They think that they will be able to text.
They can talk on the phone.
They can work.
There will be fewer accidents.
Those are the positive talking points from the self-driving car enthusiasts.
I see only negatives.
Any residue of personal privacy we have left will be gone.
The dispatch of self-driving cars can be hacked and disable entire fleets.
If the Russians can hack our election, just imagine what they can do with millions of cars.
A few wealthy corporations will own their fleets of cars and trucks with very little overhead.
And hundreds of thousands of people, yes, hundreds of thousands of people, will be unemployed.
Hundreds of thousands!
Absolutely no preparations are made for these unemployed people and their families. Just drive down any freeway and you can see for yourself. And those are only the truckdrivers.
Are all these unemployed going to be called bums too because they don’t have jobs anymore? A “dollar an hour” T-shirt seamstresses are not going to solve that crisis.
Beware of what you wish for!