All true, only one complication: the signal travel time between Mars and Earth is between 4 and 24 minutes. On the Moon you can do things in real time, on Mars: not so much. So you have to do things autonomously (w/o astronauts). Doable, sure, but landing/flying/taking off/docking needs to be autonomous. And thus a wee bit more expensive :-)

I wish people would stop telling me how many deaths self driving cars would save and instead get on with it and create bloody self driving cars that are safe!

We would push down traffic deaths much sooner if we had technology to prevent drunk driving (which basically exists). But apparently not sexy enough, too easy to circumvent, and (probably) a case of "my freedom to be stupid is at stake!" case.

Liability of self-driving cars is an issue, too. But that is easy to fix, by comparison.

Where I live there is so much road construction even on the most major roads that the only reason people do not crash at night (and just imagine, with rain) because they drive there every day and just know where to go. Just looking at the road (here is looking at you Elon!) gets you nowhere (certainly does not keep you in your "lane").

I was hoping that by the time I have to retire from driving because of old age I could have a self- driving car ... now I wonder whether it is going the way of fusion energy. And I have ways to go.

BTW, Waymo in Phoenix (Arizona) is cool. But driving there is also quite easy, by comparison. Still, kudos to their Robocabs.

Listening to my kids who have gone/are going to college, I am not surprised. Many students bounce from major to major, have no direction or idea what to do, why, or how. Without reasonable purpose and a lack of understanding of the consequences, going to college often makes no sense, especially costs considered. Your mileage may vary. But the college won't care ...

The problem is that many kids get failed by their family, counselors (do NOT get me started on college counselors!), friends, media, colleges, .... a long list.

Full disclosure: Went into STEM myself, became a scientist. I picked a niche (different from where I started because I realized I did not want to work in that field), did not go down the beaten path (or the "in" path - fads are a real thing in science, too). Turned out alright. No regrets.

My kids do the same: plotting a path that makes sense for them and the environment we are in, best as we can anticipate it. And "how to make it worth your while financially" is a crucial part of it. Has to be.
 

... involving hogs and lipstick.

What people always seem to forget about Norway is that they had lots of hydro power for a long time. One of the few places where electric power (like electric heating!) made sense already a long time ago as it has been eco-friendly and cheap (for them) for a long time. Not that anything is cheap in Norway ...

In that sense, Norway is blessed by nature (don't forget the Gulf stream, as long as it runs), and so both good for them, but also often not a really useful example to discuss other places. Not the same boundary conditions.

It also may be that they are actually just smart ... they do have a *lot* of oil, yet they exported it and invested the proceeds while using almost exclusively hydro-power – instead of burning the oil. But they are a special case ... Again, good for them.

Reminds me of myself ... I got into Macs purchased with my own money once OSX appeared and the Macs both did things I could not easily do in Linux at that time (e.g., video) and they became useful as *nix-like boxes. Still true today, though I only have use for some Apple products (laptops, large screen iPad, and Minis). I also still chuckle that RAM aside (come on Apple, gimme RAM!), my M1 MacBook Air "test purchase" still blows my tricked out i9 Pro laptop out of the water most of the time. I actually never went back. Plus, the Al-outside has served me well over the years.

I can see quite a few good commercial / industrial / professional uses for something like Vision Pro (AR, mostly), but as a "consumer", or even prosumer product? Nah ... Although I somewhat like the look: ski goggles :-)

Until the day VR / AR systems are essentially lightweight glasses that do not scream dork even from the distance, I'll probably pass. Heck, even Geordi La Forge's VISOR is uber-cool, by comparison. And a lot less weird and dorky. Maybe Apple should try that, sans implant?? No, wait, Elon will do that ....

The first cars were disruptive (car vs horse), but EVs are not really disruptive (for the consumer). They compete in a mature ICE vehicle market. Which makes things different.

Don't get me wrong: the future undoubtedly is electric, and there are many use cases where EVs make sense already today (say, move pollution out of high density areas). But right now that is not universally the case for many people. Cost is an issue, and I mean not even lifetime cost for the car, but lifetime cost for the person. I did such a calculation for myself, and once the battery replacement cost is priced in (plus the higher purchase cost for EVs) it did not make financial sense to buy electric - plus I do not have to deal with the current hassles of electric, either.

Right now there are two choices: you either force people to switch (the California and European approach), or you have to make it make economic sense for the average person who really needs a car, for their use cases. Build EVs that people need, for crying out loud, not yet more speed daemons with ridiculous batteries and weight (looking at you, Cyberbeast) that can accelerate faster than a F-1 car yet need more energy than my house in 100 degree F weather. Still waiting for an EV minivan ...

Once the early adopters, willful buyers, and people who want to go from 0-60 mph in under 3 seconds have their vehicle, you need to sell to people who are are actually forced to be reasonable (or simply survive) day-to-day. They are not gonna buy electric anytime soon. Makes no sense for them, and you cannot fault them.

Ironically, it's still Bill Clinton: "It's the economy, stupid!". Which is exactly why Toyota sells so many hybrids (and some even with NiMH batteries): it may be not what we ultimately want, but it is much better environmentally than the pure ICE we have now – and for most people it does not disrupt their lives (or their wallet –they may even be able to replace the battery after ~12 years), while still using a lot less fuel right now (note how consumer hybrids are not sexy fast, mostly ...). And it is easy to convince them to switch. Even if you live with a crap grid.

Oh, and my Mom and Pop garage can still service them reliably, too.

I forgot to add this: when you drive through TX in a white van a CA license plate, people look at you with a mix of pity, concern, and genuine curiosity and ask "so, you are (finally) leaving!?". Has happened to me - in white rental vans. For someone who has never lived in California it was just ... comical.

An astute and humorous observation. Well said (and I am not sarcastic here).

Now the question is: is your (or my) comment known to the State of California to cause cancer? I think about this ever since I was warned by an elevator at the San Jose Airport many, many years ago that riding said elevator could cause cancer. I was just thinking: "Oh *do* tell, dear!".

Sometimes, the level of infantilism is a bit much to take - even though I agree with another poster that going 120 mph when the speed limit is at best 70 is a bit excessive. Oh, and you should not take those cars to large parts of Texas, where you can drive 75 mph on a regular highway and 80-85 on some limited access highways. They might shoot at you for holding up the traffic.

I live in the south, over 2,600 Sun hours per year. A/C country.

I looked into this Conclusion: by the time the cost would be amortized, the panels are shot and need to be replaced â"Âif I calculated optimistically. Much, much worse when adding electricity storage. Plus I would have to cut down all trees and take the shade away from my house/property. Made no sense, logically and financially

I did have a solar installer at the house once, and he concurred. And I have a totally average house for where I live, nothing fancy (in terms of insulation etc.).

So I am dismayed, but I am not surprised to find out that a good technology has been trashified this way.

I run my garden shed on solar. And when the power goes out, I have a backup area that is easily cooled/heated. Better use of my money.

Ironically, that is what I do several times a year (not Florida, though - who wants to visit Florida ...) to visit family. 2,000 - 4,000 miles round trip. Load up the minivan, go. Stopping for 5 minutes to gas up and then keep going is useful, I don't drive at night, don't like hitting large animals at night, so I want to maximize daytime driving time. The majority of these trips happen in sparsely populated areas. Gas station density is always decent, and I can stop when I want to, not when my car wants me to. And when there are states that have roughly as many Tesla Supercharger locations as the state name has characters - yeah, not for me so much. But decide what is right for you, you should not care what *I* do.

For many people EVs can make sense (though not necessarily financially), for some it does not. Heck, in my case, my ICE daily driver (not the across the country driver) was paid off before Tesla ever delivered cars. I only buy super reliable cars, so that one will last until I retire, with minimum upkeep. Makes no economic sense to buy an expensive EV right now, plus, I do not know the 25-year ownership cost for any EV. Yes, usually keep them until they are around 25 years old, then they usually start accruing expensive repairs. But I am not the norm, so your mileage *will* vary from mine, greatly.

I'd go for a plug-in hybrid minivan (or pickup) in a heart beat, it would be perfect for my personal use case. Guess what: nobody builds these ... oh well.

Ok, this is so silly, this starts to hurt.

The large majority of the Norwegian population lives far south, and under the influence of the Gulf stream. Calling this "a country in extreme cold" is laughable. Oslo winters are roughly like Boston winters (for US dwellers) as far as temps go. Bergen sees hardly any frost or snow. Sure, there are truly Arctic regions in Norway. Still .. be real.

Second, if the measure of "electric cars perform better" is the starting reliability, then I am sorry. It would be really, really sad if EV vehicles were *not* better than ICE vehicles in that department The battery *runs* the bloody car! It is not some dinky El Cheapo 12 V lead acid starter battery with a life span of 3-5 years that can be replaced in 15 minutes at a cost of ~150 USD - and can be easily recycled, too. That comparison is just plain stupid. I can jump start the ICE and revive the starter battery quickly. *Of course* the EV battery is better. Otherwise the car would be completely useless. To quote Funk FPV: this is just dumb.

I have lived in both extreme cold and hot (both +45 C and -40 C), and the only problem I have had at -40C was the oil getting thick. Hard to crank, hard to shift. So I had a little block heater (on a Honda Civic, mind you). Simple maintenance of the 12V battery made it reliable enough to start every time. And then no problem otherwise. BTW, in extreme heat I found the 12V batteries to reliably die after 3 year ... Annoying, but that makes my cars no less reliable. By the same "logic" I could claim that EV are less reliable than ICE vehicles because they run down their tires faster (they are heavier).

That was just TD;DR - too dumb; don't read. Stupid articles like that are just fodder for EV skeptics.

Agreed. I'll use it when it works as well as in Star Trek ... the original series (queue Spock: "Computer: ...")

Voice to text is still comically bad across the board. I use it occasionally when my hand hurts from too much typing - to get a rest. Saves zero time, the amount of editing I have to do afterwards is, in itself, painful. Pun intended. Granted, I have to write a lot of more complex text, and I am ok with rare technical terms coning out wrong. But still, if *that* is state of the art, then I won't live long enough to see a properly self-driving car, either.

The only thing I ever found to be useful enough is a swipe keyboard on my phone. And even that is often comically bad.

On my book, a good car needs to last at least (!) 20 years and 250,000 miles / 377000 km without major repairs. In that sense my first car was a dud, only got to 14 years and 170,000 miles (lots of it in salt country, though) before the engine developed issues. Repairable, but it was a Honda Civic, and it got too small for a family. Gave it to a mechanic. Second car was donated to a charity after 24 years and ~260,000 miles - again, repairable, just not worth it for me. Many good parts, no idea whether it was fixed or sold for parts.

Sorry, no more data, we still have and drive the other 3 automobiles, and the oldest (daily driver) is now 22 with 270,000 miles, and no sign of slowing down.

The other thing which somewhat worries me is whether I actually _can_ replace the battery easily when it comes to it 12-15 years after the car was built. No problem with engines, but with batteries?

I realize that the future is electric, and that these are teething problems, of sort. But I still have to make choices that make economic sense for my family, and that does not automatically mean electric (or used electric, for that matter). In the meantime, I continue to drive cars I know will last at least 20 years with ease.

Seriously. I read this as "there are around 130,000 projects actively supported". That is not a small number, so I am not sure why I am supposed to be worried. It's easy to submit, there is early excitement by the developers etc. etc. Seems to be human nature, not a software thing.

From my perspective, if that number _stays_ in that range for an extended amount of time, that may just be the natural level. Besides, sometimes even a not actively supported project may be useful, at least until a major software upgrade breaks things. Not everything needs to be updated all the time. Granted, (very) small percentage of total projects.

Anyway, I find this number to be interesting and, ultimately, not surprising. Moving on, nothing to see here.