...but thinking it out in a more nerdly fashion, perhaps we're closer to computer-driven cars than we may think.

My pre-2000's cars were what I call "rope-and-pulley," for just about everything. If not literally steel rope on pulleys (from your toe to the throttle butterfly) then hydraulic, from your foot to the brakes or clutch, and from your fingers to the wheels via power steering, usually hydraulic.

But now, for years, benz has had brake-by-wire. Toyota does too. My own car has throttle-by-wire. So do many others.

How soon before we get steering-by-wire? My own car now has electric power steering, and this car's from 2005. One small step on the way to steer-by-wire.

Once we have steering by wire, throttle by wire and brakes by wire, we'll have a full drive-by-wire car.

In that sense, computers will then be driving the car, interpreting each input you give it, and deciding whether it's "ok" to give you the reaction you requested. Just like the Paris Lawnmower

Specifically, out of either Calvin and Hobbes, or Ozy and Millie.

I'm all for it, of course!

You're an idiot if you're complaining about this.

Well, good day to you too, sir.

My complaint isn't about the message, it's the method of delivery. Or rather, the inability to turn off The President's Mouthpiece.

I can turn off the AMBER and weather alerts, but not The President's Mouthpiece. That's the part that truly gets my goat. Now listen to your phone like the good little citizen you are!

I don't object to the message, I object to the chosen method of delivery and the inability to opt-out of the most ominous. In other words, if the Government speaks and one has a WEA-enabled device, one must listen like a good little citizen!

You know, like those radios some governments had mandated you have. Good luck if they found you with a non-compliant radio.

...where do I get a nice tinfoil hat?

It's not paranoia if it's out in the news.....

Perhaps it's my upbringing, but I see life as war. Not a race, but a war.

Do onto others before they do unto you. That's the credo I feel this world operates on.

This goes doubly more for business. There are, and I've met, some good honest people out there doing great work with little reward, or even little desire of more reward. But for one of those, you have 10 who want nothing more than to kill every single competitor, steal their ideas, products, clients / customers, and then lie, cheat and steal their way through those customer's wallets.

Not nice, right? It is Darwinian. Kill the other business before they do it to you. Not the way it should be, but is the way it is.

I hate it. I detest it. And this is all learned by 3rd grade, I think. Even then I noticed "huh, the nasty kids and the cheats win and get ahead faster than the quiet, studious, nice ones."

"Strategize, Visualize, Conceptualize."

C-Speak takes what could fit on a 2 x 1.5" sticky note and expands it to fill entire books.

I imagine it'd look like frog-in-a-blender streaking by at something near mach 1 with fire at the tail end.

Ewww.

Apple is "known" for their great UIs and yet it's far more difficult to find things on a damn mac, iphone or ipad than it's ever been on a windows device.

Dunno 'bout you, but on my ios6 iphone 4, I go to home screen, press home again, and there's this magical Search page that will rifle through my phone. if I search for "doctor" it'll return all the calendar, email, address book entries for that "doctor." If I have media in the phone with the word "doctor" in it, it'll also come up.

How is it worse than a Windows device?

And a JATO pack.

On me, or the car? Either way, that's a win.

Still waiting for my flying car..

*all of it* has to change. Every single piece of our society. It's all FUBAR.

'kkay, done with the mike.

Oh, and another thing -- The next World War will really be fought inside the computer and the various networks. Yeah, drone bombs and bullets and real deaths -- but the real damage, I suspect, will be done by manipulating utilities and financial systems.

Wow, Sum of all Fears is starting to sound plausible. Didn't that one start with an attack on the stock exchanges? Bogus transactions, etc?

I was told in late '98 by a knowledgeable fellow that China had been trying to stick crowbars into USAF stuff for at least a decade -- meaning it was going on during Ray-gun, and likely Carter.

Now, I know lots of you also heard that, and variations on the same song. So why is it that mainstream media don't call it? It's been going on for a long, long time. Mainstream thinks China is an emerging threat. Bullshit. They were an emerging threat 30 years ago. Now they're a real threat.

The next World War will be computer-driven drones of all sorts, in air, space, water and land. I've been thinking that for 10+ years, but my confidence that it will happen is increasing exponentially. It's going to happen, folks.

Think of the ramifications of hardware backdoors in hardware made in usa, china -- anywhere, really.

I think it's time I put my zombie kit together.