active radar is something that a more advanced race will need more powerful versions of to track things in their solar system

Why not use transponders?

Because it's hard to put a transponder on a rock that you've never detected before. And detecting a rock that might produce a C-T Boundary on your planet if you don't notice in time is....bad.

And if they're really advanced, they'll point their radars relatively close to the plane of the ecliptic where all the stuff is.

Except, possibly, that one rock that would produce a C-T Boundary if it reached the ground...

Imagine if a highway officer saw a car go by today without a person's hands on the wheels. Even if the car was going the speed limit, it would likely be pulled over until the officer knew that this car was self-driving.

I suppose it's possible that a cop might get excited about seeing a car go by without a person's handson the wheel. It must be noted, however, that a fair number of drivers of cars with power steering drive with one hand on the bottom of the steering wheel (and thus completely out of sight to passersby). Cops aren't stopping those people (these people, I should say, since I'm one of them on the Interstates, at least), so I suspect that the issue isn't as signifcant as you suggest....

If I were to buy an electric tomorrow (I'm mowing grass today, so it'll have to wait), I would not be able to find a supercharger near me.

Nor would I be able to do a quick battery swap.

And while I *do* drive fewer than 150 miles most days, having to have another car (or rent one) the times I do want to go more than 150 miles would be a strike or two against an electric.

Note that "next year's big new improvements" aren't enough to make me consider a product that doesn't meet my needs THIS YEAR.

Yeah, things may change in a few years. When they do, I may buy an electric. Note, by the by, that gasoline automobiles could not reliably drive across the USA (due to limitations on availability of gas stations) for perhaps 20 years after their introduction. If electrics follow that pattern (and they require even more significant infrastructure than gas cars, which didn't really need gas pumps, just availability of gasoline), then the electric might be generally useful as a drop-in replacement for a gas car by 2030 or so.

Yeah, I'm surprised that computer geeks don't more broadly embrace electric vehicles based solely on the principle of flexibility.

Well, one reason is that they're not all that flexible in terms of long-range travel. Driving more than the distance of a charge in a day is...difficult. And time-consuming.

This is not true of gasoline cars. Note, by the by, that it WAS true back in the day when gasoline was bought in drug stores....

The problem is that putting those two charts right next to each other also displays the timeline.

Alas, a degree of temperature change over the last two millenia doesn't really get people all that excited.

It's just like that "Sea level could rise 20 feet!!!" thing last week (early this week? whichever). Yeah, it could. At the rate they were citing, it would take nearly two millenia for it to do that.

Unfortunately, it's really hard for a species that lives a century or less to get really excited about problems that won't be serious for a millenium or more....

The most important being that anyone here has clue one what "real AI" will behave.

If you know nothing of "real AI", how can you possibly determine whether someone else "got it right" in cinema/literature?

That said, my personal favorite has always been "Mike" from "Moon is a Harsh Mistress"....

In a cashless society the government van put a tax on deposits that can't be avoided by holding currency. In other words, it makes it possible to seize savings in a way that is fairly automated.

Government doesn't have to do that. They can already print money, which allows them to inflate your savings into nonexistence.

Note that inflating the currency also allows them to do unto the currency you're holding. A more comprehensive solution all around.

Maybe letting off the brakes a tad to lessen the impact, or (out of left field idea) deploy air bags on the bumpers?

Let's see. We're stopped at a traffic light, presumably with cross-traffic doing its thing. So we want to let off the brakes so we get pushed farther into the cross-traffic? Hmm, two car fender-bender turns into four+ car pileup....

Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

Taxes are not like a gift.

Quite so. More like extortion, really - "Give us your money or bad things will happen to you"....

Should we also do this with conventional hybrids? Since they also have the chance of "new untested substances to be produced within it"?

If not, why not?

And if so, are you aware that pretty much everything we eat is a hybrid? Some newer than others, of course. But none of those hybrids have undergone "proper clinical trials before release"....

If you're capable and able to have lots of consensual sex with lots of partners with out using coercion? GREAT!

And here I thought that sex between employer and employee was, by definition, non-consensual. Do try to remember that Monica was an employee, not an "equal partner"....

Defending freedom of speech means defending speech that you don't agree with. I'm sure you're familiar with the Voltaire quote, "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

Yah, and I think I'm familiar with that saying....

And this is probably why there are so many fat people in the US. Walking or cycling (+ not having tacos or bagels for breakfast... tacos? Really?) would probably be good for a lot of people.

Just curious - do you walk or cycle much in 35C/90%+ humidity where you live?

Sure you can.

Wonder if they bothered to get a Grand Jury to rubberstamp it....