A surprisingly large number of Americans aren't even willing to accept the range limitations of EVs as reasonable, and that basically boils down to having to make a stop for 30 minutes rather than 5. The idea that we should be limited to the stores and restaurants within walking distance, and beholden to a train and/or bus schedule for everything else represents significantly more compromise than slightly longer pit stops.

Honestly, my take on it has been if you enjoy urban living, fine, you do you. I like that I have some space between me and my neighbors, and that the semi trucks noisily unloading goods for the local Walmart while I'm sleeping, takes place several blocks away in a commercial zoned area - well out of earshot.

dude what?

There are different charts/thresholds for age and sex, even ethnic groups.

It's not a surprising number for a Londoner. But it is a surprising number for someone not used to driving here I'd say. I mean it's bad enough on side roads of course. It's when you need to do it on the south circular because offloading lorries and badly parked SUVs that it adds spice to life.

I do agree that the advantages from everyone else's point of view is sticking to the speed limit, no rushing and of course giving cyclists the mandatory 1.5m which no drivers ever do. I do question though whether Waymo's approach will work in London. As you say, it's a lot more chaotic and unpredictable.

I agree on the "cultural" problem part, though my own impression is that the insane-level of car-centricity also plays a role.

That IS a cultural problem, and a very very deep seated one.

contrast: I also have a high education and a computer desktop job. I do spend 1 hour commuting each day by bicycle. Here around it's much more bike-able than in the US.

Mine's a little over. The great things are: it's the fastest way to work for me, I need a grand total of 5 minutes of motivation per day to get a decent amount of exercise, being outside is better for me than being inside.

The trouble is "keeping politics out" isn't really a thing, because politics more or less supersedes everything, ultimately.

Politics is what could cause the government to ban disc golf under penalty of death. Not likely today, sure, but if it happens, it's politics that makes it happen. Politics could much more likely get it banned from your local park.

And people are people and you cannot escape that. Sooner or later people chat off topic and someone might mention they have a baby for example. Then /u/babyeatingjim expresses his culinary preferences and suddenly no one's allowed to yell at him to fuck off because baby eating is a political issue now and telling a baby eater to go away and never come back is "political".

When politics goes sour it seeps into everything. "zealots" are pissed off that people are doing the equivalent of banning disc golf from the park because it's played by mostly people on the other side, and of course the "zealots" are also pissed off because bad politics is literally killing people.

Yes you want to shut your ears and keep out the noise, but that's unfeasible when the noise outside is too loud. The problem is not that people "let" politics get into everything, it's that the noise outside IS too loud. You can't shut it out.

Also routine spying, deep packet inspection, fuckery with networks and so on and so forth.

We shall see.

Having driven a lot on London and various parts of the US, I'd say driving in London isn't like driving in America. The roads are small, narrow and crowded. Pedestrians common and allowed, and do, cross almost everywhere. Junctions tend to be much more varied and intricate or of you prefer, bizarre. There's also a surprising number of places where there simply isn't room for both directions and you have to negotiate with other drivers, in ways that will get you to fail your driving test and are not precisely legal.

It'll be interesting to see how they compare with the locals, i.e. Wayve.

Here's what really tightens my jaws: if you take the average health care premium that you pay for employer-provided health care insurance and add that to the medicare / medicaid taxes, it probably comes out pretty even with what the medicare cost would be for single-payer healthcare.

It's not like private health insurance somehow gets massive discounts or something - Medicare sets reimbursement rates for procedures, so the care costs what the care costs. Hospitals love Medicare billing because they know what they're going to get, and they know they'll get it.

Private health insurance is a fucking leech attached to the money artery. How can anyone every expect an efficient health care system when you have profit-seeking entities in the middle of it, extracting money out of it while adding the only "value" of bureaucratic runaround and trying to dodge paying due to an "out of network" radiologist that you didn't choose and were not informed of looking at your x-ray in an in-network facility as listed on their own damn web site.

Their business model is to extract the most premiums they can, while paying out as little claims as they can. They exist to create inefficiency, and profit wildly for themselves. And we're all paying for it, for no reason at all.

I found your problem in understanding his statement: you are missing the very important context of the word "we".

Hint: "we" doesn't include you or me.

Now read it again and you'll understand perfectly.

Well then you better stop using any products that come in factory-built packaging like glass bottles and aluminum cans - that is unless the glass is hand blown and someone custom-rolled and welded that aluminum can together for you.

If not, then I guess you're secretly fine with not doing things by hand that robots are better at.

We've automated the manufacture of things before and the economy didn't collapse. Don't be such a chicken little.

The world needs people to operate ditch witches. Maybe they can influence some fiber up the hill past my place.

To accuse me of not thinking. That's like idiot-ception. I am genuinely impressed by your ability to defend your ignorance. I think the Christian evangelicals call it the armor of God.

Assuming the government doesn't just use militarized police and the whole ass army against its citizens then when things really boil over they go to war and they drag you along with it.

Once again I'll remind everyone world war II started with 25% unemployment and that wasn't a coinkydink.

Yeah I read it days ago when it was first posted. It's a whole shitload of automation and a bunch of CEOs freaking out that we won't be able to compete with China because they automate the shit out of everything.

My first thought was that we are starting up a cold war with China and world war II got started with 25% unemployment. What do you think's going to happen when both sides have that kind of unemployment?

I know we are all too old to get drafted but some of us have kids.

Someone better hurry up and tell Norway that winter is coming and EVs don't work in winter!