There has been plenty of progress in using AI to control robotics; they use robotics-specific AIs for that, of course.

The fact that ChatGPT (or even LLMs in general) isn't particularly useful for robots shouldn't be a surprise, since robots (other than maybe C3PO) are about physical manipulation of objects, not about language generation.

I agree. They are just so much less adroit than Blair's government was. Being less completely shit than the Tories is just not good enough.

I guess it's conceivable. Not sure if every EV's battery diagnostics can report total charge received in the last 12 months. If it's consistently available, then yes, in principle, the MOT inspector could stick a dongle into the ODB port as part of the inspection and the government could use that rather than mileage. But I guess the government thinks mileage is less politically & emotionally contentious than an extra kWh charge.

yup

Soo, how would they "subsidize everything"? I mean, where would the money come from? Materializes out of thin air?

Joke is on him. Steam allows refunds. And they get used.

And buy the slop before they know! Great business idea!

I guess this asshole does not know that Steam does refunds and often does refunds far beyond the "2h played" official limit. I have used it several times, never an issue.

But it still means some diversification in the more general landscape. It also means they can now, for a while, move again with lower effort.

While Google is probably not the best choice, the move also causes increased flexibility. They will now, for a while, be able to move again with relatively low effort.

That the move is difficult just shows how direly needed it is.

Indeed. About time.

> Under the proposed changes, I'll pay per mile. 50 miles per gallon means I'm driving about 42.5 miles a day. So 42.5 miles * $.027 = $1.1475 tax a day. $1.1475 * 365 = $418.8375 a year. So for bothering to drive a hybrid (how dare I!!!) I'll go from $189.873 up to $418.837. $419 / 190 = 221% increase in gas tax.

Meanwhile you're not paying for roughly $2400/yr in gasoline. If you were driving a gasoline vehicle at a typical 30mpg, your 42.5 miles per day would burn about 1.42 gallons which, at a statewide average cost of $4.569/gal, is $6.47 per day, or $2362.55 per year.

Your annual fuel cost savings decreases from $2172.68 to $1943.71.

So did your have a point or are you just bitter your free ride might be slowing down a tiny bit?

> The asshole in the 20mpg tank won't notice a difference

The asshole getting 20mpg is already paying almost ten times what you would be under the proposed tax at $0.228/mi at current state average gas prices, and I disagree that they won't notice that jump ~12%.

> YAY I'm so happy to be green

I should hope so with an extra 2 grand in your pocket every year over the alternative. Also FYI those higher registration fees are there to make up for the gasoline prices you're already not paying, which is nearly double the tax you'd be paying at the pump otherwise.

"They dropped the cover charge and made admittance to the bar free! How DARE they charge more for drinks!"
=Smidge=
/AND you probably claimed a tax credit buying that vehicle...

My rough calculations accounted for six axles on the lorries, but not dual tyres, much less the many other factors eg contact area, dynamics, tyre pressures etc etc. But I think they’re reasonable to an order of magnitude. While I get the principle you’re setting out, the effects are not equivalent in size: you need thousands, possibly 10s of thousands of car passes per day on a road to equate to the damage caused by a single artic pass, and the ratio of cars to artics is a bit lower than that.

Indeed. But the proponents of the hype are not rational.