That's not clear. One of the big problems with EVs is the ability to charge them. Lots of people don't have any way to do this at home, and the away-from-home chargers are often iffy either in access or availability. (Reports say they are often broken.)

FWIW, I won't be interested in a new car until full-automatic driving is included. So my observation of the market is a bit sketchy. But if I were to buy an EV I'd have no reliable place to charge it.

I wouldn't wager much that your last paragraph is correct. Apple is a large corporation, and different pieces of it don't necessarily talk to each other. This may have been a decision that the marketing department made without checking with legal.

Apple being in the music business breaks the court agreement that they made with the Beatles. Of course, that's probably expired by now, but they didn't wait for that to break the agreement.

I think that age changes you. You just happened to have kids, but you are still aging. I am a totally different person than I was in my 30's who was, himself, a totally different person than the 20's version.

Your mind bends and adapts to your situation.

It isn't age that does it....at least not everyone.

I'm pretty much the same in my head as I was in my 20's-40's, etc.

The only difference is...my body is physically slowing and telling me I cannot do what I used to do...can't stay out as late, drink as much etc...

I basically still have the will/want to do such things...but my body says a resounding "NO"....so, I don't.

Age really hasn't changed who I am mentally...except I'm learning to accept things I no longer can physically do.

I'm not at all sure it's beyond the limits of the technology, but I rather expect that properly training it would be more expensive than the call center.

Having children later increases the risk of defects and complications

And besides....most of us prefer to bang younger chicks rather than older ones....

40's are pretty hard on most womens' looks.

Are automated agents worse than someone who only reads from a script?

"Economic Hardship" has jack-shit to do with most of the declining birthrate. Women have more money than ever. If being poor hurt the birthrate, the Third World would have ceased to exist centuries ago. Women choosing careers over marriage has far more to do with it. Those that are getting married are doing so much later in life, when their fertility is already declining, and having few children is a consequence of that. Why do you think IVF and egg-freezing are in such demand? Because women that waited until 30 to get married discover, often to their surprise, that their best chances of pregnancy are in the rear window.

Women were told that they could have it all, the best of both worlds: that they could live like men in their twenties, living the single sexual life and moving up their corporate ladder, and after they had their fun, then they could marry the man of their dreams and have their family. All in a neat package. Except nature doesn't work that way. The Biological Clock is a thing, women have a set number of eggs, and by thirty, they start heading downwards in terms of fertility. Late pregnancies have a greater chance of complications and birth defects. The peak year for fertility and healthy birth is, IIRC, age 24 on average for females.

That and the women in their 30's and 40's that you describe, while having their fun, are running up very high body counts....and when they are ready to "settle down"...the men that are in their 30's and 40's, largely are not interested in them...

They are interested more in the younger, more virile good looking women...either to just get laid, or if looking for marriage, to grab younger women before they get that high body count.

It also seems, that women that have high body counts, have difficulty pair boding with a mate as deeply and intimately as those that do not.

I supposed because, in general, the old standard that women almost by nature involve emotion with sex, while men can largely separate the two, and it doesn't seem to "ruin" them later down the line for marriage or pair bonding.

Do you think trans kids would have otherwise been pumping out babies, and that it would be a good thing for more kids to be having babies??!?!?

No, but instead go with the stats, that well over 95% of the kids that are "confused", grow out of it....so, let that happen as it does naturally, rather than give them irreversible drugs and surgeries that will fuck them out of sexual activity or enjoyment for life.

I might now be able to get a voice that speaks clear English I can understand when I dial in for support.

"Women over 40 have the lowest birth rate" shouldn't come as a shock to anyone

Older does tend to mean wiser, after all. Well... okay, for some people.

Destroying middle class has predictable consequence of tanking birth rate. News at 11.

"We must have constant inflation or people might, you know, save!"

Then... basics cost (a lot) more and mid- to low-tier wages don't even come close to keeping up

Brutal housing, education, medical, food, vehicle, and fuel costs, crushing taxes on the lower tier workers... gee, sounds like a great circumstance to bring some ever-more-expensive rug rats into.

The "American Dream" is deader than Trump's diaper contents for a large swath of those of an age to be pumping out crotch goblins. But hey: The stock market is doing Great!

Or perhaps it's just that no one wants to hump someone with their pants falling off their butt — or otherwise dressing like a refugee.

Obligatory: get off my lawn.

so there's gobs of extra capacity at night when air conditioners and electric ranges and clothes dryers are not running.

Not running the AC at night???

I dunno WTF you live, but here in the New Orleans area...my AC comes on early to mid April and really doesn't hardly shut off till mid November.

Night is when I REALLY crank the temperature down so I can sleep.

Does AOSP not support Chinese input?

BTW, Heliboard is available from Izzy and is open source and does good (non-nudge) prediction locally.

It's too bad that it took DoT to enforce the most basic tenets of commerce law when ostensibly that's the Courts' job or even the FTC when courts fail.
Good to see corruption only wins 99% of the time!