The monopoly is the single organization authorized to sell taxi medallions: The City of San Francisco.

It is also baked in a kiln heated to thousands of degrees, that is usually fired with either gas or coal. Cement production is a huge net generator of CO2.

It doesn't go up. It goes down. The water pollution is caused by gunk leaking from waste water surface ponds. Solution: better seals on surface ponds, more inspections of the ponds, and bigger fines for violations.

The Mythbusters episode was from 2006, and was done on a sensor that was even older. Technology improves. In a decade, it can improve a lot. Their technique would almost certainly not work today. Apple's sensor requires a pulse, and detects deep skin layers that do not show up on a lifted fingerprint.

Nope. The iPhone, like most modern fingerprint scanners, requires a pulse. A severed finger won't work.

Transportation is not the only use for aircraft. Solar powered planes would be ideal for surveillance, and as communications relays. For these applications speed is not important, but long loiter time and low maintenance are big benefits.

The reactor would mostly likely fall into the ocean, where it would be retrieved intact. RTGs are designed to survive a launch failure, and several accidents have
already happened, without any significant release of radiation.

A fission reactor that has been assembled, but never operated, does not produce much radiation. Enriched uranium and/or pure plutonium are not particularly dangerous (unless inhaled or ingested). It is the fission byproducts from actually operating the reactor that are dangerous. Even this minimal radiation could be avoided by using temporary shielding that is removed (possibly by a robot) immediately before the launch.

Not necessarily. Instead of shielding, you can use distance. Fission reactors produce little radiation until they start operating. So you launch into space, then separate your main payload from the reactor using a long conductive tether. Then fire up the reactor.

Several tools are being developed that can look inside your brain while you are being interrogated. These include EEG to measure your brains electrical activity, and fMRI to measure metabolism. So far these are too bulky to be used surreptitiously, but "they" are working on that. Invest in tinfoil.

It is funny that people bring up examples where split second response, and accurate steering control are crucial. These are exactly the situations where autonomous systems are the strongest, and will do better than a human 99% of the time.

No, it would be irresponsible to continue to trust humans once computers can do better. The computers don't have to be perfect, they just have to be better than humans. That is not a high bar.

None of these are particularly difficult for current autonomous cars. They have multiple sensors, including GPS, radar, camera, inertial sensors, and rotation sensors. Snow may interfere with cameras, but have no effect on the others. An autonomous car also has access to far more information than you do, such as exactly where the road is, the location of other cars, and the exact location of signs and mileage markers (this data is collected and saved as the cars drive).

Yes. Once autonomous cars are on the road, the advantages will be obvious, and the objections will fade away.

More likely the exact opposite: As preventable deaths are reported, that were caused by humans interfering, there will be a demand to get people out of the loop. Soon insurance companies will void your policy if you drive your own car.

Only a complete retard would think that it works this way. It doesn't just "kick out" of auto drive. It will always make a best effort to drive safely. There are, however, certain situations, such as dirt roads and construction areas, where it will recommend the human take over. If the human fails to do so, the car will continue to drive safely, or pull over and stop.