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Driverless Cars and Sobriety
I’d like to make a prediction: driverless cars — which are back in the news — will undermine our culture’s strong censure of drunkenness. I think we will revert to the kind of relaxed view toward mild inebriation that was the case in, for example, pre-automobile England.
Giving ordinary people the power to control high-speed vehicles initiated a unique era where anyone might wreak unintended violence upon innocents through a mere moment’s inattention. The driverless car era will bring that to and end and, consequentially, the stigma against being tipsy will fade. I predict people will look back on this era with pity and horror (probably over drinks).
I’m not saying this will be a good thing; I’m just making a prediction. Certain drinking habits, now hidden, will come to light and we’ll learn about the true extent of alcohol consumption and high-functioning alcoholism.
How else might driverless cars change the culture?
Published in Culture, Science & Technology
Also, I think you’re misusing “right.”
I think legally, one does not have the right to drive on a public road. It is considered a privelage. (It is under NYS law anyway.). Nor does one have a “right” to get to work sooner.
As to the 30 minute commute
Limit, people who commute to NYC often have trip times of over an hour each way. But it’s on mass transit, so they spend their time doing other things. (Reading, work,,etc.)
So the idea that people will tolerate a longer commute so long as they don’t have to drive, holds up.
I suspected that might be coming.
To me, both of those items fall under the Pursuit of Happiness (as understood as living my life as I see fit).
It is not RIGHTS as in the Right not to have my things taken by the government (Liberty), but my right to not having my things taken by a thug (as I see as form of the right to Life).
So no God given right to a fast commute. I do have a right to travel, unimpeded by the Government. I also have a right to Life, is as much that I don’t want some yutz who cannot even pass a driver’s test on the road in a potential weapon. So the right to Life is balanced against the right to freedom of movement.
The arguments are always about where to strike the balance. On the right anyway. On the left, it is all about what part of someone’s life can you get away with controlling.
Imagine doing that from Driveway to Parking lot and back, in private. Coupled with teleworking, I think we might see cars with workstations in the back. Google is doing this with its bus pick ups in effect.