Terminalcoffee discussion

Drones scare the shit out of me. We don't own the technology. Just thinking about what can be targeted from afar is scary.

Drones do it for me. Followed by all-inclusive technical excursions into our non-existent privacy.

Self driving cars.

Read too much sci-fi CD? The sooner that cars become self drive the better. It will stop the road rage. I could then be freed up to read while driving. :)

I was talking about other peoples road rage. Just incase anyone was wondering. I am totally chill when I drive. Honest.

I like the idea of selfdriving cars in principle, but then I consider that they would be driven on roads owned and operated by the same people who bring you Obamacare and the current immigration mess, among other things. Then I reconsider.

Gail wrote: "Read too much sci-fi CD? The sooner that cars become self drive the better. It will stop the road rage. I could then be freed up to read while driving. :)"

I'm more worried by the lack of human intervention when needed. Models already demonstrated on 'public roads' in the US have no ability for the passenger to become a driver if needed . .

Road rage? With both hands free my aim will just be better.

lol

CD wrote: "Gail wrote: "Read too much sci-fi CD? The sooner that cars become self drive the better. It will stop the road rage. I could then be freed up to read while driving. :)"

I'm more worried by the lac..."

Typical American!;)

I'm not a fan of Automated Braking Systems so self-driving cars probably won't thrill me, either.

I don't want my every move to be recorded. And it's not because I'm doing something wrong. It's because it gives the people watching me too much power.

How everything is now being controlled by your cellphone from your house door locks, water, electricity, to now paying at stores by swiping it. What happens when you lose your phone?!?! That just scares me. That and how so many people have forgotten to actually talk to one another because everyone texts.

CD wrote: "Self driving cars."

Oh, I know! I always think of disaster when people talk about those.

How everything is now being controlled by your cellphone from your house door locks, water, electricity, to now paying at stores by swiping it. What happens when you lose your phone?!?! That just scares me. That and how so many people have forgotten to actually talk to one another because everyone texts.

Good grief, I didn't know they had gotten that sophisticated. We're so dependent.

The new iPhone has the swipe to pay technology though it is being tested only in the US to begin.

We have a new thermostat called the Nest - everything is electronic and tracked in an online account. I was skeptical about it at first but it tracks our usage, when energy rates are higher and when area usage peaks and adjusts itself accordingly. It also "learns" our schedules and when we adjust it - learning to adjust itself. I've really grown to like it and it's actually saved us money but how crazy is that - a smart thermostat!

If they can insert tracker chips in animals, why not people?

As long as you have your phone with you you can be tracked. iOS 8 update allows you to set up family members to share your location. Blah! I have two kids 16 & 17, I wouldn't impose that on them. I would rather trust them.

Barb wrote: "Ah, but you can also set up to share purchases."

Thankfully that is a separate share feature. About time too.

I like the idea of being able to leave the house and have no one know where I am. Freedom. That was a given in the past. Looks like we're losing that freedom, and I don't like it.

But with kidnappings, murders, and disappearances, it's also a way to find someone.

That argument of being able to catch the bad guys condones all kinds of intrusions on our privacy.

More on the self driving car 'problem'.

Now, No Steering Wheels! Wheeeee!

http://www.computerworld.com/article/...

Drones don't scare the shit out of you?

Scout wrote: "Drones don't scare the shit out of you?"

Not as much. I've got enough trouble with real live idiot drivers, all I need is a driver suddenly needing an update! And no steering wheels? Nothing can go worng, go wornt, og orng*( . . .

Besides, drones, goose gun.

I look at what our military drones do, and if you're not scared, you should be. People are there one minute, then a bloody mist the next. Who's to say that North Korea won't develop the technology? No one seems to be concerned that they're firing nuclear missiles. Russia, the Chinese. I worry.

Scout wrote: "I look at what our military drones do, and if you're not scared, you should be. People are there one minute, then a bloody mist the next. Who's to say that North Korea won't develop the technology?..."

Drones have human operators. Low observability aircraft manned or unmanned have been around for a long time. If they become nothing beyong unmanned missiles (i.e. V1 type devices) that is one problem. But a Predator drone sporting Hellfires has a pilot flying it from a bunker. Unmanned but not devoid of human control.

The goal with UCAV (unmaned combat aerial vehicle) has been platform flexibility and recoverability, not cost or quantity produced. They are not meant to be unmonitored. That defeats the whole technology concept. The fire and forget weapons aren't what they are made out to be in 'the movies'.

Stand off (fire and forget enabled or not) weapons fired from aircraft (manned or not) have been silent killers for decades. Drones(UCAV's) just don't draw attention when they get shot down like a regular jet combat fighter. No lost pilot. LIttle publicity.

Unmanned cars are about a cheaper solution to having people drive vehicles and wreck them. Completely autonomous vehicles that are making life and death decisions based on a closed source AI construct are already on highways and local roads. Those don't have a human at the controls. Without steering wheels, a passenger is just cargo based of some algorithm for delivery.

Not unlike that FedEx or UPS package from fruit-of-the-month club that arrived two months late.

Was your intention to make me feel comfortable with drone technology? It still scares the shit out of me.

Scout wrote: "Was your intention to make me feel comfortable with drone technology? It still scares the shit out of me."

Nope.

Just am more concerned about the immediate impact of URW (unmanned road warriors) than UCAV's.

A possible new entry in this list has recently dawned on me:

voting.

Voting scares the shit out of you? I'm assuming you voted but, in either case, WTF? I'm not looking forward to the days after Christmas when all the drones hit the sky in my neighborhood. I'm already thinking of ways to foil them.

If anyone else had posted this thread, I hope it would have been taken more seriously. The possibility of other countries hacking into our electrical grid is scary. If you've been without electricity for more than three days, as I have, you know how much we depend on it.

Scout wrote: "If anyone else had posted this thread, I hope it would have been taken more seriously. The possibility of other countries hacking into our electrical grid is scary. If you've been without electrici..."

The story is falling apart about the 'grid' being hacked. By Jan 2, 2017 the Washington Post published a nearly full retraction of the story it had originally 'broken'. This follows from among others, Forbes on January 1, 2017, having written stories not only questioning the story but even detailing parts of what had gone wrong. Much of the area covered by the power company in question is not supplied by an US entity, it gets its power from Canada.

Besides, this is exactly what generators are made to alleviate. Generac will gladly put in an alternate power system for your comfort. Then just 'go off the grid' at will.

I'm not familiar with Generac. I hope I'm wrong about other countries being able to shut down our electricity.

It's still drones. Drones scare the shit out of me.

Here's a new one ponder, fingerprint theft.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017...

Scout wrote: "It's still drones. Drones scare the shit out of me."

Drones at the Superbowl today. Halftime show. Be there!

I saw the fingerprint thing, but no worries for me, as I never post any photos of myself. Those Superbowl drones were really impressive. I couldn't figure out how that was done until today, and they said it was recorded somehow. I don't get how that worked for the people in the stadium. I guess it was just for TV. Armed drones are more impressive. And deadly. And very scary. And then there's future scary, but not that far into the future. AI and nano technology combined with bio tech. Also cloning and gene manipulation. Scary. Mary Shelley was a genius.

And to think, I had a grade school teacher that truly believed that ballpoint pens were the work of the Devil. Of course she was popping Seconal by lunch time . .

We all believed my seventh-grade math teacher ate chalk.

I've said that it's drones, and I'm still scared of them. Nobody in the U.S. thinks to look up, and I hope we never have to.

Scout wrote: "I've said that it's drones, and I'm still scared of them. Nobody in the U.S. thinks to look up, and I hope we never have to."

It's too late. They are already looking down at you. Or sideways or from behind.

I am seeing more actual problems with my #1 techno issue, driverless cars. Even the accident avoidance technology available (and is a part of what make driver free vehicles possible) is starting to be an issue.

A string of vehicles traveling bumper to bumper on the interstate weaving in and out of traffic at 10-20 mile an hour over the maximum limit has now become a common occurrence. So have multiple car wrecks with several "following to close" and " to fast for condition" citations. I see it weekly. Or more often and I live and use what is often termed rural Interstate. Not so much. Though I do get a chuckle with the crumpled $100,000 cars that got munched by a ten year old beater that is still driveable and the high tech wonder is scrap. As long as everyone walks away I suppose it's OK. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The in-dash 8-track tape deck.

Yep. And the microwave oven.