What If The Freedom Convoy is Part of this?

Now, I would like to begin by saying I support everyone of these worldwide protests against authoritarian overreaching. However, many things are happening at once; some in the background, some blatantly up front.

So here is my concern; I remember reading a few articles a couple of years ago, which then didn’t seem plausible. Because then I read was this less than a year ago:

Washington D.C. – The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) is providing truckers a possible glimpse into the future regarding the impacts of Automated Driving Systems (ADS). In a recently released 91-page report entitled Driving Automation Systems in Long-Haul Trucking and Bus Transit, the USDOT in conjunction with the Departments of Labor (DOL), Commerce, and Health and Human Services, put forward a series of findings related to the expected impacts from widespread adoption of ADS within the trucking industry.

Create problem, offer solution and then gain the money and control that comes with it.

The government always has a plan, I’m hoping this is it. End game?


Here’s the link to the study Link for study

Chaos, order, control. We must stay vigilant to any counter moves that might be on the horizon; this is a true moment in history that could change the world fundamentally for the better, to be a more open, free, connected place.

God speed truckers!

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand

Well, I dont think the truckers are a part of it. What i do believe though, is that they aren't helping to dissuade big corporations from employing the technologies of ADS. In some regard, specifically with respect to ADS, they are sorta shooting themselves in the foot.

But in my opinion, there's zero chance they would work actively to assuring their own obsolescence.

"Trucking companies are thinking about substituting human drivers with AI smart car technology - "

Lemme stop you right there. Not a chance. Even before employees rise up to protect their essential role in distribution, autopilot features are notoriously unreliable.

originally posted by: SeektoUnderstand
Now, I would like to begin by saying I support everyone of these worldwide protests against authoritarian overreaching. However, many things are happening at once; some in the background, some blatantly up front.

So here is my concern; I remember reading a few articles a couple of years ago, which then didn’t seem plausible. Because then I read was this less than a year ago:

Washington D.C. – The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) is providing truckers a possible glimpse into the future regarding the impacts of Automated Driving Systems (ADS). In a recently released 91-page report entitled Driving Automation Systems in Long-Haul Trucking and Bus Transit, the USDOT in conjunction with the Departments of Labor (DOL), Commerce, and Health and Human Services, put forward a series of findings related to the expected impacts from widespread adoption of ADS within the trucking industry.

Create problem, offer solution and then gain the money and control that comes with it.

The government always has a plan, I’m hoping this is it. End game?


Here’s the link to the study Link for study

Chaos, order, control. We must stay vigilant to any counter moves that might be on the horizon; this is a true moment in history that could change the world fundamentally for the better, to be a more open, free, connected place.

God speed truckers!

Well, the government doesn't always have a plan. I think some groups do, inside or outside the government.

I don't think the trucker protest was manufactered to this end, but I do think they will use it as justification to accelerate automation.

This is one of my fears about vehicle automation, smart cars, and electric cars, that they will use these to control freedom of movement and in this case, protests.

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand

When are we automating politicians to simply voice the will of the people?

It's not experts with decades worth of experience in representative positions, it's whoever was willing to sell out to promote corporate interests which enjoy buttering their bread in China at the expense of cheap and/or forced labor.

Once you can automate an industry the people who supported their families through that industry better learn how to code.
- Joe "Scrambled Eggs" Biden. Most popular president ever. Firm believer that poor kids can be just as bright as white kids. Giver of crack pipes. The liberal's choice. The champion of failed Hillary supporters. China's lap dog.

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand
The trucker's protest got itself hijacked and is now a tool of the government.
The purpose of the unrest is NOW to foment distrust with elected officials, law enforcement and any supporters such as media, medical turncoats et al.
By stirring the pot so vigorously they can achieve the desired ANARCHY, to which they will respond with United Nations Blue Helmets to bring order to the New World Order.
If that has acceptance issues, which we know it should, Project Blue Beam, the return of the Messiah, will be broadcast into the sky for all to behold and sh*t their pants over, as the Great Baby Jesus In The Sky tells us to behave.
That is my current take on the situation.

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand

the infrastructure needed to make something like this a reality would dwarf the Green New Deal.
It's a wonderful pipe dream, but my opinion is it stops there, at least for a long while now.

"Part of this" - what does it mean?
These protests are clearly provoked. But why?

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand

It's going to happen period. Truckers are retiring and nobody wants to do it anymore. It's also not a very healthy job for the human body.

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand

I've read about self-driving Tesla cars running under trucks and decapitating the occupant(s). Imagine a truck having a software glitch like that. It will be many years before they are driverless (imo).

I think shipping things by train was a lot better than having all those big trucks on the roads. I don't understand why they changed that years ago, it was cheaper. If they were to make things in various places around the country and get rid of death dating of products, there would be way less shipping going on, which would reduce the carbon footprint and create more local jobs in areas of the country. We have had stricter environmental laws than most other countries for decades, why do we need to be pushing consumerism, why don't we go back to making things that last a long time made in America. Planned obsolescence is making the rich richer and destroying the environment.

My rototiller is from the sixties, it needs occasional repairs, but it works well. A new more efficient tiller could be made that might just need parts to fix, simple parts that anyone can change themselves. This electronic crap has gone too far, a simple close lightning strike can short out electronics and cause problems that cost lots of money to flow to the rich. It wasn't that hard to change points on a car in the sixties, the coil was right on top, the starter solonoid was on the fender, the regulator for the alternator was seperate and could be changed in twenty minutes. The alternators lasted the life of the car, most times a junk yard alternator still worked. The problems we are having is because people want everything too easy, you get exercise if you change the channel on the TV manually, Alexa does not have to turn on your light or turn the thermostat up or down. We are getting sick from not doing these things, we sit too much without moving.

People who haul stuff around are essential to our economy, politicians aren't if they are not working for the good of all their citizens.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: SeektoUnderstand

It's going to happen period. Truckers are retiring and nobody wants to do it anymore. It's also not a very healthy job for the human body.

Driving a semi is taxing on the mind and body, they most times are required to move the right pallets of supplies to the rear opening of the trailer to get taken off. Trucking is not just like driving a car. I understand why the young are not interested, they can make more money making videos or designing technology and those are not jobs that are actually necessary for society.

We have been sent to therapy for things over the year for medical injuries, you had to go back around six times, at the end of the last session they told you what you should or should not do from that point, they could tell a person the first treatment and let them do the stuff themselves to promote healing. The medical industry is conditioning people to be dependent on them and people believe that they are being helped, so they feel it was worth it....until they keep having to pay more and more for insurances and deductibles. I know therapists and they told me they can't tell people how to take care of themselves right away, they won't have a job anymore.....think about that, they sort of want to but can't...self preservation and I do not think that is evil, the evil comes from way higher up than they are. They are just cogs in the system, part of the medical engine that is starting to be used to control people more and more.

Are doctors and hospitals necessary, yes, of course they are. But is all the technology necessary for our survival...no, doctors had better results helping people years ago without all of those expensive technologies, experience was what was considered great in doctors, not tests that were not really needed. Hospitals are stuck, they need money to pay for the technology which actually is about the same as what they pay for labor these days...yes, costs of technology can even cost more than all the nurses and aides. Remember, high wages and service charges are paid for maintenance of this technology too, it is not just the cost of the machines, technology includes software upgrades and also training costs of teaching the help to utilize the new software properly...which is lacking these days. New is not always better.

I know this post is just a rant, I know that we need healthcare, but it seems like healthcare has been hijacked by technology increases these days. Same with our government, they spend way too much on technology and software which nobody seems to know how to use properly till a new software comes out which is also full of problems. Too much change too fast is not good for anything.

originally posted by: rickymouse

My rototiller is from the sixties, it needs occasional repairs, but it works well. A new more efficient tiller could be made that might just need parts to fix, simple parts that anyone can change themselves. This electronic crap has gone too far, a simple close lightning strike can short out electronics and cause problems that cost lots of money to flow to the rich.

I see what you mean, and you're right. But replacing things aren't quite as simple and straightforward as you're suggesting either. Whether a Briggs or a Tecumseh motor on it, they both have the points and condenser under the flywheel. How many people (younger not older) have the expertise anymore to have a flywheel puller handy, use it without warping or otherwise destroy the flywheel, know to turn the crankshaft so that the cam lifts the points striker where they can gap it correctly? Even as simple as a spark plug, ive seen countless people simply buy spark plugs and think they can just socket them without first gapping them. It's almost a lost art, that self-sufficience.

originally posted by: rickymouse

It wasn't that hard to change points on a car in the sixties

Change? No. Knowing the proper gapping, again? That's another story. Same situation here...people would pop off their distributor caps, not check for cracks or clean (if they didnt want to replace outright) the elements inside the cap, nor check for an over abundance of pitting inside it on the elements, or pitting on the armature which usually meant replacing the distributor, then there was the whole mess of getting the distributor timing right.

originally posted by: rickymouse

the coil was right on top, the starter solonoid was on the fender

That's true! That when DIY auto repair was enjoyable!

originally posted by: rickymouse

the regulator for the alternator was seperate and could be changed in twenty minutes.

That's if you had an alternator, depending on the make and age of the car, some had DC generators and not alternators.

originally posted by: rickymouse

The alternators lasted the life of the car

It COULD happen, but that was very rare.

originally posted by: rickymouse

most times a junk yard alternator still worked.

Yea, i cant tell you how many times i had to reach out to local junk yards for parts on the 62 vette, 60 Bel Air and 61 corvair i was restoring. They have all since closed shop, which made me really sad, frankly.

originally posted by: rickymouse

The problems we are having is because people want everything too easy, you get exercise if you change the channel on the TV manually, Alexa does not have to turn on your light or turn the thermostat up or down. We are getting sick from not doing these things, we sit too much without moving.

Completely agree. However, you have to admit, without some of these advances in technology, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

originally posted by: rickymouse

People who haul stuff around are essential to our economy, politicians aren't if they are not working for the good of all their citizens.

Again, i completely agree.

originally posted by: alphabetaone

originally posted by: rickymouse

My rototiller is from the sixties, it needs occasional repairs, but it works well. A new more efficient tiller could be made that might just need parts to fix, simple parts that anyone can change themselves. This electronic crap has gone too far, a simple close lightning strike can short out electronics and cause problems that cost lots of money to flow to the rich.

I see what you mean, and you're right. But replacing things aren't quite as simple and straightforward as you're suggesting either. Whether a Briggs or a Tecumseh motor on it, they both have the points and condenser under the flywheel. How many people (younger not older) have the expertise anymore to have a flywheel puller handy, use it without warping or otherwise destroy the flywheel, know to turn the crankshaft so that the cam lifts the points striker where they can gap it correctly? Even as simple as a spark plug, ive seen countless people simply buy spark plugs and think they can just socket them without first gapping them. It's almost a lost art, that self-sufficience.

originally posted by: rickymouse

It wasn't that hard to change points on a car in the sixties

Change? No. Knowing the proper gapping, again? That's another story. Same situation here...people would pop off their distributor caps, not check for cracks or clean (if they didnt want to replace outright) the elements inside the cap, nor check for an over abundance of pitting inside it on the elements, or pitting on the turnstyle which usually meant replacing the distributor, then there was the whole mess of getting the distributor timing right.

originally posted by: rickymouse

the coil was right on top, the starter solonoid was on the fender

That's true! That when DIY auto repair was enjoyable!

originally posted by: rickymouse

the regulator for the alternator was seperate and could be changed in twenty minutes.

That's if you had an alternator, depending on the make and age of the car, some had DC generators and not alternators.

originally posted by: rickymouse

The alternators lasted the life of the car

It COULD happen, but that was very rare.

originally posted by: rickymouse

most times a junk yard alternator still worked.

Yea, i cant tell you how many times i had to reach out to local junk yards for parts on the 62 vette, 60 Bel Air and 61 corvair i was restoring. They have all since closed shop, which made me really sad, frankly.

originally posted by: rickymouse

The problems we are having is because people want everything too easy, you get exercise if you change the channel on the TV manually, Alexa does not have to turn on your light or turn the thermostat up or down. We are getting sick from not doing these things, we sit too much without moving.

Completely agree. However, you have to admit, without some of these advances in technology, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

originally posted by: rickymouse

People who haul stuff around are essential to our economy, politicians aren't if they are not working for the good of all their citizens.

Again, i completely agree.

I have a whole set of flywheel pullers, yet I tend to use two screwdrivers or small bars and a hammer to hit the loosened nut on the shaft to pop the flywheel off when the bars put tension on it. It is actually kind of fun doing that, nostalgic. The first time I changed points on a small engine and rebuilt it I was eleven years old...but now most adults do not have a clue. Right now, the pointless ignition system is not that bad, the newest stuff has all kind of electronic crap on it these days, It is actually harder to diagnose and fix modern crap, it requires special testers and tools most times, I even have a kit for setting carburators, seems a screwdriver is obsolete to adjust jets these days.

originally posted by: rickymouse

I have a whole set of flywheel pullers, yet I tend to use two screwdrivers or small bars and a hammer to hit the loosened nut on the shaft to pop the flywheel off when the bars put tension on it. It is actually kind of fun doing that, nostalgic.

Hahaha, yea i've done that too in a pinch, though, full disclosure i've also cracked more flywheels than i want to admit to, too LOL

originally posted by: rickymouse

The first time I changed points on a small engine and rebuilt it I was eleven years old...but now most adults do not have a clue.

Right. Exactly what i was saying too, some of these things might be easy or seem rudimentary for us, but for some, it's like asking for proof of bigfoot.

originally posted by: rickymouse

Right now, the pointless ignition system is not that bad, the newest stuff has all kind of electronic crap on it these days, It is actually harder to diagnose and fix modern crap, it requires special testers and tools most times, I even have a kit for setting carburators, seems a screwdriver is obsolete to adjust jets these days.

I remember my first foray into pointless ignition systems, i thnk it was GM's HEI - High Energy Ignition - system, where there was a small computer chip module that regulated the flow of spark. It was OK, still didnt need a mechanic to replace the module, but to me, was the beginning of the end.

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand

I have thought this too, like a controlled opposition , to help bring in automated trucking (self-driving).
Klaus shwab has said something about the fourth industrial evolution and the 'great reset' help brought forth with covid 19.

a reply to: SeektoUnderstand
Just sounds like a threat designed to coerce demonstrators into compliance with whatever draconian control freakery is flavour of the day. Bet there is some whisperer, sorry, lobbyist making suggestive comments into the relevant departmental ears.

We can easily move to Hydrogen power and do away with these wimpy electric cars connected to AI somewhere unaccountable for the deaths their system caused that were preventable. H2 powered cars can fly in the air too when we move to that. Create H2 on demand but that would mean we could pull up to the pond and fill er up without taxes...... hmmmm... Taxation is their money cow. I guess we won't see that to save the environment. They have to get rich off of it and rake us over the coals financially or it won't be allowed to even start.

originally posted by: Madviking

originally posted by: SeektoUnderstand
Now, I would like to begin by saying I support everyone of these worldwide protests against authoritarian overreaching. However, many things are happening at once; some in the background, some blatantly up front.

So here is my concern; I remember reading a few articles a couple of years ago, which then didn’t seem plausible. Because then I read was this less than a year ago:

Washington D.C. – The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) is providing truckers a possible glimpse into the future regarding the impacts of Automated Driving Systems (ADS). In a recently released 91-page report entitled Driving Automation Systems in Long-Haul Trucking and Bus Transit, the USDOT in conjunction with the Departments of Labor (DOL), Commerce, and Health and Human Services, put forward a series of findings related to the expected impacts from widespread adoption of ADS within the trucking industry.

Create problem, offer solution and then gain the money and control that comes with it.

The government always has a plan, I’m hoping this is it. End game?


Here’s the link to the study Link for study

Chaos, order, control. We must stay vigilant to any counter moves that might be on the horizon; this is a true moment in history that could change the world fundamentally for the better, to be a more open, free, connected place.

God speed truckers!

Well, the government doesn't always have a plan. I think some groups do, inside or outside the government.

I don't think the trucker protest was manufactered to this end, but I do think they will use it as justification to accelerate automation.

This is one of my fears about vehicle automation, smart cars, and electric cars, that they will use these to control freedom of movement and in this case, protests.

a reply to: Madviking

If there is any misconception I apologize; I’m not saying the protest was manufactured, just the rhetoric switch to make people more open to this possibility.

And my brother in law is a huge progressive (luckily he doesn’t believe in actual science) because he works for one of the largest companies that automate systems for vehicles…

He’s an engineer apparently

a reply to: alphabetaone

I passed three mechanic certification tests back in 1981, taking four would have made it so I was a master Mechanic....but I did not have time, I got there late because I was at the hospital where my first wife was having a baby....that test was on May 13, 1981. I kept the mechanics licence for one cycle, but never renewed it nor did I take the extra test to get my Masters license. As soon as my daughter popped out and my ex was back in the room, I took off then returned again when I finished the test.

If she would have gone to the hospital in Hancock, I would have had the time to take the last test, but it was in Calumet, so I had a fifteen minute longer drive to get there.

It didn't matter anyway, I never actually worked in a place that did mechanics, I just tuned up cars for preformance, including altering the timing and points to get faster start offs. I also changed engines and trannies...back in the days when it took four hours to swap an engine. Now, it takes more time than that to change the plugs on some cars.

I don't have the patients to work on newer cars anymore. I actually bought a Subaru because of how easy it is to do a tune up, change the alternator, and work on other things...not because it was a good car. I also did buy the eight year warrantee because I was sixty five, I doubt if I will be crawling under a car when I am seventy three years old. I still do all of our brake jobs and my kids brake jobs too. I enjoy it when everything is right there to work on. Right now the sixty seven buick electra is sitting...stored on top of my hoist, which sucks. But I have two commercial floor jacks so it isn't bad.