What If The Freedom Convoy is Part of this?

All current events aside, the only thing that really needs to be done to manufacture public acceptance is to show that the automated driver systems are safer than human drivers.

However, that manipulation is even easier when something like the supply chain is disrupted and will enable acceptance even if the automated systems are less safe than human drivers. It will be marketed somewhere along the lines of "it might be less safe, but at least food will be on your table and it will continue to improve!"

The past few years should give everyone pause on what level of manipulation can take place with regards to public opinion.

That said, the entire information war that has been raging for years and years now is essentially over who will control automated systems and robotics. Not only are most completely unaware of what is actually happening in the world, they have been programmed to intrinsically assume that automation and robotics are the sole purview of massive corporations, organizations, factories, etc. This is a massive win for the authoritarian side of things, and continues unabated. We even see it in this thread, where automation is simply assumed to be under the control of centralized authorities.

In the modern theater of war and conquest, its like many people are fighting with sticks and stones (if even that) against tanks, planes, and helicopters. But.. they dont even realize it. They have no idea what they are fighting for or against, other than authoritarianism and tyranny (a good thing to resist, to be fair), and they have no idea what the actual goals and consequences are with regards to anything going on. Its basically people fighting for or against corporate-controlled technology.

A lot of people are going to have a remarkably rude awakening in the upcoming decade.

Of course, a different path is available too.. but I think most people are too busy fighting on behalf of this machine, or "pointing out the hypocrisy" of those fighting on behalf of this machine, to do much more than habitually support/decry the Story of the Week.

Basically, most people are either support corporate progress or support Luddite values. Any nuance that might exist will do so within those bounds. Should this trend continue, these massive companies, NGOs, bureaucrats, etc. are the ones determining the future for everyone. You can protest, call out hypocrisy, and some will even get aggressive about it.. but none of it will change the course even a little. The only way to change course is to build new paradigms that have only become possible in the last decade or two and this is something that can be accomplished quite organically and even without destabilization (at least without more destabilization than currently exists).

Just know that if you read this post, you were made aware of another option; decentralized automation, meeting basic needs of the household at the individual level instead of something like UBI, and creating systems that do not have single, centralized points of failure (or points of corruption). In other words, the modern interpretation of many of the tenets that founded the US. A paradigm that enables each individual in order to build a stronger society rather than building a strong society by suppressing individuals.

..And, a paradigm that can complement our existence and daily lives with technology. Rather than having corrupted, manipulative technological systems as the unavoidable filter through which we perceive the world in its entirety. The current path is one where even dissent will be a corporate product. Marketed and sold in the same way as if you were wearing a Nike swoosh, and just as effective in selling product as outright support.

Good luck..

They still do use trains with the trailer part of the 18 Wheelers but train tracks only go so many places. Way to expensive to put in. Where we do have them it is a good investment to ship that way. Barges are used on the rivers. Memphis was the largest inland port when I lived there as a child 50 years ago. Then a trucker has to bring it to a distribution center.

originally posted by: rickymouse
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.

a reply to: rickymouse

hahahaha

you reminded me, in the town where i grew up, right on the border of Paterson, NJ there were 2 cars the old black guys there used to always say were the creampuff cars they wouldn't trade for anything.

The 'Lectra 225 (Electra 225) and the Olds Delta 88..... it always made me laugh when they would come around and say to me "listen boy, you want a real RIDE?!?! get in a lectra 225"


And those guys? Were the Inkspots..... not sure how much you remember about Abbott and Costello, but they made a few appearances in the movies.

originally posted by: SeektoUnderstand
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

I have considered whether not the initial Ottawa protest was manufactured, but the US/Canada border "blockade" in Michigan. The former is a true protest. The latter could be seen as illegal, however much I agree with the complaints. By shifting the protest to a clearly illegal, truly disruptive international border situation, perhaps now they have more justification to demonize it and shut it down. See what I mean?

If not planned, it was an unwise move for the same reasons.

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 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.

i know! even i could change a carb. change the fluids, hoses, brake shoes. u joints. lol. wipers. now you need a million bucks in diagnostic tools. after high school i worked in auto parts. i learned a lot. but even someone without that and a half of brain could handle the basic maintenance or put in a 8 track FM player. now i have no idea where the battery is on some cars. a neighbor needed a jump, i said no prob till i pulled up and opened the hood. lol. wtf?! where is it!