I, for one, welcome our new self-driving Google Car overlords: http://bit.ly/9kOdwe. (I do, actually.)
17 thoughts on “Twitter: I, for one, …”
David K.
So you think Google should be put in charge of not only where we drive but be able to keep track of where we drive?
Brendan Loy
This isn’t anywhere near the point where I’m worried about something like that. I just think self-driving cars are the future, and I’m glad somebody’s investing in the early R&D stages.
David K.
Oh i don’t object to that part of it, I just object to letting Google be in charge of it given their dramatic disregard for privacy and all. Plus, do you really want add suported driving? Can you imagine how painful it would be to be driving along listening to your favorite sports program/radio show and being interupted by inane commercials with irritating jingles every few minutes?!?
And a future shaped by Microshaft or crabApple would be better … how?
Brendan Loy
Right, and my point is that, as of yet, there’s no indication of anyone “letting Google be in charge of it” — indeed, there’s no “it” to be “in charge of,” nor is there any indication there will be anytime soon. This is at such an early stage that I don’t see privacy concerns having any relevance yet. I don’t mean to sound naive, I’m sure Google will eventually try to make a buck if there’s a buck to be made, but we’re so far away from that, I can’t even begin work myself into a #PANIC!!!! about it. 🙂
David K.
@AMLTrojan
Where did you draw that conclusion from? Your ass? I never suggested they WOULD be better, just that I don’t want Google to be in charge of it.
Next time you criticize Obama I’m going to assume that you would prefer that Hu Jin Tao, Hugo Chavez or Kim Jong Ill be in charge instead. Same utterly stupid leap of logic after all.
David K.
@Brendan – Hey you were the one who welcomed our “new self-driving Google Car overlords”, don’t try and weasel your way out of it now! I can tell that Sergey Brin and Larry Page have you on the take!
David K.
“and following a route programmed into the GPS navigation system ”
Heh, i hope its smart enough not to drive on non-existent roads that exist in some of Googles maps 🙂
Brendan Loy
I am not a Google-programmed robot, dammit! I have no idea what you’re… [system overload] [404 not found] [reboot immediately] [PANIC]
David K @ # 7, are you suggesting my logic was weak? Sort of like the logic behind your complaint against “Google [being] put in charge of not only where we drive but … able to keep track of where we drive”?
David K.
You don’t think that Googles motivation in anything they do is not driven by their desire to grab more personal data about us? Its the key behind just about EVERYTHING they do because its what allows them to appeal to their customer (which FYI is advertisers, not you and me).
David, I fail to see how this is a problem. The whole point of gathering data about consumers is to more effectively appeal to them in ads. If Google tracks my internet surfing habits as well as my typical driving routes via my self-driving Google car, and then uses that information to sell to advertisers, why in the world would I object to seeing individualized 3-D holographic billboards (again, this is 2025 or so, right?) displaying naked babes blowing me kisses and hawking products I like to buy during my commute to/from work? You’re acting like a cross between a paranoid John Bircher and a Luddite here.
Actually, forget billboards — we’re talking digital robot cars run by computers and all, right? So it should be a 3-D holographic naked chick gyrating on my dashboard telling me how awesome of a deal I can get on Yuengling beer this week at Giant, not a holographic billboard on the side of the road.
David K.
Because Andrew, some of us value our privacy and don’t want random corporation knowing exactly where I go and what I do all the time. Just as some people don’t like the idea of the government tracking where they go and what they do. If you don’t have a problem with either, fine thats your choice.
Beyond that, since Google has demonstrated on more than one occasion that they don’t always think through the consequences of their actions and don’t value privacy in all cases, i’m even less inclined to let Google track this information.
You might be fine wth Google knowing where you go, but what if they, through malice or mistake, leaked that info to your boss? Your wife? Your parents? You don’t have a problem with that? Again, your choice, but frankly not all of us are in favor of the big G knowing anything and everything we do.
I mean, the man insists that Google is more trustworty than governments with all that private info. Immsorry, but what? I can vote out my Senator, I can’t do that with Schmidt.
I mean, the man insists that Google is more trustworty than governments with all that private info. Immsorry, but what? I can vote out my Senator, I can’t do that with Schmidt.
If you don’t like Google, don’t use it. Simple as that. That’s even easier than voting out a Senator, for which you have to get 50% of the masses to agree with you to do.
Every commercial interaction is like a contract. If Google insists that, as part of its transaction with you, it be able to gather data about you and use that information for commercial purposes, and you don’t agree with that, then don’t use Google and implicitly validate the terms and conditions of that contract.
I have no problem with people who want to complain about Google and lobby Google to change their privacy stance, but at the end of the day, the choice is yours: use Google, or walk away. Don’t pretend Google is some nefarious entity which has control over you and your privacy and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. You’re just being ridiculous.
dcl
B. I totally agree.
Beyond that, I do have some thoughts about this, but I’m still mulling them over. I find myself agreeing with both David and Andrew, but at sort of an odd angle. I think we need to keep in mind doing things safely and efficiently for all road users. But I can’t argue with wanting to find a better safer way to do transport. The personal and personally driven auto is a broken concept, mostly because most drivers are incompetent and tend to excessively over rate their personal skill at driving. As near as I can tell the vast majority of drivers do at least one extremely stupid and dangerous thing per trip, and I would bet money that everyone reading this violated at least one rule of right of way and one highway sign the last time they got behind the wheel of a car.
I, for one, welcome our new self-driving Google Car overlords: http://bit.ly/9kOdwe. (I do, actually.)
So you think Google should be put in charge of not only where we drive but be able to keep track of where we drive?
This isn’t anywhere near the point where I’m worried about something like that. I just think self-driving cars are the future, and I’m glad somebody’s investing in the early R&D stages.
Oh i don’t object to that part of it, I just object to letting Google be in charge of it given their dramatic disregard for privacy and all. Plus, do you really want add suported driving? Can you imagine how painful it would be to be driving along listening to your favorite sports program/radio show and being interupted by inane commercials with irritating jingles every few minutes?!?
Oh….wait…
And a future shaped by Microshaft or crabApple would be better … how?
Right, and my point is that, as of yet, there’s no indication of anyone “letting Google be in charge of it” — indeed, there’s no “it” to be “in charge of,” nor is there any indication there will be anytime soon. This is at such an early stage that I don’t see privacy concerns having any relevance yet. I don’t mean to sound naive, I’m sure Google will eventually try to make a buck if there’s a buck to be made, but we’re so far away from that, I can’t even begin work myself into a #PANIC!!!! about it. 🙂
@AMLTrojan
Where did you draw that conclusion from? Your ass? I never suggested they WOULD be better, just that I don’t want Google to be in charge of it.
Next time you criticize Obama I’m going to assume that you would prefer that Hu Jin Tao, Hugo Chavez or Kim Jong Ill be in charge instead. Same utterly stupid leap of logic after all.
@Brendan – Hey you were the one who welcomed our “new self-driving Google Car overlords”, don’t try and weasel your way out of it now! I can tell that Sergey Brin and Larry Page have you on the take!
“and following a route programmed into the GPS navigation system ”
Heh, i hope its smart enough not to drive on non-existent roads that exist in some of Googles maps 🙂
I am not a Google-programmed robot, dammit! I have no idea what you’re… [system overload] [404 not found] [reboot immediately] [PANIC]
David K @ # 7, are you suggesting my logic was weak? Sort of like the logic behind your complaint against “Google [being] put in charge of not only where we drive but … able to keep track of where we drive”?
You don’t think that Googles motivation in anything they do is not driven by their desire to grab more personal data about us? Its the key behind just about EVERYTHING they do because its what allows them to appeal to their customer (which FYI is advertisers, not you and me).
David, I fail to see how this is a problem. The whole point of gathering data about consumers is to more effectively appeal to them in ads. If Google tracks my internet surfing habits as well as my typical driving routes via my self-driving Google car, and then uses that information to sell to advertisers, why in the world would I object to seeing individualized 3-D holographic billboards (again, this is 2025 or so, right?) displaying naked babes blowing me kisses and hawking products I like to buy during my commute to/from work? You’re acting like a cross between a paranoid John Bircher and a Luddite here.
Actually, forget billboards — we’re talking digital robot cars run by computers and all, right? So it should be a 3-D holographic naked chick gyrating on my dashboard telling me how awesome of a deal I can get on Yuengling beer this week at Giant, not a holographic billboard on the side of the road.
Because Andrew, some of us value our privacy and don’t want random corporation knowing exactly where I go and what I do all the time. Just as some people don’t like the idea of the government tracking where they go and what they do. If you don’t have a problem with either, fine thats your choice.
Beyond that, since Google has demonstrated on more than one occasion that they don’t always think through the consequences of their actions and don’t value privacy in all cases, i’m even less inclined to let Google track this information.
You might be fine wth Google knowing where you go, but what if they, through malice or mistake, leaked that info to your boss? Your wife? Your parents? You don’t have a problem with that? Again, your choice, but frankly not all of us are in favor of the big G knowing anything and everything we do.
All I know is, Eric Schmitt is creepy.
http://daringfireball.net/2010/08/creep_executive_officer
I mean, the man insists that Google is more trustworty than governments with all that private info. Immsorry, but what? I can vote out my Senator, I can’t do that with Schmidt.
I mean, the man insists that Google is more trustworty than governments with all that private info. Immsorry, but what? I can vote out my Senator, I can’t do that with Schmidt.
If you don’t like Google, don’t use it. Simple as that. That’s even easier than voting out a Senator, for which you have to get 50% of the masses to agree with you to do.
Every commercial interaction is like a contract. If Google insists that, as part of its transaction with you, it be able to gather data about you and use that information for commercial purposes, and you don’t agree with that, then don’t use Google and implicitly validate the terms and conditions of that contract.
I have no problem with people who want to complain about Google and lobby Google to change their privacy stance, but at the end of the day, the choice is yours: use Google, or walk away. Don’t pretend Google is some nefarious entity which has control over you and your privacy and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. You’re just being ridiculous.
B. I totally agree.
Beyond that, I do have some thoughts about this, but I’m still mulling them over. I find myself agreeing with both David and Andrew, but at sort of an odd angle. I think we need to keep in mind doing things safely and efficiently for all road users. But I can’t argue with wanting to find a better safer way to do transport. The personal and personally driven auto is a broken concept, mostly because most drivers are incompetent and tend to excessively over rate their personal skill at driving. As near as I can tell the vast majority of drivers do at least one extremely stupid and dangerous thing per trip, and I would bet money that everyone reading this violated at least one rule of right of way and one highway sign the last time they got behind the wheel of a car.