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Elon Evil Emperor of Transportation

Posted by freedomforall 3 years, 5 months ago to Philosophy
56 comments | Share | Flag

Excerpt:
"An interesting item in the news the other day got almost no attention.

The thing that got attention in the news was the news that a “ . . .problem with Tesla servers on Friday once again left hundreds of drivers unable to enter and operate their electric cars.”

No analysis of the implications was offered.

Ergo, it’s well to consider them.

For the past 120 years or so – since the first cars began rolling under their own power – it was taken as a given that the people who owned them controlled them. The keys were a physical symbol of ownership because he who held the keys controlled the car. Parents would threaten to withhold the keys from their teenaged drivers, if their grades slipped, for instance.

But once you were no longer a kid, if you held the keys then the car was yours. You used to see dangling-suggestively keys in car ad copy; the implication being – this could be yours (and by implication, no one else’s).

Not anymore.

Not if it’s one of Elon’s electric cars. Because Elon holds the keys – and you never will, no matter that you’re not a teenager, you paid for the car and Elon isn’t your father. But he is your overlord. He and his fellow managers intend to lord it over all of us – and electric cars are the perfect vehicle for that.

They have two plugs – one physical, the other virtual.

You use the physical plug to charge the thing up.

They use the virtual plug to determine how much and how fast you’re allowed to charge up – and (cue Emperor Palpatine voice) many other things, besides."


All Comments

  • Posted by 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think the cheapest Model 3 Tesla starts at $47,690 - not that anyone buys at that price because
    the very optimistic range is 273 miles at that price. The long range (optimistically 334 miles) is $53,690.
    These include the insane 'delivery fee' of $1,200.
    I got a new convertible top on my car for less than that idiotic fee.
    Then you still have to add state and local sales taxes.
    (The scumbags at Tesla advertise lower prices by taking a
    'gas savings' reduction.)

    I agree, it is criminal to steal from the average taxpayer to
    discount the price for someone who can afford $50,000 or
    more for unreliable transportation.
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  • Posted by $ jdg 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The feds have now made those systems compulsory in all new vehicles. You'll have to buy a pre-2018 vehicle and keep it running. Or figure a way to spoof the system so the police will think they have control when they don't.
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  • Posted by $ jdg 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    And then some. The cheapest Tesla costs more than $80K even with the subsidy. No one who can pay that much for a car deserves tax funds.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Elon seems to be trying to remain apolitic, for the most part, which is smart for a businessman. His personal views seem more Libertarian than anything else.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "why would you need to go anywhere?"
    Just to the rice paddies before dawn and back after dark.
    Commies go home (to District of Communism, New Pek-ork, Commicago, and Commifornia.)
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Depends on the carbon footprint of a rickshaw. Besides, all those out of work auto industry people need jobs. Also, since you'll be living in a commie paradise, why would you need to go anywhere?
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes, people catchers equipped with body snatcher deep freeze storage receptacles shall only serve humanity.
    By the time all of Joe's no more motorcars choo choo dream costing trillion$ and trillion$ reaches full fruition, his starving deplorables shall be asking, "What is this soup kitchen Soylent Green?"
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ allosaur 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Just lay tracks not only on interstates but on all kinds of roads and have track layers work their way down to every street in the USA.
    That way, if you run the trains fast enough, choo choos can get everyone to shifts that start at 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 and repeat the process all day long! Chug! Chug! Chug! Woo-woo-woo!
    Just keep kids from playing in the choo choo streets.
    It's a world only Senile Sleepy Joe can imagine.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's obviously sooooo fake and rediculous...it must be the comedy value that keeps people watching.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by dmshuler 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Unfortunately, most sane people are blissfully unaware. Even if they were aware -- as we've seen with the SARS-CoV-2 virus -- most people will trade their liberties for a sense of security and/or convenience.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by dmshuler 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm glad you get it! It's a Catch-22 of sorts, isn't it? Damned if you do; damned if you don't!
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes, people who are not technically astute can do some very unusual (unpredictable) things with technology.
    The tube amplifiers we build are very simple in comparison to most technology today and customers still surprise me occasionally.
    I don't have the ability to do updates to our products via the net, but I can understand the appeal.
    (I was in IT in a previous career.)
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  • Posted by dmshuler 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I still believe Musk is on our side as much as he can be. Common sense is a tenet of his employment agreement. Look up the company rules that employees have to sign off on before they are hired. He's a good guy compared to Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by dmshuler 3 years, 5 months ago
    So, as an IT professional, I have a different perspective for you. Before you paint Musk as an evil overlord, consider every consumer/end user on the planet who is not an expert at the technology purchased. If an end user needs help with ANYTHING having to do with your technology, you'd better be able to help. Whether it's a stupid error the user caused themselves or if the technology really is failing. Without any "door" for the provider into that technology all end users are without assistance. It's not just Tesla, folks. EVERY PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY YOU OWN (if it has electronics and communications built into it for your convenience) IS CONTROLLED BY PEOPLE OTHER THAN YOU. My husband and I both like to have older models of certain pieces of technology for this very reason -- we know who owns it and who has to support it. Us.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If their socialist/communist dream comes true and only one state propaganda TV station is needed, then they can be forced to pick grapes on Pelosi's Gulag Vineyard.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by ohiocrossroads 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I wouldn't trust him if he did build a Gulch. He makes way more money from government carbon credits than he does from sales of his cars. He knows where his bread is buttered, and if he doesn't, he's naive.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 3 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's not a game of absolutes, but strategies. The numbers and force of authority should have beaten the Founders, and Washington was the master of strategic retreat, picking his battles and alliances. Raging like a bull only marks you as a target, easily picked off, no matter how righteous your cause.

    I learned a long time ago, bureaucrats and conniving industrialists always plant the seeds of their own defeat. They get involved in so many rules and regulations that you can always find a self destruct mechanism they inadvertently planted. Like the man says, once you live by telling lies, you can never know when one of them will bite you.
    Reply | Permalink  

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