-
Why I’m Anti Waymo, and Pro Human Drivers

when I first moved to Santa Monica, I was very excited to witness my first Waymo RoboTaxi (and my first Optimus humanoid robot). I took my first ride in 2023, and having spent years working at the bleeding edge of functional computer vision / machine learning research, I was — technically — quite impressed. My…
-
Why Tesla Wins : AI FSD : The Future is 100% Electrified, 100% Autonomous

Have you seen a RoboTaxi? I live in Santa Monica. Two robots roam my neighborhood streets freely these days (c. 2024), and one waits in the wings. There are Waymos (waymo, the robotaxi JV between Google and GM), there are Cocos (Coco Robotics, the ultracute food delivery robots), and there is… Tesla Optimus (the humanoid…
-
10 Trillion Dollars (USD): What happens when the Accelerationistas Win

I recently returned from the first annual(?) TED/AI Conference, and one particular presenter, Cathy Wood of ARK Investments, exploded my brain and ushered me into new ways of thinking. The reason? Quite simply, her casual (and authoritative!) tone as she talked about emerging industries which were expected to be measured in numbers well north of…
-
Danger! Danger! Self-Driving Cars: Statistics vs. Politics in 2024

On this one, I’m siding with the robots. Self-driving cars today are already provably safer — far safer — than human drivers. There are a few caveats to this, and several subtleties to grok to understand the shape of the debate. Lets examine the angles: Self-Driving Cars are Statistically Safer today, fully automated self-driving cars…
