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Top-level
 "But won't self driving cars make all this safer?" Again, not without addressing the racism. This is another example of a common Machine Learning paradox: many ML systems are trained on datasets with not enough Black folk, and don't consider Black folk in the use cases, but those ML systems are used on Black communities. The harm is concentrated on us. 🙂🙃 Yes, this is another reason that the fake genius that rushed to put FSD on the road is a terrible human. 5 comments
Again, you'll notice that the word "Black" doesn't appear anywhere in most of these interventions. They're better for all of us. People in places like Atlanta are trying to make their city safer for pedestrians and cyclists of all colors. 👍🏿 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFN7fNE8NYQ But again, focus on, and understanding of, systemic racism, is necessary to make sure that this benefit is enjoyed by everyone. Until the US is safely walkable or bikeable, people will continue to buy urban tanks in self-defense. Since my kids were three years old, they've known to raise their hand as high as they can and wave it around whenever they hear a car engine start. Some strangers smile and wave back when they see my kids do this. They think it's cute! But it's not really that cute.  I want to see motor vehicles taxed by the volume they occupy. Multiply the length x breadth x height together, divide by number of seats, charge it annually. (Allow a discount for commercial vehicles that carry freight, but NOT for pickup trucks or vans used for general business, i.e. the dentist driving a tricked-out Ford F150 for the tax break.) Such a tax scales as the cube of the vehicle's overall dimensions, so it punishes oversize SUVs and pickups accordingly. @cstross @mekkaokereke @tellyworth here’s a 12yo beside a vehicle whose owner pays the same registration fee as I do for my small hatchback. It’s also exempt from emissions targets and is probably a tax deduction for its owner. It didn’t fit in the parking space. |
Gregory's Server
We can reverse many of these harms just by letting Black people vote. Then we get rid of the racist politicians and replace them with ones who will:
* Build safer bike infrastructure for everyone
* In particular, build infra that lets kids walk or bike to school and back safely
* Build towns and cities for humans, not cars
* Have a higher safety bar for self-driving cars than what that dude is getting away with
* Incentivize smaller cars / no cars. E-bikes over E-cars.