Ok let's talk self-driving trucks. The industry is going to trend that way but it will be awhile before a driver won't be in the truck physically. A smartphone-like chip will be doing the driving for 99% of the time, but the driver will still do the parking and the on ramps and stuff. Pretty much like the airline industry today. Their jobs will be first of all easier and safer, but likely not many of them in the distant future.

In fact, we know this with almost perfect clarity, because the government would have to approve or phase in such trucks in stages, possibly over more than two decades, long after this congress or even president. They could legislate the exact year when fully autonomous vehicles were allowed.

So, the industry actually has plenty of time to prepare. Those who are 45-55 years old will be retiring, a very small percentage of them will require a new career. Those who are less than 25 will likely need little government help to transition, and those over 35 will need progressively more. They'll need to work fewer hours, study more, be able to explore entrepreneurship. That's pretty much normal for anyone trying to switch careers. IMO, the government has a role here for every industry, and the truckers will need to rely on it.

New WaPo story:
Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials, key lawmakers to counter Russia stories

i u. and fatkid.

obama's admin exclusively went after dispensary owners who were not compliant with state law in colorado. just because the shop owners' lawyers said they were compliant does not make it so. i know a **** ton of individual growers and shop owners in colorado, not a single one has been wrongfully prosecuted under obama. DOJ had an explicit memo, do not **** with people who are compliant with state law.

conflating the obama admin's position wrt med/rec marijuana, and what's about to happen under jeff sessions is just like....mindblowing levels of ******/dishonest

The most important thing to remember with "states' rights" is that they are usually talking about the 'right' of states to ignore federal civil rights legislation (Title IX in this instance.) The other thing to remember is that it has nothing to do with local control, when cities tried to increase their minimum wages over the last couple years several deep red states blocked it by saying there can be no minimum wage outside of the state min wage (e.g. Alabama).

It's hard to believe that he can win a war against the press and the intelligence community. The only thing protecting him is the army of dumb voters he hypnotized, but the minute the spell breaks he is done. There are autocrats in the world who succeded in crushing their opposition by force like he is trying to do, but they were willing and able to get their opponents killed or jailed. I dont think he'll go that far, so he'll probably lose.

DHS apparently does not think the evil 7 nations actually pose a terrorist threat:

https://apnews.com/39f1f8e4ceed4a30a...&utm_medium=AP

Maybe that will be the end of Trump. But the millions of voters who have been taught that the media is liberal and illegitimate and worth of this kind of attack are still going to be around.

Found it. Given that we already know Trump gets his news from Fox and brought up "the situation in Sweden" based purely off what Tucker Carlson showed him, this is a fairly important ****up.

It's getting to be time that we recognize the American brand of conservativism for what its people are: enemies of the state, violent extremists, and an affront to patriotism the likes of which haven't been seen since the civil war.

Conservatives want state-run media with a dictator making all their decisions for them. We cannot pretend they care about freedom, because freedom is the enemy of conservatives. They do not want free markets, they do not want freedom of religion, they do not want free speech, and they do not want free Americans making choices for themselves.

No more pretending conservatives are anything other than the enemy of the United States.

I've read a book Dvaut referenced.

I feel smart.

Carl Bildt was our prime minister in the early-mid 90s and later the minister of foreign affairs in another administration. He was also a mediator in the peace settlements after the Balkan wars.

Yeah and this is the one thing the media is still afraid to say. The constant drumbeat of bullying is aimed at keeping them too afraid to say truths like this--and it's working so far.

This NPR All Things Considered story on Trump's Counterterrorism Czar, Sebastian Gorka, is amazing. His biggest selling point to Trump must have been the size of his clownshoes.

link to 5 min audio story

Trump supporter that put me on blast today. LOL

WAAF

It's possible but I kinda disagree. What I see happening is boxes (cargo) being automated and shipping locations having employees with truck driving experience backing the cargo into the dock if needed. (Like valet parking at hotels)

Take Wal-Mart for example. They'll get rid of the shipping department (save for a few employees) and each store will have 2-3 guys that can back a truck into the loading area if needed. But by and large, the industry will be dead in 10-20 years.

Seems like backing into a loading dock is trivial compared to navigating public roads. Self parking cars have been widely available for years.

Bingo.

You can very well be right. I just know as someone that drove a box truck for a living that backing into the dock was the hardest part of the job to learn. It will probably be a combination of both.

I think most of them are actually fully aware of what's going on, and they like it.

Somewhat related, have self diving cars been tested in cold weather states after a storm in above freezing weather? Because I can't keep my backup camera clean for more than a couple dozen miles in conditions like we have now. How do they keep all the slop off the sensors?

Airline pilots logged flight times are over 90% on autopilot. If you'd like a citation I can look into it, but for safety it's pretty obvious why it would be so. It would be the same for trucks, as in someone needs to be able to take over at all times but they aren't driving.

Pretty lol at Walmart shipping department. It's not all drivers, and no you can't just have 2-3 valets that park the trucks and they drive away by themselves. We are decades from that.

Have you never backed up a trailer before? It is nothing like parking a car.

Of course I have, but it still seems trivial for AI. What makes it difficult for humans is how counterintuitive the steering is and only being able to look in the mirrors. These aren't obstacles for a computer.