7 hours ago, dave2013 said:

  My beef is that I don't want to be forced to buy one, which is exactly what many govts. were and are proposing.  California and many European countries want to ban sales of ICE vehicles and have set deadlines of 2035-2040 for those bans. 

 

I understood that there is no ban of ICE cars in the US. Don't know about california, but you dont live there. Is it future administrations you fear might impose such a ban?

 

7 hours ago, dave2013 said:

don't want one with a gigantic lithium-ion battery pack, however.  I'm still waiting for more energy dense and safer battery options before I would consider one.  I know that they are in development.

 

Why? Did you know that hybrids catch fire the most, followed by conventional petrol powered cars, and BEVs very rarely?

Then there's LFP batteries in many cars, including Tesla's with an extremely low fire risk. I've shown you the nail test video, before. Safer batteries are already here.

Not trying to encourage you to do anything, just assuming you aren't aware of the above. You've just bought a new vehicle anyway, I suspect that no US authority will be forcing you to do anything in the near future and you can retain the car you have.

7 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Having said that, maybe 50 years from now, I can see a world powered solely by renewables, to include hydroelectric and geothermal, but not now and not in the next 20+ years. 

 

Research suggests 2050 would be feasible for 100% renewable. 

Twilight Zone Introduction.

Rod Serling:

Imagine, if you will, an Oracle. One that knows everything, can answer any question you can ask, and can be consulted by anyone at any time. Now imagine this Oracle has no knowledge or understanding of the concept of Truth, or the concepts of Right and Wrong. In fact, it has no understanding of any answer it gives, with only the ability to synthesize sentences and statistics from the vast pool of all recorded human knowledge whether trustworthy or treacherous, whether profound or perfidious, whether concrete or confabulation.

Petitioners become convinced of the infallibility and inerrancy of information given, and answers are shaped by the precise wording of the question.

Welcome to the world of Artificial Intelligence. Next stop, the Twilight Zone.

-------

Hook

Edited January 13Jan 13 by LHookins

1 hour ago, LHookins said:

Petitioners become convinced of the infallibility and inerrancy of information given, and answers are shaped by the precise wording of the question.

It's a well-known cognitive bias to be more convinced by authoritative-sounding answers that align with your pre-conceived views. Humans have been exploiting that for millennia.

Cheers

3 hours ago, LHookins said:

In fact, it has no understanding of any answer it gives, with only the ability to synthesize sentences and statistics from the vast pool of all recorded human knowledge whether trustworthy or treacherous, whether profound or perfidious, whether concrete or confabulation.

AI oracles also have no concept of the *source* of the data they retrieve and collate, many of which are propaganda, subjective, or deceptive.

It's great if you want to know some fact like how to calculate the area of a circle, but if you ask about a more complex, controversial, or nuanced subject, it cannot always provide correct answers.

Dave

"He uses [AI] as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." --Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

Original word "statistics."

Hook

It all sounds very convincing...