https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/runaway-waymo-dropped-passenger-california-003206829.html

 

Noel

Yep!  No way am I getting into any of the self-driving vehicles.

Every business makes mistakes. Waymo refused to make their error right by agreeing to forward ship him his baggage free. But now millions of people know that Waymo's customer service stinks.

Amazon and Walmart's customer service does not stink. And they have grown up into being super successful. 

🥺

 

So glad I grew up in a time where we did not have all this technology.

Sorry, no Skynet taxi for me.  Give me the crusty old Uber driver any day.😉

All I know is that these tech companies are investing trillions of dollars in AI development and building massive data centers all over the world, especially in the U.S.  Meta has about 30 data centers in the U.S., 3 in Europe, and 1 in Asia.  Google has 18 data centers in the U.S. and 15 more under development, 9 in Europe and 5 under development, 3 in Asia and another 3 under development.  Elon Musk is building his Collosus 1 and 2 AI data centers near Memphis, TN which will have their own natural gas power plants.  Then there are all the data centers for bitcoin mining, large corporations like banks, etc. etc.  Many of these places consume the same amount of water and electricity as a small city.

No investors or companies spend this kind of money unless it's for a sure thing, meaning they know that AI is going to pay off big time.  I see some of the benefits of AI in data analysis for example, which can be useful in discovering cures for diseases like cancer, but the other things that it can be used for, and is already being used for in some cases, is downright disturbing.  There are so many fake AI videos now that you really have to have a discerning and critical eye to recognize them, and AI is all about self-learning so it will only get better at fooling us, until one day you won't be able to tell the difference between fake and real.  Then there are all the jobs that will soon be replaced by AI, mostly white collar jobs for now, but blue collar jobs will come next once the robot bodies with AI brains are ready to go.  Surveillance is another nefarious objective where AI would be useful.

Like I said, the tech bros, investors, and governments don't plow trillions of dollars into something unless they're sure it's going to provide a return and accomplish their goals, namely, money and power; and make no mistake, governments around the world are facilitating all this.

The word "dystopian" comes to mind.  I hope I'm wrong.

Dave

Edited May 6May 6 by dave2013

I think 'dystopian' is the proper term Dave.  Although I'm too old to really care for myself I do care about what happens to my grandchildren and great grandchildren.  They will adapt but they probably won't enjoy the quality of life I enjoyed back in the day.

Noel

On 5/2/2026 at 8:07 PM, stans said:

Yep!  No way am I getting into any of the self-driving vehicles.

 

I guess the question is, what percentage of robot taxi rides go wrong compared to human drivers. I once had a taxi driver, drive off before I'd shut the taxi door. 😁

 

4 hours ago, dave2013 said:

All I know is that these tech companies are investing trillions of dollars in AI development and building massive data centers all over the world, especially in the U.S.  Meta has about 30 data centers in the U.S., 3 in Europe, and 1 in Asia.  Google has 18 data centers in the U.S. and 15 more under development, 9 in Europe and 5 under development, 3 in Asia and another 3 under development.  Elon Musk is building his Collosus 1 and 2 AI data centers near Memphis, TN which will have their own natural gas power plants.  Then there are all the data centers for bitcoin mining, large corporations like banks, etc. etc.  Many of these places consume the same amount of water and electricity as a small city.

 

What happens if there's another Carrington Event ? 💥

 

4 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Then there are all the jobs that will soon be replaced by AI, mostly white collar jobs for now, but blue collar jobs will come next once the robot bodies with AI brains are ready to go. 

 

UBI? I think it's probs inevitable. It'll be like a star Trek! 😄

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

UBI? I think it's probs inevitable. It'll be like a star Trek! 😄

The way it looks now, I wouldn't count on benevolent billionaires.  This is more likely the future:

 

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

What happens if there's another Carrington Event ? 💥

 

Well, they're putting many of these data farms in the South in the U.S., so the lower latitude location would help there, but if it's a really powerful event then we're all in trouble, not just the data centers.

Much of Quebec lost power back in 1989 due to a CME.

Dave 

5 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

What happens if there's another Carrington Event ? 💥

 

Watch the movie "Knowing."  A wee bit depressing.