I think the calculation for unions is pretty simple: short-term and long-term pain or short-term gain and possibly long-term gain/pain.

I think the calculation for autoworkers is pretty simple: short-term and long-term pain or short-term gain and possibly long-term gain/pain.

With VW’s Buzz being a bit of a letdown, I’d love to have this as an option here in the states, but we probably won’t get it.

Imagine being rich beyond your wildest dreams and it never being enough. Sad!

Sort of like our approach to development. Build the thing that makes money first (housing), then worry about transit/roads 10 years later when everything’s a clusterfuck.

Really hoping for a good, large mid-size/full-size SUV with a hybrid option that doesn’t suck. A 1.6 liter turbo 4 hybrid putting out a measly 180 hp in a vehicle this size seems insane. 

The graph isn’t wrong, it’s just doesn’t map perfectly to every individual person in the country. Your claim that I was responding to was wildly inaccurate. And the Model 3 is not a “lux” EV, lol. That interior would make a 90's Corolla blush. It’s a fine appliance that works well in certain applications.

You can get two of the 3 things I listed, but not all 3. And each of them have caveats. You can get a similarly priced EV, but it’ll be smaller and/or not as nice of an interior. You can get an EV with similar range, but it might be significantly less depending on weather/driving conditions and it’ll probably be more…

The most popular gas car is the Rav 4, the most popular EV is the Model 3. It takes about 23 years for the Tesla to match total cost of ownership of the Rav 4. 

There needs to be price, range and fill-up time parity with ICE cars before the EV situation really takes off. Early-adopters, greens and tech enthusiasts are willing to put up with the inconveniences of owning EVs at the moment, but the rest of the population isn’t. The risk is that you get people into EVs, they hate…

“construction” vs work of art is an arbitrary distinction. Are there lots of artists paying royalties to software developers? 

When I make a song using an arpeggiator, I don’t have to pay the guy who “invented” arpeggios or the guy who programmed the software a royalty nor credit their work.

Well, there was in fact a pretty significant backlash to drum machines when they started becoming widely used for precisely the same reasons.

It’s a matter of degrees obviously. 

I suppose the solution then is that no one will like AI “art” so it’ll go away on its own and be relegated to writing instructions or bland copy. That said, I see a through-line between sampling someone else’s music or using presets on a software synth or effects plug-in and developing a skill for prompting AI to…

Artists “steal” from each other constantly. The most obvious example is sampling. If what upsets you is that the benefits of that “theft” don’t accrue to a worker and instead to an owner, welcome to capitalism. 

Human artists are expensive. This is capitalism baby!

The more popular a musician is, the more they appeal to the lowest common denominator. What’s impressive is, to your point, how consistently she’s been able to hit that mark. I think her appeal is equal parts spectacle and “relatability”. She has the “boy” problems of a 14 year old and seems completely non-threatening…

NYPD is the biggest criminal enterprise on the planet. It serves as a money laundering operation that occasionally tear gases and beats people in defense of a Denny’s.

If they sold a $45k LC that would be very hard to turn down. Big but not ridiculous. Legendary reliability. More off-road chops from the factory than 99% of buyers would ever need. I’d sign up for that. But trucks and truck-based SUVs are so insanely expensive these days, I don’t see an LC with a starting price below…