So humans never crash (fall asleep driving), malfunction (not pay attention), or be hacked (under influence of alcohol/drugs)?

I agree with the sentiments about NYC, and would never live there personally - but just wanted to point out that you’re counterargument discusses something completely different, whether you can have a “meaningful career in a particular field” vs. actually being “At the top of their field.”

My theory is that when parents are wiping a toddler, the kid has to stand up to see what’s going on. And then these toddlers grew up and never figured out how to wipe the adult way sitting down.

Yes, it doesn’t capture all possible forms of waste in all welfare programs. But here, I actually think you’re mixing things up now.

Ah forgot to post the link.

OK I admit you have a point, we should be discussing numbers and I should not read between the lines and assume arguments you’re making. I am interested in intelligent conversation though. The original comment was specifically about “food stamps”, i.e. SNAP.

Sure, you did not say anything explicitly. But putting together a statement like “$86 million is less than $.80 per person who receives welfare” effectively expresses a point of view disapproving of welfare policy.

I was speaking to the theme of your original post. As a more direct response to your prior comment, the comparison you make of needing absurd numbers of $86 million planes to equal total welfare is comparing apples and oranges. Unless you think all welfare spending is a waste of money, what you should be comparing is…

The snark is because the same thing is done in reverse. Examples of one welfare recipient buying a $20 steak is used to argue about widespread corruption and budget-busting welfare queens, but point out a $68 million useless plane and you get people like you claiming it’s a drop in the bucket, and just a granola bar’s…

Unfortunately, there is no option three, so can’t pick it.

(and by analogy, what you’re saying is like “I’d rather not get pregnant BECAUSE I live in a world where I can mentally control exactly the release of my eggs, not because I use preventative birth control”)

Are you saying Germany is a society that accepts such things? The fact that they arrested 58 people and there’s a huge controversy about it and everyone is taking various initiatives to stop it occurring again proves that.

Actually, the math does. Just the wastage from one single small plane would be enough to give every welfare recipient a granola bar?! Imagine how many people the wastage from larger projects could feed.

Miss the part where they did arrest 58 people for assaults? And I assume it is illegal. Making things illegal and prosecuting attackers doesn’t help the women who were already attacked in the first place.

Yes, I think we agree about that. My point is that there “where and when” it is convenient would be expanded if autonomous technology allows on-demand car hiring to become significantly cheaper and with minimal wait times.

I’m not saying people will stop buying cars, but your opinion that nothing will change is way off base too. Yes, people still go to live concerts, but as a percentage of music consumption? Live concerts are a minuscule proportion of music consumption.

Meh, substitute Napster, Limewire or any of the other apps you mentioned for Spotify then. Same thing goes. The argument is that we already had a free radio (public transportation) option or on-demand option CDs (cabs), so why would mp3s (new digital option) change anything. That ignores that digital music, like…

Or similar stories about mp3 players replacing cd players, and netflix replacing video tape rentals.

Yep, and there are people desperately holding on to their vinyl records instead of switching to mp3s and streaming services. Market’s still there, but minority now.

Cost. Taxi services (and uber) still require paying wages to a worker to do the driving. Buses decrease the cost of the wages per passenger dramatically, but comes at the expense of individualized pick up and drop off points. IF self-driving cars can offer the same flexibility as cars, with significantly lower prices,…