NeatNit

Infrastructure is all about unbelievable feats of engineering that are taken for granted. Sewage systems, running water, electricity, roads, public transport, cars, physical mail, and grocery stores/supermarkets are all unbelievable achievements that we all take for granted to varying degrees, and that's just off the top of my head. IP networking is just more of that. Absolutely crazy, and by design we don't think about it.

But AI (also depicted in this gif) is not in the same category IMO, for a lot of reasons.

Thanks, I think we're mostly in agreement.

Regarding the selfishness thing: first, I should clarify that I only meant that part assuming the right lane would occasionally have obstacles (other cars). If it's totally free, there's no reason to leave it.

I'm talking about when the choice is either constantly zigzagging between middle and right, or staying in the middle. In that case I think staying in the middle reduces cognitive load both for yourself and for other drivers. Less lane switches on the road, less chaos. It's not as selfish as you make it out.

Also, each time you switch lanes you temporarily occupy both lanes at the same time, so if you zigzag you're taking up more of the road, which is arguably more selfish.

Comparing to people who don't indicate is not fair. They're just idiots, even selfishness can't explain it because they're making it more likely that they'll be in a crash. There is not a single sensible argument to not use turn signals.

Interesting take. I like it.

I agree with you. The thing is, the overriding principle (and law) of driving is to be cautious. By my interpretation, all other laws can be bent if bending them is safer than strictly adhering to them. Hence my previous comment.

Depending on the road, this might be reasonable.

The right lane is often used for exiting or merging, so being in the middle lane is safer and allows others to use the right lane for this purpose more easily.

Frequently switching between right and middle lane because of the occasional slower/merging car only increases the chances of a collision, because switching lanes is more complicated than staying in one lane.

Staying in one lane all throughout the drive reduces cognitive load for the driver. This means they're less distracted and can respond better to surprises or emergencies. (I'm assuming they're not distracted by something else like using their phone, that's a whole other topic)

In urban areas, the right lane is closer to parked cars, cyclists and pedestrians, making it inherently more dangerous to drive in.

So yeah, if the right lane is completely empty of cars and it's not an urban area, they should use it. Otherwise, middle lane is probably the best choice.

https://xkcd.com/763/

I wanted to downvote you for failing to pick up on the sarcasm, but then you went and did all that math that I was too lazy to do and I ended up upvoting you instead. Damn you!

Either this is faked for the meme or something is very very wrong.

There's no probabilities involved. The machine predicts the future perfectly.

The lever is designed in such a way that it can only be operated by pulling.

Yup, that's the premise. It's just an annoying thought experiment. Your actions physically can't change the past, but somehow they still do, because the past was decided based on a perfect prediction of your actions. I was just playing devil's advocate. I agree with your answer 100%.

"Now" is the moment where you decide whether to pull the lever. As is conventional in trolley problems, this moment can last anywhere from 2 seconds to hundreds of years :)

Alas, it is a perfect simulation of our universe with perfect knowledge. Machine learning was not used in the construction of this machine. It can't technically see the future, but it can predict anything perfectly except quantum phenomena. It has been demonstrated in countless trials that it can accurately predict human choices and decisions.