Neoliberalism
Self-driving cars
Fig. 1. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Stephen Wilmot seems to think the saner way to self-driving vehicles is through incremental improvements to driver assistance technology.[1]
I drive a Toyota which includes driver assistance features as part of the company’s safety schtick. It’s a couple years old, and the features are a help, but they could use some work. It’s flaky about recognizing lane markings. Sometimes, for example, it mistakes a seam in the asphalt for a lane marking. It doesn’t do well with old or faded lane markings, particularly when they have been redrawn as around work zones. And sometimes, it fails to spot even highly visible markings. The automatic high beams fail to lower for approaching traffic when we’re on opposite sides of a descent. The automatic windshield wipers are sometimes erratic in recognizing the need or rate to wipe.
It’s possible that other manufacturers have done a better job. It’s also probable that the technology has improved since I took delivery on this car.
Then again, maybe not:
Days before the [Tesla] recall [reported December 13[2]], The Washington Post published an investigation that identified eight fatal or serious crashes on roads for which Autopilot was not intended. Tesla has repeatedly acknowledged in user manuals, legal documents and communications with federal regulators that Autosteer is “intended for use on controlled-access highways” with “a center divider, clear lane markings, and no cross traffic.” . . .
In its investigation, The Post found that Autopilot can be engaged on a wide range of roads with intersections, stop lights and cross traffic. One fatal crash occurred when a Tesla in Autopilot plowed through a T intersection and hit a couple looking at the stars. Another occurred when a Tesla in Autopilot failed to recognize a semi-truck crossing the road.[3]
But even under the conditions it’s supposedly intended for, Tesla’s Autopilot has had problems.[4]
And yeah, I think it’s gonna take a while, probably an even longer while than I had earlier thought, to overcome these problems.
Faiz Siddiqui and Trisha Thadani, “Recalling almost every Tesla in America won’t fix safety issues, experts say,” Washington Post, December 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/16/tesla-autopilot-recall/
Stephen Wilmot, “Tesla’s Self-Driving Tech Has Competition,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/teslas-self-driving-tech-has-competition-249fb3e2
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 2. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[5] fair use.
Israel is defeated. It may prevail militarily—this has yet to be seen—but it has lost entirely the battle for public opinion.
Edward Luce, “Biden’s mounting self-harm on Israel,” Financial Times, December 15, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/cfb4660f-de36-4453-9b44-531996c6ec9e
Anat Peled, “Israeli Military Says It Accidentally Killed Three Israeli Hostages in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-says-it-accidentally-killed-three-israeli-hostages-in-gaza-2acebecc
Times of Israel, “White House ups pressure on Israel to end ‘high-intensity’ fighting in Gaza soon,” December 15, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-ups-pressure-on-israel-to-end-high-intensity-fighting-in-gaza-soon/
Patrick Wintour, “Biden in a bind as Netanhayu ready to flout any US attempt to rein in Israel,” Guardian, December 15, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/15/biden-in-a-bind-as-netanhayu-ready-to-flout-any-us-attempt-to-rein-in-israel
John Hudson, “Killing of USAID contractor in Gaza fuels internal protest,” Washington Post, December 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/12/16/usaid-contractor-hani-jnena-killed-gaza/
David Ignatius, “In the West Bank, I saw how peace will require confrontation with Israel,” Washington Post, December 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/16/west-bank-settlers-violence-peace/
Summer Said and David S. Cloud, “Israel Says Its Soldiers Killed Israeli Hostages as They Held Up White Flag,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-and-qatar-explore-revival-of-deal-for-gaza-hostages-ff7af151
Andrew Silow-Carroll, “Among Jewish Americans, a ‘quiet middle’ has growing qualms over the war in Gaza,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 17, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/12/17/ideas/among-jewish-americans-a-quiet-middle-has-growing-qualms-over-the-war-in-gaza
Illiberalism
Gilead
Fig. 3. The emblem of the Republic of Gilead. Icewizie, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Donald Trump sees American democracy as a sham and he wants to convince his followers to see it that way too. [Vladimir] Putin hates western values like democracy and the rule of law, so does Trump.[6]
Isaac Arnsdorf, “Trump quotes Putin condemning American democracy, praises autocrat Orban,” Washington Post, December 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/12/16/trump-authoritarians-putin-orban-poisoning-blood/
Jeffrey Epstein
Fig. 4. “Donald Trump with his future wife Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in February 2000.” Photograph credited to Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images, February 2000,[7] fair use.
Khadeeja Safdar, “Jeffrey Epstein Never Stopped Abusing Women—and His VIP Circle Helped Make It Possible,” Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-sexual-abuse-women-vip-connections-f5451078
Housekeeping
Some of you might recall I have been frustrated with Verizon’s 5G coverage in the Pittsburgh area, and that I was feeling a need for the battery, global positioning system, and 5G improvements on the iPhone 15, so I had gone ahead and bought an iPhone 15 Pro Max and moved one of my Google Voice phone numbers to Boost Infinite, a mobile virtual network operator using AT&T and T-Mobile. I then used the dual subscriber identity module dual standby (DSDS) feature to bring my Verizon number onto the iPhone 15 alongside what had been a Google Voice number.
So that’s two carriers, two phone numbers on a single phone, meant to ensure I have mobile data access more often. I have also added an Xfinity Pass ($20 per month), so I’m effectively doing what they used to call “war driving,” connecting to known hotspots as I drive down the road.
I was hoping to miss fewer Uber orders and my initial impression was that the new setup was indeed an improvement. I wasn’t, however, expecting to be able to quantify that improvement (figure 5):
Fig. 5. Graph of net earnings since January 2022 by author.
Normally—and I have seen it in every market I’ve worked—this time of year, my earnings would be decreasing towards a nadir in February. This year is different. Sixteen days into December, my earnings are still dismal, averaging $58.13 per day, but up slightly from November, averaging $47.77 per day. The monthly averages from 2022 were $58.79 in November and $54.78 in December.
There are a number of variables in play here, including how long I work each day, the improved data coverage with multiple carriers, the technological improvements with the iPhone 15, any changes Uber may have made in their algorithm, the number of other drivers working, and of course that retail is random. I don’t know—and don’t expect to know—how much of the improvement can be attributed to any of these variables. But I seem, for the moment, to have broken the fall.
- [1]Stephen Wilmot, “Tesla’s Self-Driving Tech Has Competition,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/teslas-self-driving-tech-has-competition-249fb3e2↩
- [2]Jeremy White, “Tesla Is Recalling Nearly All Vehicles Sold in US to Fix an Autopilot Fault,” Wired, December 13, 2023, https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-us-recall-autopilot-fault/↩
- [3]Faiz Siddiqui and Trisha Thadani, “Recalling almost every Tesla in America won’t fix safety issues, experts say,” Washington Post, December 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/16/tesla-autopilot-recall/↩
- [4]Ken Klippenstein, “Surveillance Footage of Tesla Crash on Bay Bridge,” Intercept, January 10, 2023, https://theintercept.com/2023/01/10/tesla-crash-footage-autopilot/↩
- [5]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [6]Jennifer Mercieca, quoted in Isaac Arnsdorf, “Trump quotes Putin condemning American democracy, praises autocrat Orban,” Washington Post, December 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/12/16/trump-authoritarians-putin-orban-poisoning-blood/↩
- [7]Martin Pengelly, “‘She say anything about me?’ Trump raised Ghislaine Maxwell link with aides,” Guardian, October 4, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/04/trump-ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-maggie-haberman-book-confidence-man↩