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JoshuaFalken

@JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world

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JoshuaFalken ,

I can't say I've seen any people 'forcing' others to go out and replace a perfectly functional combustion car with an electric one - the manufacturers maybe. Most of the conversation I see is focused on the lack of low cost options when it's time to purchase a brand new vehicle. Gas and electric both.

Once you move away from the brand new discussion, it seems pretty well agreed that keeping what you've got is the best option environmentally and financially. Buying used being a close second.

Freedom is important. But when the industry only offers you trucks and SUVs, where's your choice?

JoshuaFalken ,

For further than bike distance, it's confounding why cities don't have a tram system.

If something is being moved from one place to another, and back again, you would of course look for more efficient ways to move that thing. Use a box.

When there's dozens of those things making the same trip, put them together in the same transport method. It's not complicated. Factories don't have people moving one product at a time to the next station. They have conveyor belts or similar to accomplish the task.

When needed, sure, have an electric car that someone could drive. But it's not necessary for a good portion of the population.

JoshuaFalken ,

I see buses as a good method of figuring out routes when first implementing a transit system similar to how some developments leave out walking paths to see where people typically walk and install them afterwards.

Generally though, trams can allow for more passengers transported per trip and per operator than a bus. Good for high and low traffic areas with dedicated transit lanes.

Don't get me wrong - trams certainly don't replace buses. Multiple forms of transit are best practice of course. I just don't see the need for only buses or mostly buses.

As a minor detail, tires are one of the top polluters of both microplastics and noise levels in cities, and it would be nice to lower the amount of them being disintegrated in the process of moving people from place to place - be in from buses, or the larger culprit, private vehicles.

JoshuaFalken ,

Unfortunately, like most issues we face, this is not a stand alone problem. I'll concede, over the length of ownership of the car, a brand new electric vehicle is more environmentally friendly than keeping your current combustion engine vehicle.

However, we don't live in a society where the majority can make that choice independent of other factors. EVs are more expensive across the board.

Even if the purchasing cost of an off-the-lot EV were equivalent to continued use of an older ICE across two years - most people can not afford it.

JoshuaFalken ,

Who pays for the roads?

JoshuaFalken ,

Electricity isn't critical?

In terms of road costs, the vehicle being electric or combustion isn't particularly relevant in a country where the most popular vehicle crosses the scales above 4,000 pounds.

JoshuaFalken ,

Some time ago, we lived in a place where the only grocery was Sobeys. Now that we've moved to a place with half a dozen options around - chain and independent alike - the grocery bill is down 30%.

JoshuaFalken ,

I checked the carriers around here and all of them unsurprisingly offer the same thing. 50GB 5G for 50€ that drop to roughly 2G speeds once the limit is reached.

Almost 20x the cost of your subscription.

JoshuaFalken ,

I'd heard and used both phrases before but didn't realize they had the same author. Coincidentally, I recently reread one of his books, Little Brother, also by chance of reading about it on a Lemmy comment.

It's no surprise the author of that book has these views. I think I'll read more of his work.

JoshuaFalken ,

On your recommendation, I picked up a copy from my library this morning. Only had time for the first chapter, but I'm already liking it. Thank you.

JoshuaFalken ,

Fantastic, I'll certainly be making use of that. I've never been one for digital reading - I printed out Little Brother and read it that way - but with no DRM how could you complain. I appreciate the link.

JoshuaFalken ,

I've had this vague recollection of that book for over a decade and could never find it despite multiple search attempts and even requests on tip-of-my-tongue esque forums. I just could not remember any useful specific information about it for the life of me.

To make this discovery from a random thread so organically is incredible.

Many thanks to you and @Stache_ both.

JoshuaFalken ,

You're not alone - what I did remember was completely incorrect. I would have sworn that the cover was burgundy with the title in black lettering. Also I had thought the whole time it was called Big Brother - which was quite the wrench in the machine when it came to searching online. Wrong on both counts. Goes to show how fallable memory is.

My library didn't have a copy but the author has it available for free on his website in a few different formats. I'm looking forward to reading it - it's a good deal longer than I'd thought. Thanks again.

JoshuaFalken ,

The Vision Pro is literally a new product line that has multiple innovations over current competitors.

Artificial intelligence is such a buzzword these days it's tough to determine what your meaning is here. Apple uses machine learning all over the place.

As far as actual artificial intelligence - machine consciousness akin to a human mind - how would you know? Apple doesn't make a habit of announcing their ventures before their marketable.

Without their respective batteries, the weight of the Meta Quest Pro is 522 grams. The Vision Pro is 532.

The three batteries in the power pack are 3000mah each. Again, not sure if the complaint here is overall capacity, or that the headset is power inefficient. These could be valid if they'd implemented recharging in a worse manner, but it can be charged while in use by either another battery bank or an electrical socket.

Ignoring the contradiction on Steve Jobs, yes he was persistent in his vision, but he also understood the physical limits of technology. A stylus at the time of the original iPad would not have been a slim, precision tool. Look at the Wacom CTH661 - bit cumbersome if you ask me.

There are criticisms to be made of the Vision Pro, and certainly of Apple, but you've made none of them here.

JoshuaFalken ,

Quick recap:

  • new product line
  • machine learning
  • secretive development process
  • unit weight vs competition
  • battery capacities
  • decade old product form factors

You can't label any of that subjective and go on to say it's all about the wow factor. As if there could be anything more subjective.

Cheers for the laugh though.

JoshuaFalken ,

Well sure they could've made a larger battery and whatnot else, but it's not like the Vision Pro is some slightly polished Oculus. The tech allowing for 12ms visual pass though is impressive enough without any of the other things they developed for it.

While your point about Apple's tremendous resources has truth to it, I'd argue that even had they committed their entire cash reserve to the development of the AVP, it would still involve more people using the device than just the engineers designing the thing.

At some point diminishing returns mean you can't refine much further. I think the regular release of barely improved smartphones is evidence of that. Eventually when the goal of a pair of glasses - or hell, even contact lenses - is reached, this first generation Vision Pro will be one of many milestones we look and wonder how we ever had something so bulky and awkward looking.

Oh and the point I had made about the secretive development processes was to counter the previous comment regarding Apple 'not being deep into artificial intelligence'. No one outside of Apple really knows what they're doing. They've been tight lipped about underway ventures since Jobs returned to the company all those years ago.

As I noticed I'm typing a reply to a several day old comment, I'll leave a couple quotes Tim Cook made recently:

As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in… technologies that will shape the future. That includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we’re excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year.

In terms of generative AI… we have a lot of work going on internally, as I’ve alluded to before. Our M.O., if you will, has always been to do work and then talk about work and not to get out in front of ourselves. And so we’re going to hold that to this as well. But we’ve got some things that we’re incredibly excited about that we’ll be talking about later this year.

If you read all this, I'm surprised. I'm surprised I bothered to type it out. Cheers.

JoshuaFalken ,

You're right and I agree, but on another note, it'd be nice if vehicles in general could be made with no screen again.

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