Re: TRANSPORTATION: Replacing Cars with Shuttles

From: Peter C. McCluskey (pcm@rahul.net)
Date: Tue Nov 17 1998 - 09:30:10 MST


 GBurch1@aol.com (GBurch1@aol.com) writes:
>Do such suits pose a cost to automakers? Of course. And I think most pe=
>ople
>think they should. One only has two alternatives when approaching produc=
>t
>safety: Private suits and central government regulation. Which is more

 Wrong. Reputation is at least as valuable a mechanism as those two.

 Your basic point that lawsuits don't stop large innovations is correct -
irresponsible lawsuits are almost always aimed at the deep pockets of
industries that have already proven successfull, not at the kind of startups
that start new industries.

>Now, there IS a quite difficult legal issue buried in here, actually -- o=
>ne we
>recently thrashed about on the extropians lawnode list. What happens whe=
>n the
>software agent at the heart of the guidance system becomes so sophisticat=
>ed
>that it is capable of generating goals on its own initiative? I leave th=

 Clearly it is important to ask whether holding the agent responsible will
affect it's behavior.

-- 
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