Yes, I think at the center of this argument is that we have different subjective values. You deem freedoms to be of paramount importance, I deem them to be of finite importance. I think the latter view is more coherent when you consider cases where freedoms can conflict between individuals, and the only way to see which should prevail is to assess them as something of finite value and compare them.
I agree with everything in the second paragraph, except I don't view it as an imminent threat. As I said in terms of government clout, it's rarely been in favor of newcomers into the market. As we don't have values that align perfectly I deem it sensible to have long term economic sanctions against one's exercising their freedoms in a manner that puts others at greater risk than viable alternatives (such as self driving cars)
I disagree on this factual point in your 3rd paragraph. We are limited by our biological physiology. The computer is only limited by the laws of physics. The illusion of human 'reasoning' is not a relevant factor. The machine is armed with light pulse, sonar, ultrasonic, radar and camera sensors that can perceive near instantaneous changes in the physical world around it at react accordingly. Our eyes, ears and a few mirrors, relatively slow reflexes, reaction time, and compromising emotions are no match for a well designed machine. I think even today a prototype driverless car could beat the world's best stunt driver in maneuvering around sudden obstacles etc. If I am wrong, it certainly would be able to be far superior in the not so distant future than the best humanly possible driver. You may 'feel' that your a superior driver in an anecdotal sense, but I assure you the machine will be far better at it in a few years.
There is a fear of a slippery slope argument underpinning your views. For me, each decision of giving up something for something else is merely a product of rational market choices. I would certainly not embrace a lifetime of incarceration for the convenience of never needing to apply sunblock again. But that is not the cost benefit analysis in question. I don't pass judgement on this analysis based on what class of cost and benefits are in question (freedom vs security etc), but merely what are the magnitudes of these costs and benefits in terms of consequences, and I side with the one that confers the greatest net gain.
"Yes, I think at the center of this argument is that we have different subjective values. You deem freedoms to be of paramount importance, I deem them to be of finite importance"
They are. I don't want to assume what Country you are from, but I was born and raised in the United States. Honoring individual rights and liberties is the entire reason why the United States was created. To say otherwise is to disrespect the central tenent that was the motivating factor of the creation of the United States. Protecting individual rights and liberties is also the core of holding most civil duties or offices in the United States, which is why the oath of office exists. So if you are from the United States and were to assume a public office there is no way you could honestly take the Oath of Office.
This is not a personal attack, it's just fact. I will go further in saying that if your view of rights, liberties, freedoms..etc being of finite value is the norm in Government and it is pursued to further strip people of them... there will eventually be a civil war it's inevitable if that belief becomes the norm of those that were sworn under the assumption they were of paramount importance... and the people will be right to fight back in that kind of circumstance.
"I disagree on this factual point in your 3rd paragraph. We are limited by our biological physiology. The computer is only limited by the laws of physics."
I disagree with that assumption entirely. Think of the possibility of failure as a type of ‘lag’. The more filters something has to travel through to its final destination the greater the ‘lag’. The driverless cars would have a greater amount of ‘lag’ or possibility of failure. By virtue of being designed by humans, created by humans, programmed by humans the limiting factor will be the ability of those that created it.
Then you have to think about it’s responses will be calculated by various programs from information received by various sensors located in various points of the car, there are more possible points of failure from the programming, the hardware and circuit design, weather limitations of the hardware or sensors and other unforeseeable hardware limitations… could go on and on. Like the ability of the humans coding the programs to translate and predict every single circumstance possible behind the wheel of a car and account for it… just wont ever happen. There will also exist a high possibility of a catastrophic central failure of a certain model, for instance firmware/operating system that has a design flaw in which all cars of that model fail.
“The illusion of human 'reasoning' is not a relevant factor. The machine is armed with light pulse, sonar, ultrasonic, radar and camera sensors that can perceive near instantaneous changes in the physical world around it at react accordingly. Our eyes, ears and a few mirrors, relatively slow reflexes, reaction time, and compromising emotions are no match for a well designed machine.”
It most certainly would be. For instance the example I gave earlier. A car traveling on a two lane one way road. You are the car on the left traveling at a rate around 40 mph or faster, there is a car tailgating you only about a foot away so close that in your rear view it almost appears as if the car is only an inch away, on the right there is a car traveling at the same rate you are but about 15 feet ahead of you (or the driverless car I mean) and the car on the right decides to do an immediate left turn to a road on your left right in front of you disregarding all traffic laws. If the driverless car can get out of that situation without hitting the car that turns, or having the car tailgating you hit you by hitting the brakes… then I will rethink the factor of ability to reason… otherwise I believe it’s a valid argument.