The first thing people need to recognize about artificial intelligence is that it is programmed software; these are not self-realized, autonomous machines.

Driverless cars are a good example of artificial intelligence.

The cars are designed, engineered, and manufactured by humans.

The cameras that guide the cars are designed, manufactured, and installed by humans. 

The computers are designed, manufactured, programmed, and installed by humans. 

The satellites that control the cars are designed, manufactured, programmed, and put into space by humans. What would happen if Russia or China decided to start taking out our satellites?

Here’s a story from this month, talking about the fallout of San Francisco’s decision to permit a fleet of driverless taxis to roam the streets. Within one day, at least ten of the Cruise vehicles lost their satellite signals and got stuck, which caused a massive traffic jam. From Breitbart:

In a response to the incident, Cruise said the backup was caused by ‘wireless connectivity issues’ that immobilized the driverless cars. San Francisco police confirmed that the cell connectivity issues were caused by the large number of people at the nearby Outside Lands music festival overtaxing the system.

I consider that to be absolutely hilarious that people believed that everything would be a-okay — especially because this is California we’re talking about. Video can be seen below:

#ThePageOfSanFrancisco #SanFrancisco
A video showed nearly a dozen robotaxis stopping in the middle of the street in North Beach trying to maneuver out of tight spots.
Cruise said that it was suffering from wireless connectivity issues, which caused delays to cars.

рџЋҐGregster56 pic.twitter.com/X3sjFVxqcE

— The Page of San Francisco (@ThePageOfSF) August 13, 2023

Then … a driverless car got stuck in wet cement. From an article last week:

So it was on Tuesday in San Francisco, where a driverless car somehow drove into a city paving project and got stuck in wet concrete.

I guess whoever programmed this vehicle forgot to include ‘wet cement’ as something to watch out for.

Proponents of driverless cars mount a case based on the fact that the human brain is fallible and makes lots of mistakes. Consultants say that driverless cars could reduce fatal accidents by 90%. That number is clearly made up, just like all the predictions on climate change. Of course, humans make mistakes, but the logical conclusion is, so would vehicles programmed by humans.

The human brain is a magnificently designed invention. It is impossible to program inorganic machines to replicate the indescribably complex mechanisms that allow the human brain to compute a massive amount of simultaneous information every second; see here:

Our miraculous brains operate on the next order higher. Although it is impossible to precisely calculate, it is postulated that the human brain operates at 1 exaFLOP, which is equivalent to a billion calculations per second.

There are not enough cameras and computers that could be put in a vehicle to replicate the human brain. Can anyone imagine the cost per car?

How would it work to evacuate cities in a hurricane if all the vehicles were driverless and had to be programmed? How would they be programmed to rescue people? Could they react rapidly to all the dangers?

When I go on trips, I use the GPS, and it does not recognize when we drive through construction zones, and when the speed limit changes. When we go to a gas station or a rest stop we are off route. Why would I trust a driverless car to understand all the potential situations and react accordingly? Could it handle a dangerous storm or black ice? I don’t think so, and I certainly wouldn’t entrust my life to it.

I am 70 years old, and I tell people I will be dead before I get into a driverless car. Supposedly, they would be most beneficial for old people. It is a joke to believe that most of us could afford one, program one, or even trust one. I will get a family or friend to drive me around if I am no longer capable.

Of course, many of the same people pushing artificial intelligence, like Bill Gates, are the same ones who pretend they can control temperatures, sea levels and storm activity; they are dangerous, and nuts.

Image: Artem Svetlov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.