[ExI] experiment regarding ethical behaviors vs status: was RE: Will robot cars be TOO good?

[Kelly Anderson]

On Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 7:17 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
>>... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
>>
>>>>... Perhaps the rich are in a hurry more often than the poor... :-)  --
> Kelly
>>
> Rant over. For now. Sorry, I feel better now.-Kelly
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> No need for a rant Kelly, I think most everyone here agrees.

I'm sure you do Spike... as for everybody else, let's wait and see
what they have to say for themselves. :-)

> In fact, right
> in that place where I cited the sporty German cars racing up to the front of
> the merge line, we are doing exactly what you suggested: replacing carpool
> lanes with toll lanes.

I like the combo approach we use. You can pay the toll (automatically
without slowing down) or carpool. Either way gets you into the fast
lane.

> So those whose time is valuable can pay a fee to
> save some time.  I have long advocated this, for even though I am a heavy
> carpool lane user myself, they are not justified: so very often we were the
> only occupants.  There were many occasions when we were whipping along at 65
> right next to a miles long row of cars going at walking speed.  A casual
> observer could see this is dangerous and causes animosity towards the rare
> carpooler, while accomplishing approximately nothing.

But it makes the liberals FEEL BETTER because of their good intentions.

> I don't see that it
> encouraged carpools.  My wife and I had only one car between us, and worked
> in the same place, so we really didn't even have much choice.  We would have
> carpooled anyway.

I don't know of any studies about whether car pool lanes encourage car
pooling, but I'd bet there is something out there on this, else why
would they keep putting the silly things in?

> If you have a "Lexus lane" then you can adjust the toll until it evens out
> the use.  It should be enough faster to justify the toll.  It is an
> interesting experiment going on right here in California.

All the cool stuff (and horrible stuff) happens there first. :-)

> As I have often posted here, the rich are our friends.  They already pay
> their fair share and then some.  Not only that, they create jobs for the
> poor, so they help us there too.  The rich should be encouraged at every
> opportunity, not criticized.  They come up with ideas which create wealth.
> Of course there are bad guys in the mix, but there are bad guys in with the
> poor as well.  I am not convinced that wealth correlates with bad behaviors.
> In general I think good people who create positive feelings in others get
> ahead more than their counterparts, the evil assholes.

Yup.

> Can we somehow write software to measure it?

I don't even think you could figure out the economic level from what
people post on the list... :-)

-Kelly