Edges

We all understand the concept of edges. Something ends, and something else begins. Or so it appears.

Typically they don't end evenly. There are variations in the edge, imperfections, flaws; and they show up more there because it's the edge. That's what makes them interesting. Our eyes follow edges.

Things are different on the edge. The same rules don't seem to apply. There is often a transition, but not always. That's why software developers talk about edge cases. They are often exceptions to the other rules, which is why it's not good to base public policy on them.

For example, seat belts. Everybody but a few lunatics realizes now that wearing a seatbelt while in a moving vehicle is a good idea. It's a part of driver education, just like we learn how to make a safe left turn in traffic. Much of the debate happened about the time I was learning to drive, and the possible reasons advanced for not wearing one would boggle your mind. Being unable to free yourself in the event of a vehicle fire or it being underwater were seriously brought up. That nobody had ever died that way was irrelevant to them. Having the mechanism jam when you were in a rush. Farm vehicles. Construction, taxis, delivery vans, it went on and on. Those were all edge cases, and needed only a bit of wording to deal with, or make the decision for people to suck it up and deal with it. According to the  nay-sayers it was the end of the world, and yet it turned out to be no big deal.

I suspect the same is going to be true for self driving vehicles. In most situations they are currently safer than a human driver. They are working on the exceptions. What I want to see is that the vehicle can deal with road construction issues which might or might not involve lane changes, flag people, large vehicles doing unexpected things, and any number of other cases that happen on a daily basis. (Hourly if you live in SW Calgary, he said snarkily.) We need not waste any time dealing with the imaginary constructs of the lunatic fringe.

Even if there are a few edge cases where we know the self driving vehicle will likely kill someone because we don't know how to program it to behave, or all the choices are bad, this could be considered the cost of saving many more lives. After all, the vehicle doesn't fall asleep, doesn't drive impaired, doesn't get distracted, and will have access to information human that drivers don't. It seems that if it is a safer driver the rest of the time, it won't get into those edge cases.

The edges of flower petals are pretty, so you get some of them today.

Rock of the Day

Driftwood of the day