"Frog DNA" or the law of unintended consequences.

The most memorable part of Jurassic Park was the law of unintended consequences. This is the notion, attributed to sociologist Robert K. Merton, that any complex system will have outcomes that cannot be foreseen by the actors in that system. Every once in a while, something really goes wrong, but most of the time, its just little stuff.

Go look at the gauge cluster of many new cars. The cluster is backlit all the time, as is required by the design. Now count how many newer cars with such dashboards drive around after dark with no lights on.

Any samples hit close to home for you?

I was behind a car for more than 20 miles at night on the freeways in phoenix around last Christmas.

I have only bad feelings but the whole auto braking thing and blindspot alerts will only serve to make people less aware and less how to be aware of their surroundings in traffic. I say its less than a year before the first lawsuit against a car maker for the car not stopping itself intime to avoid an collision.

FYI even DNA molecules in perfect conditions would be impossible to reconstruct after 1 or 2 million years. Dino DNA is a myth. It's all decayed by now. Good movie, though.

Neanderthals are recent enough though, and their DNA has been sequenced, so "unfrozen caveman lawyer" could actually become a thing. I guess it would have to be called "resequenced clone caveman lawyer" to be accurate.

I know that missed the main point of your post but I'm sleep deprived enough to not know how to care at the moment. On a related note how do you get a teething baby to sleep?

In reply to Rufledt:

Teething tablets....like 4 and have mommy drink some zzzquil. Ask me why I'm also up this late.

I think it is lexus that is actually promoting not paying attention while driving with their lanechange warnings, autobraking, and collision warning stuff. Even in their commercials they talk about the driver having "better things to do" than worry about getting into an accident

Isn't this the same argument made against ABS? And seatbelts? People have always sucked at driving. They suck at walking.
The real culprit in not turning lights on is well lit parking lots.

In reply to Rufledt: Frozen teething ring? Speaking of unintended consequences, Betcha didnt see this coming did ya Romeo?

Hold an ice cube to get your finger cold, then rub the tender spot. Help those little toofies cut through.

Fracking.

Yeah... taking super high pressure fluid and smashing all the plates to bits to release the trapped gas is brilliant. Free money coming right out of the ground!!! What could possibly go wrong? I mean, all those industry studies and lobbyists say it's totally cool.

I just got a Homeowners Insurance update offering me Earthquake insurance. In Pennsylvania. What are the odds you want to bet against an insurance company on long term risk?

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

You do know they're not offering those policies out of a sense of benovelence, right? Their bet is that you're fear (rational or otherwise) of earthquakes is worth more to them than it is to you. They're going to make buckets of money selling these policies.

Streetwiseguy wrote: The most memorable part of Jurassic Park was the law of unintended consequences. This is the notion, attributed to sociologist Robert K. Merton, that any complex system will have outcomes that cannot be foreseen by the actors in that system. Every once in a while, something really goes wrong, but most of the time, its just little stuff. Go look at the gauge cluster of many new cars. The cluster is backlit all the time, as is required by the design. Now count how many newer cars with such dashboards drive around after dark with no lights on. Any samples hit close to home for you?

Absolutely. I bitch about that almost continuously.

I would extend the Law of Unintended Consequences to include DRLs and other safety-nannies. While I'm not against antilock brakes, most of the other "idiot-proof" safety mandates just seem to be breeding better idiots.

I see it all the time and have bitched about it here before. People are convinced that airbags and electronic nannies will save them, they will come right out and say it, these same people drive like obliviots for that reason: they think they don't have to pay attention. Oh brother.

Anybody that's driving like an idiot now and claiming it's because they have safety nannies was driving like an idiot before the safety nannies.

@GPS: Yeah, fracking. Great idea. Let's do it and then see what happens! No need for long term analysis and experimentation. Just do it! Drill baby drill!

Thanks for the tips, we have the teething rings but they don't work all night. Never heard of teething tablets though. Ill have to look into that.

Do you think we're in an uncanny valley of driver aids? As we get more it just starts to suck but once we cross into self driving cars the idiots won't be able to screw up because they aren't in control, and all the puppies and bunnies live happily ever after in the forest.

Id say block legislation requiring the aids but don't necessarily scorn the companies for making it. Unless they force you into it, then let the scorn begin!

-this poorly thought out opinion brought to you by sleep deprivation (tm). Sleep Deprivation, for when you think your brain needs to be taken down a notch. Possible side effects include psychosis, bumping into walls and apologizing to them, and forgetting you actually need a key to get into your house.

I saw one the other day- forward collision warning. Didn't that used to be called looking out the berkeleying window and paying attention?

Pretty sure back up cameras will be next on the list.

Smoke detectors.

In the '70's, it was deemed a good idea to have smoke detectors. Everyone got a battery powered unit from their local fire department.

Then they realized every house needed more than one, to detect the smoke at it's source.

Then it became apparent that batteries would die, and people couldn't stand the chirping. So AC powered units became required.

Then the problem became the unit in the basement would trigger, but no one in the 2nd floor bedrooms would hear it. So interconnected AC powered ones became required.

But the people were sleeping inside the bedrooms, and the smoke was coming up the stairwells outside their closed doors, so units became required both inside and outside sleeping areas.

Then they realized that the first thing a fire department does when it arrives at the scene is pull the electric meter, which kills the power. So, along come AC powered interconnected units with battery backups.

But the batteries would die, and trigger all the units, and no one could figure out which unit had dead batteries, but the horrible chirping drives everyone crazy, so they pull all the units or batteries, and kill the breaker, leaving the house with...

...no smoke detectors.

dculberson wrote: @GPS: Yeah, fracking. Great idea. Let's do it and then see what happens! No need for long term analysis and experimentation. Just do it! Drill baby drill!

You realize they've been fracking wells since the 40's, yes? Over 90% of the producing wells in the US have been fractured, and it's been that way since the early 80's. Your awareness of fracking might be new, but fracking itself has been around for a while.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Isn't your wife a mother-fracker of some sort?

In reply to mndsm:

Yep. Me too, sort of. I wasn't saying anything good or bad about it, only that it's not something we just came up with that we're applying with no understanding. The fact that it's only recently become popular to be concerned about it is one of those things that is interesting to think about.

mazdeuce wrote:

dculberson wrote: @GPS: Yeah, fracking. Great idea. Let's do it and then see what happens! No need for long term analysis and experimentation. Just do it! Drill baby drill!

You realize they've been fracking wells since the 40's, yes? Over 90% of the producing wells in the US have been fractured, and it's been that way since the early 80's. Your awareness of fracking might be new, but fracking itself has been around for a while.

The number of fracking sites has expanded enormously with the increase in oil prices. So while "90% of producing wells" might have been fractured, that 90% was of a much, much smaller number.

mad_machine wrote: I think it is lexus that is actually promoting not paying attention while driving with their lanechange warnings, autobraking, and collision warning stuff. Even in their commercials they talk about the driver having "better things to do" than worry about getting into an accident

It's not just Lexus. Infiniti had a commercial for their latest $60K+ luxo-barge with all those features.

...And the 2014 Ford Fusion I bought a month ago also has all that stuff, for half the price of those luxo-barges. Confession: I forget I have a back-up camera 98% of the time because I'm turned around looking out the back window and into my mirrors.

SVreX wrote: But the batteries would die, and trigger all the units, and no one could figure out which unit had dead batteries, but the horrible chirping drives everyone crazy, so they pull all the units or batteries, and kill the breaker, leaving the house with... ...no smoke detectors.

One night, we had the smoke alarms go off -- and of course it was ALL of them -- at about 3am and then stop after a few seconds. Then they did it again and stopped. That repeated a few times. I thought (apparently correctly) that it was some sort of systemic malfunction but I had to go to every room in the house and look for any sign of smoke or fire. And then I wound up lying awake all night terrified that I was going to be killed in my sleep by smoke inhalation. Back in my day, it would have just been one alarm going off and I could have checked that one room or area thoroughly.

Fortunately, the rest of my family slept through the ordeal, but whoever came up with that harebrained scheme should be beat with a dead fish. I've actually been thinking about pulling the breaker for the smoke alarms and putting up the old school battery-op ones.

In reply to wae:

In some locations, you might have to put them back before you can sell or rent.

I knew someone who was a terrible driver until her parents made her drive a manual transmission Jetta or something so she would actually have to pay attention to driving. I think it worked too. The only obvious conclusion: We would all be safer on the road if auto transmissions (and all driver-aids for that matter) were forbidden

Or an even better solution...

Actually... maybe there is a valid point somewhere in there. It's just easier for the government to implement new safety regulations for auto manufacturers to worry about than it would be to teach the general populace to drive properly.