Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run • Hacker News Board

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#51

Post by VLM » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 10:56 PM UTC

sean-duffy wrote: post #39

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are pretty safe, but I'm always a little shocked that we don't have governors built into cars with sane limits. How is it even possible to do 100mph and why should that speed be allowed? Cars should top off at 75. Not to mention, why are cars dumb machines? If someone is going crazy fast in an area where there is no safe way to decelerate, then the car should not allow that speed to be reached. Freeway speeds sh…

You've answered your own question. Cars are dumb machines because we don't yet have the technology to judge what is "crazy fast" and make decision about where it should be allowed. Other than the obvious reasons of racing and car enthusiasts, there are legitimate reasons for a car to do 100mph. Often in emergency situations, you need to speed up rather than slow down to prevent an accident. If we start placing limits…

WRT "Cars are dumb machines" I find it fascinating in this discussion that its assumed we can trivially deploy an AI smart enough to out drive a human, but nobody wants to talk about humans being so dumb they get drunk then go driving after decades of incessant propaganda and punishment. I don't think a species that can't stop drunks from driving stands a chance at creating an AI that can outdrive humans.

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#52

Post by DiabloD3 » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:00 PM UTC

Chevalier wrote: post #44

RIMR wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Redmond, Washington isn't in Silicon Valley...

I'm using SV as shorthand for the tech industry generally -- and Redmond is very much to Seattle what Silicon Valley is to San Francisco. Car-dependent suburbia that threatens the health, safety, and quality-of-life of everyone forced to be there. San Francisco is as walkable as the West Coast gets, which alone testifies to the disgrace of American urban planning. Ey would have been killed long ago if he dared to rid…

I actually agree with this response. Because of Microsoft, Seattle has become Silicon Valley North, just the same as NYC has become the Silicon Alley and Chicago is... whatever they're calling Chicago now.

All of them are similar, heavy car usage, not enough walking, and no safety for humans.

Google is trying to solve it by making smarter cars. How about we solve it by making our communities smarter instead?

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#53

Post by usefulcat » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:03 PM UTC

cthalupa wrote: post #43

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are pretty safe, but I'm always a little shocked that we don't have governors built into cars with sane limits. How is it even possible to do 100mph and why should that speed be allowed? Cars should top off at 75. Not to mention, why are cars dumb machines? If someone is going crazy fast in an area where there is no safe way to decelerate, then the car should not allow that speed to be reached. Freeway speeds sh…

>Cars are pretty safe, but I'm always a little shocked that we don't have governors built into cars with sane limits. How is it even possible to do 100mph and why should that speed be allowed? Cars should top off at 75. Why is it even possible? Because a car that can't do 100mph is going to have terrible performance 0-75 There's long stretches of highways in rural areas with speed limits higher than 75 >Not to mentio…

>There are sometimes legitimate reasons to be going quickly. I have, at times, needed to have bursts of speed into the 90s to safely get around a drunk driver going 70.

So.. you reasoned that it would be safer to be /in front/ of the drunk driver?

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#54

Post by timthorn » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:06 PM UTC

jstalin wrote: post #15

codemac wrote: post #9

Unfortunate how many humans we have driving cars at various levels of impairment. It's killing so many people. Drunk driving in suburban areas is rampant and feels almost inherent without real public transportation options at last call. I think most of Seattle's public transit options stop right around midnight.

Not to minimize drunk driving deaths, but it's hardly "rampant." About 10,000 people are killed each year in drunk driving accidents in the US. 30,000 a year die from falls. http://responsibility.org/drunk-driving/drunk-driving-fatali... http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf

10000?! The UK, with a population of approximately 1/4 that of the USA and more liberal alcohol laws, had ~260 deaths from drink driving in 2013. Rampant might not be the right word, but something isn't right.

(Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...)

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#55

Post by spike021 » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:10 PM UTC

RIMR wrote: post #35

codemac wrote: post #9

Unfortunate how many humans we have driving cars at various levels of impairment. It's killing so many people. Drunk driving in suburban areas is rampant and feels almost inherent without real public transportation options at last call. I think most of Seattle's public transit options stop right around midnight.

If you live in Seattle proper, there are busses that run all night. Most of them will get you within a 20-minute walk of wherever you want to go. Still, with Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, and 5+ cab companies at your disposal there is no excuse for being drunk behind the wheel. Before I moved here I was a pretty obsessively responsible driver. Now that I live here, I have to keep my irresponsible drinking in check because I n…

My thought is that if you have the money to spend on multiple drinks, then you should be able to spend at least one drink's cost on Uber, Lyft, etc.

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#56

Post by GauntletWizard » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:14 PM UTC

epaladin wrote: post #49

namuol wrote: post #11

Fuck. I feel shocked ... sick. I don't know what to say. I went to RIT with Mike. He was a seriously passionate developer and very clearly destined for great things. Finding out about this here makes me wish I had stayed in touch. This is unreal, and makes zero sense. Too many emotions that I don't know what to do with, so I'll end my comment there. Just hope the rest of his family and friends are doing okay. RIP, Mi…

Another RITer- one of my friends is quoted in the article- I don't think I ever knew Mike's name but we were definitely in the same place at the same time quite frequently. Definitely sad.

I'm in precisely the same boat; I knew the face, not the name, and friends were quoted in the article. I'm really saddened by the loss. He was far too young, and clearly on top of his game. It's a shocking reminder of our own mortality.

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#57

Post by Chevalier » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:14 PM UTC

VLM wrote: post #47

Chevalier wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that it's any more or less tragic, but I've always been astonished that Silicon Valley is so car-dependent. We've concentrated the most brilliant minds in the world in this small area... and then force everyone to pilot two-ton bullets to pick up groceries? Not all workers can demand decent living conditions, but you'd think the competitive draw for workers in Silicon Valley would entice company towns to, I don't…

This article is being flooded with weird anti-car hate. Yet, my car is perfectly safe and can only kill someone in a hit and run at 100 MPH if, and only if, I get drunk first. Given that I don't drink very much and then only at home (a sixer lasts me about a season, sometimes half a year) that means my car is incredibly safe and will almost certainly never kill anyone. Odd how there's no anti-alcohol hate here on HN,…

...dude. No, you don't have to be a drunk going 100mph before you kill someone with your car. That you "don't drink very much" doesn't mean that your "car is incredibly safe and will almost certainly never kill anyone."

Your car is an extremely heavy, extremely fast machine that will crush anyone unlucky enough to be in its path. That includes not only incompetent/incapacitated/elderly drivers, but also dumb accidents and unaware pedestrians. You will easily kill a child who tries to play in her suburban street even if you go 10mph -- not because you're a drunk, but because American structural design forces everyone to drive two-ton bullets to go anywhere, which inevitably results in lethal wrecks. Compare Denmark's road fatality rate of 3.0 per 100,000 inhabitants versus the US ratio of 11.6 per 100,000. [1]

The question is not whether you enjoy driving. The question is why cars are entitled to the vast majority of public space -- not only for parking (often for free or nominal fees), but also for individual transportation that endangers the lives of pedestrians and cyclists. Please take a look at this illustration to get an idea of how much land your car takes from everyone else. [2]

Do you really think a kid trying to bike to school should have to risk his life every day... because you feel entitled to barrel through his home town?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

[2] http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/11/18/7236471/cars-pedestrian...

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#58

Post by rinon » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:25 PM UTC

Chevalier wrote: post #40

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are pretty safe, but I'm always a little shocked that we don't have governors built into cars with sane limits. How is it even possible to do 100mph and why should that speed be allowed? Cars should top off at 75. Not to mention, why are cars dumb machines? If someone is going crazy fast in an area where there is no safe way to decelerate, then the car should not allow that speed to be reached. Freeway speeds sh…

Cars are very UNSAFE, for the record. [1] Self-driving cars will be better... but autonomous cars are SUCH an intellectually lazy progression from the status quo that I hope they won't happen. Rather than autonomous cars, we should be focusing on Taleb's antifragile solutions like walking and biking. This means the design of dense housing and walkable streets, and the removal of two-ton bullets that massacre children…

Completely agree on your suggestions for urban areas.

However, not everyone wants dense housing... Suburbs exist because people do not want to be that close to each other. Some people want to own their own yards/property/houses, have open space, and are willing to trade driving significantly more (with its associated dangers) for these features. People are going to create the kind of environment they want to live in, and we should figure out ways to make that environment better/safer, rather than dictating that everyone must live in (well-planned) urban environments.

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#59

Post by kabdib » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:27 PM UTC

bottled_poe wrote: post #46

cthalupa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Cars are pretty safe, but I'm always a little shocked that we don't have governors built into cars with sane limits. How is it even possible to do 100mph and why should that speed be allowed? Cars should top off at 75. Why is it even possible? Because a car that can't do 100mph is going to have terrible performance 0-75 There's long stretches of highways in rural areas with speed limits higher than 75 >Not to mentio…

>There are sometimes legitimate reasons to be going quickly. I have, at times, needed to have bursts of speed into the 90s to safely get around a drunk driver going 70. Not convinced by this one. Surely reducing the kinetic energy in this scenario is the safest course of action?

As a motorcyclist, I have used bursts of speed to get out of sticky situations. The car that crashed into the guard rail behind me would have taken me out if I had slowed down.

It's easy to second-guess.

Re: Mike Ey, Microsoft HoloLens designer, killed in hit and run

#60

Post by Crito » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:34 PM UTC

RIMR wrote: post #35

codemac wrote: post #9

Unfortunate how many humans we have driving cars at various levels of impairment. It's killing so many people. Drunk driving in suburban areas is rampant and feels almost inherent without real public transportation options at last call. I think most of Seattle's public transit options stop right around midnight.

If you live in Seattle proper, there are busses that run all night. Most of them will get you within a 20-minute walk of wherever you want to go. Still, with Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, and 5+ cab companies at your disposal there is no excuse for being drunk behind the wheel. Before I moved here I was a pretty obsessively responsible driver. Now that I live here, I have to keep my irresponsible drinking in check because I n…

Those buses might get you to within a 20 minute walk of your destination, but depending on when you are departing, you might have to wait up to an hour to catch the bus in the first place.

Seattle's public transit may be better than many American cities, but it still isn't great.