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The Fight for the “Right to Repair”

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: The Fight for the “Right to Repair”

#321

Post by daveheq »

mikeash wrote: post #19
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #4

I think this whole open source and right to repair/modify will be very interesting with self-driving cars, because of their interaction with the commons. Here are some issues. There have been some discussions about the ethics of self-driving cars if it should sacrifice the lives of the people in the cars to save more lives. In a right to repair/modify wouldn't a lot of people pay to have the algorithm changed for the…

I think the ethical question is greatly overblown. The odds of being in a situation where there's any sort of ethical choice to make are so remote as to not really be worth considering. 99.9999% of the time, the correct choice when faced with an impending crash will be to brake as hard as the driving surface allows and steer to avoid obstacles as much as possible. In any case, tinkering and commons already intersect…

My guess is if the car had to decide whether to kill you or not, you'd think that choice was worth considering.

Re: The Fight for the “Right to Repair”

#322

Post by mrmondo »

Did you know that in Victoria, Australia it's illegal for you to change your own light bulbs unless you're a registered electrician? Not kidding. When I moved there I went to the local supermarket and then electronics shop to buy a replacement phone wall jack and they looked at me funny and both asked 'you're not going to install that yourself are you?'. It's insane!

I can remember my mum changing bloody power outlets in our house in New Zealand when I was young, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to turn off the breaker for that circuit then screw three cables into an outlet faceplate. Only thing some people don't know is that it's a good idea to make the earth wire a little longer if it's not already so it's the last to disengage if ripped out / whatever.

Re: The Fight for the “Right to Repair”

#323

Post by kimburgess »

mrmondo wrote: post #322

Did you know that in Victoria, Australia it's illegal for you to change your own light bulbs unless you're a registered electrician? Not kidding. When I moved there I went to the local supermarket and then electronics shop to buy a replacement phone wall jack and they looked at me funny and both asked 'you're not going to install that yourself are you?'. It's insane! I can remember my mum changing bloody power outlet…

Another Victorian here. The light bulb thing isn't actually true. The legislation and exceptions are a little more convoluted than other states, but you're ok to swap out your own bulbs.

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/27947

Re: The Fight for the “Right to Repair”

#325

Post by samirm »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #4

I think this whole open source and right to repair/modify will be very interesting with self-driving cars, because of their interaction with the commons. Here are some issues. There have been some discussions about the ethics of self-driving cars if it should sacrifice the lives of the people in the cars to save more lives. In a right to repair/modify wouldn't a lot of people pay to have the algorithm changed for the…

just because something is open source doesn't mean it would be allowed to be used on the "commons"
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