1958: Self-Driving Issues - Revision history

FaviFake: seems to never have been fixed then

2026-05-15T16:25:02Z

seems to never have been fixed then

Flipping Mackerel: /* Trivia */

2026-05-13T23:13:09Z

‎Trivia

2607:F140:400:16F:8D08:F415:C21B:2E23: /* Explanation */ Suggested alternative explanation

2026-04-11T03:09:21Z

‎Explanation: Suggested alternative explanation

FaviFake: the comic specifically says "god"

2025-09-07T13:20:57Z

the comic specifically says "god"

2607:FEA8:51E:FA00:E906:29C6:3C08:A1A2 at 03:58, 6 September 2025

2025-09-06T03:58:27Z

FaviFake: /* Trivia */

2025-03-08T12:47:19Z

‎Trivia

FaviFake: added Category:Comics edited after their publication using HotCat

2025-03-02T16:49:13Z

added Category:Comics edited after their publication using HotCat

FaviFake at 16:49, 2 March 2025

2025-03-02T16:49:03Z

TheusafBOT: Reverted edit 327911 by 162.158.23.71 to 323549

2023-11-04T07:38:11Z

Reverted edit 327911 by 162.158.23.71 to 323549

162.158.23.71 at 07:37, 4 November 2023

2023-11-04T07:37:43Z

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 | title     = Self-Driving Issues
 | image     = self_driving_issues.png
-| titletext = If most people turn into murderers all of a sudden, we'll need to push out a firmware update or something.
+| titletext = If most people turn into mu<!--
 }}
@@ Line 35: / Line 37: @@
 ==Trivia==
-*In the original version of the comic, the title text originally misspelled "mu'''r'''derers" as "muderers". This was fixed at some point. However, as of May 13, 2026, the typo is present again.
+*In the title text, "mu'''r'''derers" is misspelled as "muderers".
 *This comic appeared one day after the Electronic Frontier Foundation co-released a report titled [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/malicious-use-artificial-intelligence-forecasting-prevention-and-mitigation The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation]. The report cites subversions and mitigations of AI such as ones used in self-driving cars. However, the report tends toward overly technical means of subversion. Randall spoofs the tenor of the report through his mundane subversions and over-the-top mitigations.

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 ==Trivia==
-*In the original version of the comic, the title text originally misspelled "mu'''r'''derers" as "muderers". This was later fixed.
+*In the original version of the comic, the title text originally misspelled "mu'''r'''derers" as "muderers". This was fixed at some point. However, as of May 13, 2026, the typo is present again.
 *This comic appeared one day after the Electronic Frontier Foundation co-released a report titled [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/malicious-use-artificial-intelligence-forecasting-prevention-and-mitigation The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation]. The report cites subversions and mitigations of AI such as ones used in self-driving cars. However, the report tends toward overly technical means of subversion. Randall spoofs the tenor of the report through his mundane subversions and over-the-top mitigations.

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 The theme of human fear and overreaction to the advent of more or less autonomous robots also features in [[1955: Robots]]. Self-driving cars is a [[:Category:Self-driving cars|recurring subject]] on xkcd. A variation on the idea that humans are mentally "buggy" is suggested in [[258: Conspiracy Theories]], though in that case divine intervention is requested to implement the "firmware upgrade".
-The title text continues the line of reasoning, noting that if most people did suddenly become murderers, the AI might be needed to be upgraded in order to deal with the presumable increase in people trying to cause car crashes by fooling the AI - a somewhat narrowly-focused solution given that a world full of murderers would probably have many more problems than that. As Megan sees humans as a 'component' of the road safety system, it might also be suggesting a firmware update for the buggy people who have all become murderers, one that would fix their murderous ways. We are not currently at a point where we can create and apply instantaneous firmware updates for large populations; even combining all the behavioral modification tools at our disposal -- {{w|psychiatry}}, {{w|cognitive behavioral therapy}}, {{w|hypnosis}}, {{w|mind-altering drugs}}, {{w|prison}}, {{w|CRISPR}}, etc. -- is not enough to perform such a massive undertaking, as far as we know. The update might be about the car's firmware since it can be used to disable the brakes and thus causing or preventing many deaths.
+The title text continues the line of reasoning, noting that if most people did suddenly become murderers, the AI might be needed to be upgraded in order to deal with the presumable increase in people trying to cause car crashes by fooling the AI - a somewhat narrowly-focused solution given that a world full of murderers would probably have many more problems than that. As Megan sees humans as a 'component' of the road safety system, it might also be suggesting a firmware update for the buggy people who have all become murderers, one that would fix their murderous ways. We are not currently at a point where we can create and apply instantaneous firmware updates for large populations; even combining all the behavioral modification tools at our disposal -- {{w|psychiatry}}, {{w|cognitive behavioral therapy}}, {{w|hypnosis}}, {{w|mind-altering drugs}}, {{w|prison}}, {{w|CRISPR}}, etc. -- is not enough to perform such a massive undertaking, as far as we know. The update might be about the car's firmware since it can be used to disable the brakes and thus causing or preventing many deaths. Alternatively, the firmware upgrade could be intended to make humans immune to death.
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Cueball further wonders why, in this case, nobody tries to fool human drivers as they might try to fool an AI, but [[White Hat]] and [[Megan]] point out that most {{w|Road traffic safety|road safety systems}} benefit from humans not actively trying to maliciously sabotage them simply to cause accidents.{{Citation needed}}
-The theme of human fear and overreaction to the advent of more or less autonomous robots also features in [[1955: Robots]]. Self-driving cars is a [[:Category:Self-driving cars|recurring subject]] on xkcd. A variation on the idea that humans are mentally "buggy" is suggested in [[258: Conspiracy Theories]], though in that case divine (or, perhaps, developer) intervention is requested to implement the "firmware upgrade".
+The theme of human fear and overreaction to the advent of more or less autonomous robots also features in [[1955: Robots]]. Self-driving cars is a [[:Category:Self-driving cars|recurring subject]] on xkcd. A variation on the idea that humans are mentally "buggy" is suggested in [[258: Conspiracy Theories]], though in that case divine intervention is requested to implement the "firmware upgrade".
 The title text continues the line of reasoning, noting that if most people did suddenly become murderers, the AI might be needed to be upgraded in order to deal with the presumable increase in people trying to cause car crashes by fooling the AI - a somewhat narrowly-focused solution given that a world full of murderers would probably have many more problems than that. As Megan sees humans as a 'component' of the road safety system, it might also be suggesting a firmware update for the buggy people who have all become murderers, one that would fix their murderous ways. We are not currently at a point where we can create and apply instantaneous firmware updates for large populations; even combining all the behavioral modification tools at our disposal -- {{w|psychiatry}}, {{w|cognitive behavioral therapy}}, {{w|hypnosis}}, {{w|mind-altering drugs}}, {{w|prison}}, {{w|CRISPR}}, etc. -- is not enough to perform such a massive undertaking, as far as we know. The update might be about the car's firmware since it can be used to disable the brakes and thus causing or preventing many deaths.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Cueball further wonders why, in this case, nobody tries to fool human drivers as they might try to fool an AI, but [[White Hat]] and [[Megan]] point out that most {{w|Road traffic safety|road safety systems}} benefit from humans not actively trying to maliciously sabotage them simply to cause accidents.{{Citation needed}}
-The theme of human fear and overreaction to the advent of more or less autonomous robots also features in [[1955: Robots]]. Self-driving cars is a [[:Category:Self-driving cars|recurring subject]] on xkcd. A variation on the idea that humans are mentally "buggy" is suggested in [[258: Conspiracy Theories]], though in that case divine intervention is requested to implement the "firmware upgrade".
+The theme of human fear and overreaction to the advent of more or less autonomous robots also features in [[1955: Robots]]. Self-driving cars is a [[:Category:Self-driving cars|recurring subject]] on xkcd. A variation on the idea that humans are mentally "buggy" is suggested in [[258: Conspiracy Theories]], though in that case divine (or, perhaps, developer) intervention is requested to implement the "firmware upgrade".
 The title text continues the line of reasoning, noting that if most people did suddenly become murderers, the AI might be needed to be upgraded in order to deal with the presumable increase in people trying to cause car crashes by fooling the AI - a somewhat narrowly-focused solution given that a world full of murderers would probably have many more problems than that. As Megan sees humans as a 'component' of the road safety system, it might also be suggesting a firmware update for the buggy people who have all become murderers, one that would fix their murderous ways. We are not currently at a point where we can create and apply instantaneous firmware updates for large populations; even combining all the behavioral modification tools at our disposal -- {{w|psychiatry}}, {{w|cognitive behavioral therapy}}, {{w|hypnosis}}, {{w|mind-altering drugs}}, {{w|prison}}, {{w|CRISPR}}, etc. -- is not enough to perform such a massive undertaking, as far as we know. The update might be about the car's firmware since it can be used to disable the brakes and thus causing or preventing many deaths.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:49, 2 March 2025
Line 46:		Line 46:
	[[Category:Self-driving cars]]		[[Category:Self-driving cars]]
	[[Category:Sabotage]]		[[Category:Sabotage]]
		+	[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
 [[Cueball]] explains being worried about {{w|autonomous car|self-driving cars}}, noting that it may be possible to fool the sensory systems of the vehicles. This is a common concern with {{w|AI}}s; since they think analytically and have little to no capability for abstract thought, they can be fooled by things a human would immediately realize is deceptive.
-However, Cueball quickly assumes that his argument actually doesn't hold up when comparing AI drivers to human drivers, as both rely on the same guidance framework. Human drivers follow signs and road markings, and must obey the laws of the road just as an AI must. Therefore, an attack on the road infrastructure could impact both AIs and humans. However, humans and AIs are not equally vulnerable.  For example, a fake sign or a fake child could appear to a human as an obvious fake but fool an AI. A [[Black Hat|creative attacker]] could put up a sign with CAPTCHA-like text that would be readable by humans but not by an AI.
+However, Cueball quickly assumes that his argument actually doesn't hold up when comparing AI drivers to human drivers, as both rely on the same guidance framework. Human drivers follow signs and road markings and must obey the laws of the road just as an AI must. Therefore, an attack on the road infrastructure could impact both AIs and humans. However, humans and AIs are not equally vulnerable. For example, a fake sign or a fake child could appear to a human as an obvious fake but fool an AI. A [[Black Hat|creative attacker]] could put up a sign with CAPTCHA-like text that would be readable by humans but not by an AI.
 Cueball further wonders why, in this case, nobody tries to fool human drivers as they might try to fool an AI, but [[White Hat]] and [[Megan]] point out that most {{w|Road traffic safety|road safety systems}} benefit from humans not actively trying to maliciously sabotage them simply to cause accidents.{{Citation needed}}
 The title text continues the line of reasoning, noting that if most people did suddenly become murderers, the AI might be needed to be upgraded in order to deal with the presumable increase in people trying to cause car crashes by fooling the AI - a somewhat narrowly-focused solution given that a world full of murderers would probably have many more problems than that. As Megan sees humans as a 'component' of the road safety system, it might also be suggesting a firmware update for the buggy people who have all become murderers, one that would fix their murderous ways. We are not currently at a point where we can create and apply instantaneous firmware updates for large populations; even combining all the behavioral modification tools at our disposal -- {{w|psychiatry}}, {{w|cognitive behavioral therapy}}, {{w|hypnosis}}, {{w|mind-altering drugs}}, {{w|prison}}, {{w|CRISPR}}, etc. -- is not enough to perform such a massive undertaking, as far as we know. The update might be about the car's firmware since it can be used to disable the brakes and thus causing or preventing many deaths.
@@ Line 34: / Line 35: @@
 ==Trivia==
-The title text was published with a typo: "murderers" was misspelled as "muderers."
+*The title text was originally published with a typo: "mu'''r'''derers" was misspelled as "muderers". This was later fixed.
-This comic appeared one day after the Electronic Frontier Foundation co-released a report titled [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/malicious-use-artificial-intelligence-forecasting-prevention-and-mitigation The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation]. The report cites subversions and mitigations of AI such as ones used in self-driving cars. However, the report tends toward overly technical means of subversion. Randall spoofs the tenor of the report through his mundane subversions and over-the-top mitigations.
+*This comic appeared one day after the Electronic Frontier Foundation co-released a report titled [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/malicious-use-artificial-intelligence-forecasting-prevention-and-mitigation The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation]. The report cites subversions and mitigations of AI such as ones used in self-driving cars. However, the report tends toward overly technical means of subversion. Randall spoofs the tenor of the report through his mundane subversions and over-the-top mitigations.
 {{comic discussion}}