A computer science student, trying to start a career in AI, was drunk in a “self driving” Tesla. You’ll never guess what happened next.
Troopers responded at 12:46 a.m. on Sunday, July 6, to a crash near milepost 126.4 northbound in Sayreville, NJSP Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron said.
A Chrysler minivan was stopped on the right shoulder when a Tesla, operated by 21-year-old Anish Shriram of Livingston, slammed into the back of a Nissan….
The operator of the Nissan, Esther Paz, 58, of Brooklyn, NY, died of injuries sustained in the crash, Lebron said.
Anish Shriram had access to powerful automation, a weapon if you will. Prowling public roads with a deadly loitering heavy chemical munition, he was primed to cause catastrophic impact.
Would Anish walking around drunk with an assault rifle pointed at people be any different, really, when the news tells us he shot and killed someone?
With decades of experience studying asymmetric warfare, I recognize this predictable tragedy in a context of socio economic conflict that is far more necessary than people realize.
Back in 1990 I pressed into some communities of remote Nepal. My path uncovered Maoist rebels who expressed a bizarre faith in the power of a single man, who encouraged them to rise with the help of automatic weapons. These young adults were convinced their magical leader would deliver them prosperity wherever he told them to go. And I don’t mean they understood what that meant. You couldn’t actually converse about the theories or reality of philosophy, it was doctrine. Musk said this. Musk said that. What did Musk say? That is what the faithful ask, and not question whether Musk is completely wrong.
So when I read tragedy after tragedy about young adults who cite Musk as some kind of inspirational leader, right before they misfire their Tesla and kill someone, I see extremism of the Maoist kind (when I don’t see the Khmer Rouge).
Today he would be showing off his Tesla instead of pointing his assault rifle into crowds. Source: AP
For me it’s like history all over again, observing the weaponization of believers, like those Maoists who had strapped on Kalishnakovs in the hills of 1990 Nepal.
Is it known the car was in FSD?