LordFerret

Heh heh... Zoltan lives. Can't believe I found this... Oh and I almost forgot... Happy Birthday Bach!

This actually is true. I have ABS, and it's quite helpful when in emergency braking situations... also good on wet or icy/snowy roads, maintains optimum friction during braking. I come from a time before ABS though, and even without it was trained to brake properly in emergency situations; When I was in the military, we received the same driver training as was given the state police, called a 'high speed evasive action driving' course. While it taught me a lot, it was also quite fun. Granted. This, however, is the very serious point of this issue... the Uber's AI's ability to 'think' outside that roadway box. Driving is more than staying between the lines and paying attention to crosswalk markers and stop lines and road navigation signs. So far, IMO, AI is failing. I'll have to go look and find the article, but it was just announced this past week that some company (Amazon? Walmart?) is about to unleash a fleet of self-driving 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks on the highways. Wonderful.

Awesome! It needs a dunk-tank!

Not necessarily so. That would be better stated "a human driver might not have seen her either". And, here in my state where such type of accidents are not uncommon (>30% of total traffic fatalities), the driver is held responsible... View held by most I know is +5mph over whatever the posted limit is. Or, by some I know, +5mph over whatever the 'pack' is doing. Only thing about this is that everyone does this. Because of this, the GSP, which I previously mentioned, is like driving at Daytona... and during 'rush hour', includes drafting with cars typically a mere 2 to 3 lengths behind each other while traveling at 80mph. This is why we scream at NY drivers... they can't handle it. General rule of thumb most around here use is: 1 car length (approx. avg. = 15ft) for every 10mph. Following that 'formula', you'll always leave yourself stopping room (thinking time included). This is for fair weather driving however, and good sense should tell one to increase that for rain, and increase it even more for snow/ice, and to reduce speed as well. Another fair rule is to use a fixed point on the road, where you should pass that point no less than 2 seconds after the vehicle in front of you - good at any speed. So you and I know of these things, and we're conscience of it while we drive, ever vigilant in our self-preservation and passenger safety. Will the AI be? Heh... and I just now saw on the news, Tempe police dept. relase of Uber in-car video. Monitor-driver looking down at his (her?) cellphone.

Aircraft accidents... this comes to my mind..... The thing with aircraft AI is that it's extremely dependent on backup systems and external support... especially the external support. That's why it's as sophisticated and 'safe?' as it is today. Uber cars have no such backup systems or external support. That's not true. Already I've read news reports and heard discussions about AI cars being hacked. You can't even prevent a damned PC from being hacked... and you expect them to protect a car? Nope.

Before removing the driver, I'd remove the phone. Apparently this is being done, and it's working. https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/usdot-releases-2016-fatal-traffic-crash-data

This afternoon I lifted the Kraken-2 into orbit and gave it a trial run. It worked. I don't know the power level for sure, but it seems about that of an ion engine, a bit less actually. I put a Double-C Seismic Accelerometer onboard, but apparently in v1.2.2 the scientist can't get a reading from it... I'd have to switch back to the ship itself to get a reading, and doing so stops the 'engine'. Steering / navigation isn't too bad, but it isn't too good either, as it tends to yaw (or maybe it's roll) a tad. Again, a v1.2.2 issue, I can't have ASAS hold a navigation lock while switched to the 'engine'. I'm sure there's a way around these two issues, some manner of mod would suffice, but I've no plans to go any further with this. This was just a bit of fun, kill some time, and now on to missions already in progress. Anyway, the Kraken-2 after being placed in Kerbin orbit by its launch vehicle (standard rocket). The 'engine' is seated, awaiting activation once course is set. The test was a flight out to Mun's orbit. No intercept was made due to the guestimated timing and nav-drift... but we got out there. After circularizing our orbit, albeit slightly off-plane with the Mun (due to the nav-drift), we pointed retrograde and did a 'burn' for home. Reentry was quite normal, and landing in the Badlands actually gained us some science we'd not grabbed early on in the game. Nothing spectacular, but it was fun.

Like us, for the AI in the car a diversion temporary or otherwise should be something it recognizes... unless maybe the AI is picking up human traits and ignoring signs - as I see on the road all the time. As for them being on the GPS, they are. I myself have a Garmin Nuvi in my car, and it has the ability to interrupt my cruise with detours based on traffic, construction, weather, etc., oft times annoying at that, as well as incorrect... because on my local roads, I know better. As for the accident in the article, the pedestrian was walking a bicycle across the street. For the pedestrian, this is proper safety protocol. For the Uber AI... what pedestrian?... there was nothing there. Maybe. We've no idea of what the AI was 'thinking'. There's no monitoring that in these vehicles, as far as I know.

You don't know that. A human overseer present proves / disproves nothing. Why not? It's my post, isn't it? Do I attempt to dictate what you discuss in your posts? My discussion has nothing to do with machines or neural networks. It has to do with Mathematics itself, and the concept of it having the unlocked potential of sentience.

Interesting how the focus of this discussion fixed itself on the crash and people (meat bags, just for you @tater ), when the real point I was trying to key on was the philosophical concept that Mathematics will become sentient and not the machines run by said Mathematics.

Last night..... Read something here on the forums, folks talking about Kraken drives and such, did a search on something someone mentioned and saw something related and interesting. So, I opened up KSP and took a stroll over to the VAB.... I've time to burn, all my missions are months out. The fruits of my labors yielded Kraken-1, my first working Kraken drive 'ship' which actually worked. Setting and following a course is a bit of an issue, kind of blind flight, but I've an idea for that too (Kraken-2 under development). Again, this is v1.2.2 Yay! Pictures will follow.

An issue with the Latex renderer perhaps, maybe not updated or enabled?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkiley5/2018/03/19/the-first-pedestrian-fatality-with-an-autonomous-vehicle-could-set-tone-for-lawyers-and-liability/#4bc93c5233fd So an Uber autonomous car has struck and killed a pedestrian. This brings a lot to question about AI. It was the topic of tonight's coffee discussion; How does AI determine when presented the situation of having to chose the life of a 7 year old vs a 70 year old... swerving and dodging that (dog, cat, squirrel, cow, ???) running out into the street vs that oncoming bus in the opposite lane... or that instant where it's your life or the life in the opposite oncoming vehicle... or the AI's own life over yours? Now imagine that AI is truly sentient; Ask that last question again. Will we have an option in the ownership of such an autonomous vehicle to pre-set a determination, like; A) take my life instead, B) screw that, take his life ... and of course, make sure my option selection is permanently deleted the instant after such an accident, so nobody will ever know what I've picked... lawsuits and all that. Can you picture an Uber cruising down the GSP (our Garden State Parkway, famously state-owned toll-road highway) doing the legal posted speed limit, 65 mph... while all the rest of humanity blows by doing 80mph, as is standard practice these days. Talk about road hazards. His parting thought; So worthy was the conversation, I had two cups of coffee and a chocolate-enrobed donut.

This could happen from other reasons. When you set up the intercept and do the burn, is the ship aligned prograde or to the blue course target indicator on the Navball? When you perform the burn, just how precise is it?... at times and under certain circumstances, even a fraction of a second short or over would have such impact. And if none of the above, perhaps you've discovered a new Kraken for v1.4.x? ... which I'm assuming is what version you're playing.

I've considered that. The ship wasn't designed with aerocapture in mind however, and it could end up a fiery affair if it comes in too shallow. I've plenty of time to think it over.

I don't know how I stumbled back onto this page, I was looking for something else. But being I was here, I read through from the point I was last here... and ran across that comment. So much speculation about T2. T2 is an American 'entertainment software' publishing company, trading on the market (NASDAQ: TTWO), and all one has to do to find out everything about them is to do a little homework / research. They are exactly what Squad is, mainly a development and marketing entity, only BIG TIME. While the control and development of KSP's direction is a (private) business agreement between T2 and Squad, what was paid is not. Any American company buying a foreign interest (which Squad is) must report it. The amount Zelnick (TTWO) paid was revealed after the first quarterly filing after the acquisition. It's a matter of public record. Anyway; while TTWO's stock saw a decent rise this past year, it's in decline as of February 2018. Yes, I've been watching it.

Yes, done, did that... it's just annoying that one has to. Also, imagine those with no idea how to manage that, the frustration. It would be nice if the powers that be consider that and do something about it.

Landing on ones head (helmet) can be a real life-saver in KSP!

Slow day. Very slow day. The Jool-Series-2-Vall did its burn this afternoon... all afternoon... a little over 4hrs worth. Yea, ion powered. Big ship, long burn. Half way through the burn, one of the Xenon pods drained, it got jettisoned... dropping a little mass is always helpful. Not quite going as planned, I'm hoping to have fuel reserves enough for insertion, otherwise I'll have another rescue mission on my hands.

You would need to seriously define (in great detail) the benefits over, say, any number of Linux installs available. The problem with KSP is that you can't place a lasting spin on anything, not without the use of a mod like PersistentRotation. The moment you go into time warp, or leave the ship (main menu, select different ship, etc), the spin stops. As a matter of fact, hopping into time warp for a second is a handy cheat to cancel out unwanted spin. In my world; My two ships (Jool-Series-1 & 2) are making their burns for Jool. #1 made its burn last night, 2hrs 20'something mins. #2 has its burn coming up when I'm done posting here. I'm going to try and squeeze in a third in the series late tonight before the window is beyond attempt. The third will be Tylo bound. No pictures worth posting yet.

Heh... I thought your avatar said "give us noses". That would have worked too. Interesting typo. That works also.

For me, it appears to do it once a session, where if I close the browser and then come back later I get hit again. @Gargamel, our browser settings might differ a little, but yea.

Or even just a simple paragraph at the top of the main page stating the use of the site constitutes blah blah blah... as is seen in so many other places.

I have to ask... how many times do I have to click on "I Agree" when visiting the Wiki??? This is getting old real fast.

I'm trusting you're not referring to me as I'm no newcomer! lol A note for you: Out past Duna, those Gigantor solar panels really drop in output. You're going to need to compensate for the power loss. RTGs are ok for 'a few' ions, but with the count you're using the weight won't be worth it. You might want to take a look at the Fuel Cell / Fuel Cell Array, which is what I'm using. I forget who put this together, but I saved it... I think it's still valid. Solar Panel Power Output Ok, on to the real reason for this post... my endeavor. I've put together (resurrected) an ion power plant idea and run with it. I'm currently using it for two Jool manned mission (Bop-Pol & Vall). Today, I noticed some weirdness with one of the ships (Jool-Series-2-Vall) during its departure burn from Kerbin. Follow along... Keep in mind, this is V1.2.2 In the first image below, you'll see several modules docked to the Ion power plant. The docking ports, both sides of whichever connection, are marked thus: RED = Crossfeed Disabled, GREEN = Crossfeed Enabled. The sections in green essentially are the power plant (everything to the right from the last red dot). The weirdness is that during the burn, with the fuel cell array power plant enabled (turned on), the power plant is drawing oxidizer from the two forward fuel tanks (Jumbo-64 & X200-32), while drawing liquid fuel from one of the aft docked modules set of fuel tanks (that first cluster of Mk1s left of the antenna dishes). Like, what the hell?!?!? I've never run into this before. Refer to the second image below. I'm at a loss for an explanation for this. It shouldn't be happening, all the docking ports behind the power plant have crossfeed disabled. Just weird. The fix for this, was to finish the burn, juggle fuels to set things right, and then shut off all fuel tanks not belonging to the power plant. I've also noticed that RCS can get used up in this manner too... which, word to the wise, before detaching a lander module make sure the RCS tanks are topped off. If anyone has experienced this, do chime in. I don't know if this scenario happens in v1.3.x or the new v1.4.x ... so maybe somebody might want to check it out?