Marketing is the business of persuading you to feel the need for something you otherwise would probably have never thought of buying – and to make you feel good about buying something you probably don’t need.
Two automotive examples come to mind.
The first is what’s marketed as “advanced driver assistance technology.” It is a euphemism wrapped in a manipulation, inside a cloying infantilism.
Of course it is “advanced” – in the manner that being in favor of authoritarian collectivism is “progressive.” The implication being that to not possess or desire either thing is retrograde. Thus a car without “driver assistance technology” is not “advanced.” And that, of course, is very bad.
It is certainly not safe.
Ergo, you must buy.
In order to be countermanded, controlled and nanny’d – which is what “driver assistance technology” actually does, with the insulting implication that you need “assistance,” in the manner of offering a wheelchair to a man who can walk. You are too incompetent to keep the car in its travel lane or apply the brakes when it is necessary to slow the car down or stop the car or even park the damned thing . . . without “assistance.”
Which is of the “we’re from the government and we’re here to help you” variety.
Which “help” – and “assistance” – you aren’t free to refuse. There is as yet no law requiring that all new cars be equipped with “advanced driver assistance technology” but it isn’t necessary to legislate because corporations have become functionally indistinguishable from government and have the advantage of not having to bother about passing laws or even spewing “mandates.”
They just give you the “choice” of accepting what they force-feed you – by making sure you have no other choice. It is almost impossible to buy any new car without “advanced driver assistance technology” because it has been made standard equipment in almost all new cars, with the handful remaining being holdovers, soon to be updated.
Because it is profitable – and because of something else.
There is no alternative to “advanced driver assistance technology” because only corporations can build cars in a corporatist state – which is what the United States has become. The corporations figured out that it is more profitable to “partner with” the government, in fact and in principle, than to oppose what the government wants – which is become the same thing the corporations want, which is to leave you with no alternative to what they both want.
Free competition is the last thing either want – because of the freedom and the competition.
They want your freedom – and to be free from competition.
This necessarily means not only reducing your options, it means convincing you that they haven’t. Hence “advanced driver assistance technology,” which does just that while implying it does something else. The less control you’ve got over your car, the more control it has over you. 
And when you can’t buy a new car without “advanced driver assistance technology,” they have more control over you.
Not to mention more of your money.
Another example is “dual fuel injection technology.” It is always “technology” – that being a kind of dog-whistle word in the lexicon of latter-day American imbecility. The imbeciles being those who cock their ears when they hear that word – and yelp like pups to get them some without understanding what it is they’re getting – and paying for.
So what exactly is “dual fuel injection technology”? It is the marketing of unnecessary – because duplicative – fuel-delivery technology. Well, it is necessary – because of the government. But the corporations want to make you feel better about having to pay for it. Want to make you feel as if you’re buying something worth paying extra for.
Well, what you’re paying for is a second fuel-delivery circuit to Band Aid the problem caused by the primary fuel-delivery circuit.
The government says, fuel economy uber alles! The corporations respond by replacing efficient port-fuel-injection (PFI) with direct injection (DI) which is a system that spritzes the gas at extremely high pressure (several thousand pounds of pressure) directly into the cylinder, through a hole in the cylinder – like the hole for the spark plug. This does provide a very modest increase in fuel economy – about 2-3 MPG on average – at the cost of carbon building up on the stems of the intake valves, eventually resulting in poor cylinder sealing and terrible efficiency – requiring cleaning of the crudded up valve stems to restore it, at your expense. In a PFI system, they would never get crudded up because of the gasoline (which is a solvent as well as a fuel) washing them down as you drive.
The fix for the problem caused by DI? Add a PFI circuit just to wash down the intake valve stems, in order to keep them from crudding up.
This is then marketed to you, Mr. Rube, as “dual fuel injection technology” – and it is very “advanced,” indeed!
. . . .
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Speaking of “what they’re selling”, this is the Covid vaccine ad being run in Ohio. It boldly states about the vaccine that we know was rushed, and is a type of vaccine that has not be used before; “it’s safe, it’s tested, it works!” None of those statements is true, but subject yourself to it anyway so we can “get back to normal”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLIyeq7juls
Some kind of normal! No matter how cynical I get, it never seems to be enough.
I need a machine that tells me what to do.
I’ve made a mistake or two.
I need to vomit on the floor.
Corporations are construct of the state, at the behest of the bank cartel. There is no logical reason for them NOT to be a party to the efforts of the Psychopaths In Charge. The state brought them into the world, and so can just as easily take them out. Which the corporations avoid by infiltrating the state, and thereby policing themselves. Not to mention the ever expanding opportunity this gives them to extract wealth from their “customers” instead of earning it. In the past several years it has become evident to me that the bank cartel and its working agents called corporations are the greatest enemy of 99.9%. They are definitely the author of the scamdemic, through which they are extracting what wealth remains among the 99.9% and delivering it to the 0.1%. And once again, I point my finger at public education, since it to is in service to the corporate owned state.
You are right, except that it’s the other way round: the corporations (or rather their owners) created the State and are using it as a tool of coersion. They have corrupted everything, including money, education, history, media, healthcare, police, you name it. The whole system is corrupt and is against the interests of 99.9% of the people on the planet, who own nothing, while the other 0.01% of population owns everything. The sad thing is that most of these 99.9% of people still don’t get it.
I beg to differ. Corporations don’t exist naturally. They can only be created in a controlled environment. Such as one with a bunch of armed goons running around controlling it, aka government. Without government, any of a number of bright entrepreneurs would put them out of business. Government did create them. It is true that the corporations infiltrated the government and created the government we now suffer.
Hi John,
Yup. A corporation by definition is a legal construct created under the auspices of state power. The very idea of limiting liability ought to be obnoxious to any reasonable person, irrespective of politics. You and I and every other human individual – except politicians – are held liable for harms we cause. How is that a harm caused by a corporation is less liable? Even worse, who do you hold responsible? Ah, but that is just the point! To not hold any specific person responsible. Wonder what that encourages corporations to do . . .
So, I think the answer is, become a corporation.
Own nothing, control everything……
I’ll bring up starting a trust for the last time too.
The world is run by money, not by government bureaucrats. Remember the film Network? “The world is a business, Mr. Beale!” And the big business doesn’t like the competition, and has learned long ago that the best way to create a perfect monopoly is to “go political” and make society go to work for the monopolists — under the name of the public good and the public interest. The last sentence is a direct quote from this book (see at the bottom of p.7): https://archive.org/details/WallStreetTheBolshevikRevolution/page/n6/mode/1up
In any case, whoever comes first, it’s fascism, and that’s the most important thing. I agree with Eric that corporations shouldn’t have the rights that the people have under common law, like the right to free speech etc. They gained these rights gradually, by subversion and stealth, and this is an interesting story in and of itself (check out “The Gangs of America” by Ted Nace). I actually think that corporations should be banned outright as a menace to society, and so should political parties.
As to becoming a corporation, you may be surprised that you already are! Check out your drivers license or any other official ID or document, and see that your name is written all in capital letters. They have created a strawman corporation under your name. This corporation does business, holds title to your assets and pays taxes, all under your name. See here for more info (and make sure to read the section “Who Owns Your Car” on p.5 of Legal Word – Crafting!)
http://itsnotthelaw.com/legalword.pdf
http://itsnotthelaw.com/gamename.pdf
Just another in a long line of symptoms of the pandemic of “convenience” addiction. Witness the Apple phone. Addicts are perfectly willing to pay exorbitant prices to gain a modest improvement, because it’s more convenient, even if it really isn’t. “Just think how much more time I’ll have to waste on Facebook if my car drives itself”.
Eric, this is called fascism, and it was planned a long time ago, at least as early as when Karl Marx came up with his manifesto in 1848. Communism, fascism, it’s all the same. Another word for this is slavery. It’s a merger of the government and business. They use the government to force you to work, and extract profits through corporations. In this system there is no competition (remember, JD Rockefeller said competition is sin?), so it’s perfect from THEIR point of view, and we all have nothing, as everything belongs to THEM. Your house, your car, even yourself (if you pay income taxes). The question is, what can we do? And who are THEY? Because it’s gonna get worse, MUCH worse if we do nothing.
Indeed, TTM –
I consider the term, corporatism – coined by Mussolini – to be most editorially accurate. The chief difficulty I’ve had over the years is getting Republican/conservative types to understand that corporations are as much the enemy of liberty – of free market capitalism – as the government is.
As the saying goes, it is difficult to convince someone of something, when their income depends on them non understanding it.
I don’t diaper at all…but I gotta say this is pretty damn cleaver. This guy painted on a mask…
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/maybe-the-best-mask-idea-yet/
Excellent, Blues!
Also: Stay tuned for a good Diaper Report!
Eric – speaking of your Diaper Report – something interesting was mentioned in an article on the Daily mail just now. Quoting a report from Kings College here, in the UK just 1 of 170 people had “symptomatic covid”. Ie – of 170 positive covid tests only 1 person (or under 0.6%) were actually “sick”…. WTF !! If this isn’t a con what is !!
“dual fuel injection technology”…yeah, like the twin carbs on a Corvair Monza?
Such a load of crapola, having to add port injectors back in to fix the problem DI caused.
DI is not appropriate for a gasoline fuelled spark ignition engine IMHO. I’d much rather have port injection and 50 PSI than DI and 10K PSI, and the HP injection pump issues that come with it.
Does not a fuel pressure of 10k psi induce a potential for more erosion on the cylinder port than there is for 50 psi on a port injector? I’m guessing that repairing the cylinder port is a LOT more expensive than replacing an injector. Which makes the useful life of the car shorter. Which means it will have to be replaced more often. Which means it’s unlikely that the use of such has any bearing on reducing emissions at all.
OT but the wind switched today in the scamdemic. Old Joe gave the order, schools and “the economy” must reopen and the convid “recovery” loot distributed. In NC, immediately following this diktat from Old Joe, Saddam Cooper put out a press release of school and business reopening “recommendations” following this exact playbook. Hundreds of billions to be handed out in a political manner. Humiliating sickness psychosis measures to stay in place indefinitely, though. Of course.
So…
What happens when fully autonomous vehicles become reality?
Will we still need a “license” to use one?
That is to say, will “fully autonomous vehicles” become the technology which restores our “inalienable” right to unhindered personal mobility, or will the tyranny of mobility being designated by the government as a “privilege” be maintained?
What is your guess?
And how long before we are required to have a “pedestrian license?”
I’ve been trying to figure out how this is all going to work, from an AGW/legal perspective. Now, my common sense tells me that if the car is driving itself, then no license should be required. Some of these cars eventually won’t even have steering wheels, so it shouldn’t matter if I’m drunk or otherwise impaired. The car will likely be programmed not to speed, to obey all traffic laws etc. It will never blow through a red light or stop sign. Given all of the above, what possible probable cause could an AGW ever have to pull me over? Here’s what I can’t figure out. How many billions of dollars are collected from fines and tickets? Think about the DUI “industry” alone. AGW’s, court clerks, bailiffs, judges, corrections officers, assistant district attorneys, admin people, sleazeball tv lawyers, tow truck operators, impound workers probation officers and on and on and on. How many of these jobs would disappear if drunk driving isn’t a thing anymore? I can’t see the government, at any level, giving up this much revenue or control, and yet I can’t imagine how they could justify it, given that I’M NOT DRIVING THE CAR! I should also mention that every AGW I’ve ever known will tell you that they couldn’t care less about speeding or revenue collection. To the cop on the street, traffic stops are just a pretext to look for drugs or warrants. Without traffic stops, all of their other arrests will go down significantly as well. It’s going to be very interesting to see how this plays out.
Here’s what is happening today. Lots of car manufacturers are selling systems with Level 4 (fully autonomous) capability, but calling it Level 2 (driver assist) technology because of liability. The courts have not fully settled this, it will take many cases, however, it appears that with an L4 self driving car, the car manufacturer assumes liability for an accident. With an L2 car, even if it’s self driving at the time, the “driver” is liable in an accident, and even though the car is self driving, being drunk is still a DUI because you’re supposed to be able to intervene at any moment. Nobody except Waymo is willing to assume the liability for their self driving systems.
So, for the time being, when the car is driving itself, you are still liable for anything that happens, and for the DUI, unless you’re in a Waymo taxi.
Ummm, OppositeLock, isn’t it obvious?
Under the scenario you outlined, every single vehicle will be a rolling cage, totally controlled by TPTB. Have a problem with authority? No worries, your rolling cage will bring you to the police for your scolding. And so on and so forth. With the same tech, TPTB will be able to pop your cubicle and, presto! Instant house arrest! Yay! Makes all those pesky health department mandates so much easier to enforce.
The courts are a joke. Have been for well over a century. Their main purpose is to interpret whatever travesties pass for “laws” for the benefit of TPTB. Just get used to the idea that the little people have been, are now, and always will be slaaaaaaaves! Just like in ancient Egypt, Rome, England…..always and at all times.
They used to call corporations running the government something else during the ’30s and ’40s. Something that strangely people who want limited government are called today.
DI is a frigging scourge.
Then there are the trucks that shut themselves off at stop lights. For fuel economy, I guess. Nevermind that you’ll be putting a new starter in it every other year. At your expense.
Will the mask sensors be standard equipment on all 2022 vehicles?
Don’t give them any ideas! There are already politicians who want to make this face diaper bullshit permanent.
Jason,
It is permanent.
The short two weeks of masking ended up being in the neighborhood of a year.
The 100 day “request” for masking will end up around 7 years.
The TSA will end up armed and policing everywhere that accepts fed cash. Probably will end up dropping the T and become the SA. The new federal police force.
In the before time, some guy named Reagan said, “ No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”
Don’t forget about the Space Force.
What fears will the Space Force be able to create?
Will a meteor shower or a solar flare be a reason to shelter in place? Of course.
An abundance of caution. Meteorite dust, wear a mask! Space virus, wear a mask!
If you want to learn about the things you will be forced to endure, just put “ISO standards” in front of your Google search.
It won’t be long until morticians are charging to mask the cadaver so friends and family are able to identify the departed.
‘To make you feel good about buying something you probably don’t need.’ — EP
To make rubes … errr, FOLKS feel good about EVs, we’re gonna have to dial up the gimmicks to 11:
Hans Zimmer, who composed the gentle score for Driving Miss Daisy, was commissioned last year to write an “automotive soundtrack” for one of BMW’s coming electrics, the i4. Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Nissan and others are working on similar projects.
The coming Audi E-tron GT, for example, has control units that remix the sound effects based on the car’s speed or the position of the accelerator pedal. Also fitted to the Audi is an AVAS — an acoustic vehicle alerting system, required to alert pedestrians that an electric car is close by.
https://dnyuz.com/2021/02/04/e-v-s-force-carmakers-to-reinvent-the-wheel-and-brakes-and-mirrors/
AVAS, my ass. What kind of annoying warble are silent, deadly EVs gonna make as their Lidar espies a clueless pedestrian in the way? Just wait till Minister of Electric Vehicles Pete Buttitwitch makes AVAS as ubiquitous as ASS (Auto Stop/Start).
Once when I took a taxi from Singapore’s Changi airport, a dinging bell went off every time the driver exceeded 100 km/h on the expressway. It annoyed him. But it was ‘mandated’ by Singapore’s socialist nanny gov.
It’s easy to imagine the Biden/Kamala/Karen regime requiring new vehicles to administer a painful electric shock to the buttocks every time the speed limit is exceeded. Buttitwitches for All, har har.
Hi Jim,
Lucky for him all it did was ding; I had a rental car awhile back and not only did it start dinging at around 65, as I got near 70 it actually started backing off the throttle. I was trying to get past a semi on the highway at the time and it certainly made the maneuver anything but saaaaaafe.
Needless to say I’ll never rent from them again.
This is nothing new, sadly. Eric, do you remember the automatic seatbelts of the 1990’s? They were mandated, but the automakers who had them sold them as advanced tech. We don’t have them anymore because they were dangerous. The dawn on the fuel injector age was terrible too, the kinks hadn’t been worked out, and those cars were flakey, the advanced tech wasn’t as good as the highly polished carburetors at the time. My first fuel injected car stranded me way more than the trusty 1979 corolla that it replaced. I think the auto makers do whatever it takes to promote their cars, since sales are what matters.
As I’ve mentioned, I work on self driving car tech, and have been in many a future products roadmap. It’s grim! Gasoline cars are becoming a toy for the rich. We will have only two kinds, the very efficient, but still expensive, cars for duty cycles that electrics can’t support, so imagine SUV’s that cost twice what they have today and have a 200HP 1.6L turbo engine, and the other is expensive toys for the rich.
People in my industry support the complete robotization of cars, because people are idiots who can’t drive, and the notion of someone enjoying driving or enjoying cars is completely foreign to them. They want their car to be an extension of their living room and computer. These are the people building and designing future cars. It’s been just way too difficult for people who started driving after the mid 1980’s to wrench on their cars and enjoy them, since cars were effectively sealed with no user serviceable guts. So, when you view a car as an appliance, you won’t understand how to build it for enthusiasts. It’s very sad.
All of it is “advanced” as in advanced stage 4 cancer.