The Mobile Matrix . . .

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People riding in cars used to talk to one another – or watch the passing scenery. Maybe count cars or play One Headlight. Or just take a nap. 

Some will remember.

It was called reality.

Soon – this summer – they will forget it.

Instead, they will immerse themselves in a solipsistic, ersatz reality styled Holoride in which artificially generated scenery and characters such as happy-faced gnomes will flit across their eyes – without their eyes actually seeing them – because they don’t actually exist.

But which they can pretend are real. 

It’s the Matrix – on wheels. 

Some may remember the movie – in which humans existed in a virtual reality, literally plugged into the Matrix, a thoroughly convincing – an immersive – experience that kept them from experiencing reality or even being aware of it. Virtual steak diners at virtual five star restaurants, virtual friends and virtual experiences full of lots of virtual – that is to say, not actual – experiences.

Which they never got to experience because they didn’t know they weren’t experiencing.

That was a movie.

This summer, it’s an Audi – and soon, probably every other brand of car – driven by the same strange compulsion to immerse oneself in the virtual and ersatz that has made so many people unable – unwilling – to unplug from their sail fawns and look at reality.

The same addiction that causes family and friends sitting at the same dinner table to bury their faces in their screens rather than see each others’ faces.

To text rather than talk to the person sitting in the same room as you.

And now, they won’t even have to bother with texting. Instead, just affix your virtual (i.e., false) reality goggles and make sure your drool bucket is strapped tight.

The latter isn’t actual, of course – but it probably ought to be optional.

Visual/auditory Novocaine comes to “life” – the ersatz motion choreographed to match the actual movement of the car. “See” a scene from the past toll past, from the perspective of a horse-drawn carriage that doesn’t exist and which you’re not riding in. Smile at the colorful and cheerful artificial penguins who waddle, virtually across the virtual crosswalk. “Fly” with dinosaurs across a landscape which – like the actual dinosaurs – doesn’t actually exist.

The promo video (see above) shows a girl whose expressions indicate she is utterly bored by – appalled by – the actual world outside the glass. As she places the Holoride goggles over her face her expression changes to one of near-ecstasy as she immerses herself in the virtual world. The change in mood presented is reflective of the change in people’s focus. The real world is unpleasant so let’s pretend it doesn’t exist for awhile. We are happy in our ersatz reality – and the longer we stay there, the less we want to go back to reality.

Much less deal with it.

That’s the danger of Holoride. Of all this “virtual” replacement of reality with confected “reality.” It is what made it possible for millions of people to immerse themselves in a false reality. To “see” a “pandemic” which didn’t exist, in reality. If they had been looking around them rather than at their phones – and Teevees – they might have noticed that the bodies weren’t stacking up like cordwood and that the hospitals weren’t “overflowing,” either. Instead, they “saw” people in China upchucking blood and keeling over in the streets.

Remember that?

They saw Fauci and Walensky and heard all about the cases! the cases! practically all the time. If they’d been immersed in reality, they would have seen it was all a show. It would have been very hard for Fauci and Walensky to convince them otherwise.

Soon, they’ll be convincing people to give up actually driving, too – in favor of the virtual and immersive experience. The drive to work is so boring. Imagine pretending you are driving in the 24 Hours of LeMans instead – the tach swinging up to 8,000 RPM as you reach for virtual fifth on the virtual Mulsanne straight, the speedo climbing past 200 MPH, just as if you were  Ken Miles in an actual Ford GT 40.

Of course, you’re actually just a meatsack pretending you are. Perhaps because they reality that you’re not Ken Miles – or even driving, anymore – is too much to deal with right now.

Better make sure that drool bucket is strapped on tight.

. . .

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91 COMMENTS

  1. I’ve been playing Gran Turismo 7 lately, video game for PS4 (and 5, but I’m getting too old to care to upgrade). So technically, I’m “pretending you are driving in the 24 Hours of LeMans instead – the tach swinging up to 8,000 RPM as you reach for virtual fifth on the virtual Mulsanne straight, the speedo climbing past 200 MPH, just as if you were Ken Miles in an actual Ford GT 40.”

    But the thing is I honestly want to work a bit more, and save up some money and actually work on a fun car to drive… provided the Fed Reserve and government allows anyone to do that.

    Also, I lift weights and go for runs. And read actual books. So I’m not a lost cause. I love going out and smelling, as weird as it sounds, the spring air right now. I love being dressed warm and feeling the chill of the winter on my face when I run.

    I love going out for a drive on a sunny Sunday after I simply change my own oil and differential oils… thinking I can feel a difference in the car immediately after. And as funny as it sounds, I wish some of these actual race tracks would offer us runners the ability to RUN races on their tracks. That would be amazing.

    But I’m with you Eric. This virtual reality stuff is awful. I’ve tried it at a friends house. I felt like a moron, probably looked like one too. And it just doesn’t compare to the real world.

  2. I coach a HS track team. We are all done with CV. I do worry about what Brandon (long may he burn in Hell) has done to the economy.

    • Morning, Ugg!

      I still see a couple of Diaper-wearers at my gym; the degree of commitment is astounding given that 98 percent haven’t worn the pup training “mask” since the place reopened. Yet these Freaks still think they’re being “safe”…. or whatever it is they are thinking…

  3. So much shit is fake today. I went back onto central london yesterday with the Mrs. Were out the whole day. Went to 2 cafes for coffee. both were “vegan” which meant neither had real milk !! Oat milk, soy milk, almond milk, anything but real milk…. can you imagine!!

    • Hi Nasir,

      The Western Hemisphere is so weird. It is absurd that you can’t get real milk. Here in the States, they won’t allow us to have unpasteurized milk. They say it is in the name of “safety”, but we all know it really is control.

      The West has gone woke and she is about to go broke. As the West is concerned about going meatless, gasless, and is more concentrated about everyone’s pronouns the East is secretly taking our asses down. Saudi is considering selling the Chinese their oil and accepting the yuan as payment.

      https://ironbladeonline.com/saudi-arabia-considers-accepting-yuan-instead-of-dollars-in-chinese-oil-sales/

      The US believes this will not happen. We couldn’t be governed by dumber fools. China buys 1.75 million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia, the US buys under 500K daily. Any eight year could do the math. One changes the rules for those with the deepest pockets. Up next…Russia accepts the yuan as payment, so does Turkey, so does India. Petro Dollar bye-bye.

      The West is being outsmarted and outplayed by the East. The East has sat back patiently and maneuvered this chess match for a generation. Our large corporations sold the American people out…and we let them. Price was more important than quality. The bottom line more important than integrity. The only thing we are waiting on the East to say is “checkmate”.

      It all makes sense now why the Chinese were importing grains and soybeans by the shipfuls. They knew Russia would march into Ukraine and that the Breadbasket of Europe was going to have a diminished harvest. There will be a shortage of rice, barley, and oats. There will be a shortage of petroleum products. We will feel it come the summer harvest.

      The bright spot…Klaus Schwab will never become King. The sad part…the American West has folded like a cheap shirt. We lost sight on what kept us strong and were outfoxed. We don’t need a nuke to destroy us, just a big ego and loads of debt.

      • Raider Girl,

        As soon as I can finalize repairs to this house in which I currently live, I will become part of the Great Decentralization. I get to finally move to my rural land and become so much more self-reliant. I think it’s the only way we can win against all of the despots, from both the East and West. We need to unhitch from their wagon. I know they won’t like that, and will eventually come for us, but we’re going to make them work for it.

  4. One of employee’s kids crashed through a glass table wearing one of these things. All night in the hospital stitching him up.

  5. This reminds of a part in the book “The Man Who Awoke ” by by Laurence Manning, of a man who goes into suspended animation for 5,000 year periods. In one period he awakes to a society where your choices are work to support the sleepers who are permanently and surgically living a VR life or join them. Going Galt was not an option. Spoiler Alert- their society collapsed. It’s available at archive.org as a loaner book. Looking around I think you know what part of the Tytler Cycle we are in today. “Ready Player One” here we come.

  6. Sorry off-topic: Went to store today in OR — 95% of people NOT wearing the cult article. Cashiers were NOT required to wear it, and they did NOT. BTW the cashiers never liked the diapers, but were forced to wear it to keep their jobs. OR has #2 worst dictators next to commiefornya, yet all of a sudden we get a repreave??? It was nice though, hope it lasts more than a week or two! THANKS TO THE TRUCKERS! The truckers did more good for America in the last month then all politicians did in the last 50 years. And for free. I want to give them money, but anyone who does that is getting persecuted & having their bank accounts frozen etc. What the hell is this — they’re freezing anyones’ bank accounts for any reason they want nowadays. This is completely wrecking the whole money system — where the heck is this going? And how will anyone know what charity or thing they’re allowed to donate to or buy? We might as well start our own bank & new currency, because these dictators are just throwing the whole game-board out the window!

    I can’t keep up with this “mandate” stuff — one day it’s this, next day it’s that. So stupid. I heard some news on a local radio show — the OR dictators are trying to make a NEW dictator position of some kind of “health” czar that has absolute power, since OSHA got ordered to leave us alone by national law, so OR dictators are trying to work around this. So IDK what’s going to happen to us in OR, other states are much luckier than us. We’re constantly TERRORIZED by the horrible bills/laws the state dictators are always proposing, and we lost most of our good politicians cuz they couldn’t take the corruption & attacks anymore. IDK about everyone else, but I’m SICK of these dictators thinking our health is THEIR business. How about they stop sticking their nose into everyones’ health? How about they outlaw GMOs and the bad pesticides and nuclear radiation etc — but noooo, they don’t care about real health safety. They just want us to be pincusions for their evil space alien masters. These dictators are not humans — they’re evil demons that look like humans. Maybe bilogical “cylons”.

    • Hi Harry,

      One of the tools in a psychopath’s kit bag is the use of arbitrariness to create uneasyness. The victim never knows what’s next – and so, is kept in a state of perpetual anxiety. Oregon has the same problem we all have, perhaps to a greater degree than most – but the same, regardless. The only way to deal with it is to oppose it.Bu giving in to it, you get more of it. It is no longer a question of putting up with “x” because “y” and “z” make it worth doing. It is time to refuse, evade, ignore and – when it comes down to it – resist.

      Either that are live under the thumbs of these creatures.

      • Yup. I agree with you Eric. It’s time we all fight because there’s nothing left to lose anymore. We all went along because it maybe wasn’t so bad… I get it… but this is a million miles too far nowadays. The entire world needs to change now… and not for the worse, it needs to change for the better. These dictators have to go… to jail.

        • How do we do that guys? Ideas? I am all for going Galt, but what are we changing? We have been opposing this whole time. Do we run for office? Implement new technology? Reinvent old technology? Start breaking knee caps on those that don’t agree with us?

          • By refusing to comply RG. If we were inclined to, we couldn’t kill them all. But we can make them irrelevant if enough of us choose to simply ignore them. Which might bring a fight to your door, and may cost you your life. But so does living under tyranny. More have died under it than have fighting it. It’s a simple risk/reward evaluation. “Give me liberty or give me death’ wasn’t propaganda, it was survival instruction.

            • Haven’t we been refusing to comply all along? I would say close to 90% of us didn’t mask, vax, and continued on with our lives.

          • RE: “How do we do that guys? Ideas? […] Do we run for office? Implement new technology? Reinvent old technology?”

            All those things & more. There’s no One single answer.
            Vote or, don’t vote.
            Homestead or, prep in place.
            Protest or, stay home & do what Allan Stevo writes about changing local goobermint where you are.

            It’s Malthusianism vs. Prometheanism.

            Serf-Expression – “Eventually the “flock of timid and industrious animals” changes their minds about how much exploitation by the few is acceptable.”

            Between a rock & a hard place.

            Change what you can change.

            I don’t know if it’s true, I was told once there is/was a band of religion in India(?) who felt so strongly about ‘do no harm’ they lived naked in the woods on rocks so they wouldn’t kill a single blade of grass.

            I have no idea how they ate. Seems a bit nuts. Is that what the aim is of the ‘watermellon’ crowd?
            I doubt that’s an answer.

            What do children do when faced with a bully?

            ‘How To Be an Everyday Revolutionary’

            https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/01/daisy-luther/how-to-be-an-everyday-revolutionary/

            ‘Ending Tyranny Without Violence’

            “Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.” …

            https://www.lewrockwell.com/1970/01/murray-n-rothbard/overthrowing-the-state/

          • RG, the only way we can go Galt is to physically remove ourselves from the dominions of the tyrants. Years ago, simply not complying; flying under the radar, and locating in sparsely populated areas was good enough- but today, the tyranny and the technology and [extorted] riches of the tyrants have increased so much that there is ‘nowhere to hide’ among their system- and they don’t tolerate non-compliers very well, and are making it nigh impossible to live for those who do not comply.

            But there are places; More remote rural areas of poor countries where they just don’t have the resources to police the whole country; where the written laws are ignored by all.

            Some go to such places and are happy. Many do not, because ultimately the luxuries and conveniences of big government are more important to them than liberty.

            I was recently in contact with someone who wants out of here…but demands access to high-speed internet wherever he goes…so basically has no options outside of first or second-world countries, and the parts of those countries where government has established a technological infrastructure…which means that he will never get out.

            We often become satiated and defined by what we have become used to from having lived in this system- and the idea of living simply like our forefathers, and giving up the perks and $$$ we have become used to via this system, seems to be repulsive to many- and this ultimately is what they are counting on.

            It’s hard to get out- even for outliers like myself, who saw the light early, and who have never been a part of this system/have been non-compliant our entire adult lives- so I can just imagine how it is for those who have been more involved.

            • Hi Nunz,

              Most remote rural places in the USSA they can’t locate you either. Fifteen minutes away from where I live there isn’t a cell tower or internet connection to be found. In this country as long as, one does not have a phone there is no way the government is going to find them (or even want to find them). Some small towns in New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana, not to mention places like Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota one could hide out for years in the grasslands or mountains. Hell, there are plenty of places here in Virginia where a road may see one vehicle a day. If one was to buy 20 acres alongside the Blue Ridge Mountains and farm…nobody is going to bother them.

              I agree with you that many need the modern-day luxuries, but for those that can live without it…it is still a pretty escapable country. Our connections to technology do us in. Our country is much too big to look through every cave, underground tunnel, inner city, or farmland. Ask the Amish, they seem to be doing fine.

              • You ought to read “Dead Run,” which is a book about a real event that happened in the 1990s in middle of nowhere Colorado. That happened prior to the PATIOT fueled surveillance boom, so now what they did would be much less likely to be successful. But the basic take-away is that they leverage a decade of staging caches and developing a network of friendly supply drops to avoid being caught. But they lived in caves and constantly kept moving everyday until they either eventually shot themselves or died of exposure.

          • Great question, because the ‘leaders’ on the internet that do conferences etc don’t seem to ask it. I think we’re all missing the obvious solution: we organize. That’s how crooks took over the world — they organized, they have an agenda, they work on their agenda. We people don’t do that, that’s our problem, we live in THEIR society, it’s not ours. The entire dictatorship system is the problem. We can’t live in their system and just HIDE or live on our own — we all need each other, we need goods & services. We need a real society, where we aren’t under attack and we don’t have to hide.

  7. Off subject. I have been using Startpage and Duckduckgo as search engines for privacy. Both have come out as chearleaders for the current war hysteria against Putin and the rush-ans. I don’t need a search engine telling me what to think or what’s important, I suggest switching to https://www.presearch.org/, recommended by Tom woods a regular Lew Rockwell contributor.

    • Duckduck doesn’t say anything on their search page, but okay, I’ll switch. Yeah, I’m sick of all these companies pretending like they’re experts on international relations & history etc etc. They should mind their own business — they don’t know what they’re talking about! And they’re BS-ing on matters of WAR — serious matters — yet they think they’re the big experts on everything — know-it-alls. In the future — this will be considered public FRAUD that potentially harms people so they will have to pay a HUGE fine and do alot of jail time too.

      • I will no longer use DuckDuckGo, after the site has decided they will filter out “Russian Propaganda Websites”. Sadly, it sounds like they are going the way of Google in the “Censorship” department.

        • Hi Shadow,

          The DDD thing is bizarre in the DDD launched specifically as an alternative to the algorithmically censored search engines; i.e., the only reason to use DDD was on account of it not jiggering results, etc.

          So what reason is there to us it now that it is?

        • OMG, like anyone wants a search engine to censor what THEY think we shouldn’t read. Unbelievable. This is clearly breaking a human rights law — free-speech / free-communication. Someday this will be a MINIMUM 20-year jail sentence, and that company will be taken away from it’s owners and given to the employees & become an empolyee-owned company from then on.

    • DuckDuckGone shot themselves in the foot alright. Or dropped a bomb on their foot. It was always BS anyway. I use the Brave browser for non-censored results and privacy.

  8. I know I shouldn’t like the guy, but he does have balls and that in itself is quite admirable. I would offer Elon a word of caution about pissing off the Russian Space Agency. They probably have each of his homes with missiles pointed straight at them.

    https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/elon-musk-putin-single-combat-ukraine-russia-responds-little-devil

    Note: It does seem to be all theatre though. I highly doubt Eisenhower was sending telegraphs to Erwin Rommel during World War II.

    • I admit he starting to grow on me. The challenge today and what he said that we better start producing fuel in the near term.

      • Someone posted on the news piece that he a little Tony Stark/Ironman. I think that is a pretty good comparison. “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” pretty much sums him up. 🙂

        • Morning, RG –

          I often hear people refer to Musk as a genius. I don’t get it. Clever, certainly. A savvy businessman. He was one of the co-founders of PayPal and made a lot of money there. But what’s “genius” about his electric cars? They are nothing new fundamentally. They are quick and have touchscreens. And? Other high end cars have the same. The electric drive is not fundamentally different than that of the electric cars of 120 years ago. And the cars have the same functional/practical problems.

          His “genius” has been to leverage the hysteria over “climate change” to get the government to create a “market” for his cars – and to get the government to force us to subsidize them. That makes him an effective rent-seeker.

          But a genius? Not in my book.

          • Hi Eric,

            My quote was from The Avengers movie when Captain America asked Iron Man who he was and Iron Man responded. It was tongue in cheek.

            In response to whether Musk is a genius or not…I really don’t know. Smart? Absolutely. Forward thinking? Yes. Sociopath? Pretty likely.

            Even if you remove what Musk has accomplished with Tesla, he holds an impressive resume. PayPal, Space X, AI, Hyperloop, and Boring.

            True, maybe some of his ideas are recycled, but where others have failed at producing or implementing a project he has gotten many off the ground. Whether one likes the guy or not he has changed society and the direction of technology.

            I commend him for at least be willing to step up and make a difference. He seems to put his money where his mouth is and tries to make the world a better place. It may not be my version of “better”, but as many wealthy continue to slither around in the background doing nothing but line their pockets he has been upfront about the change he wants to see and acts upon it. At least one knows where he stands.

    • Musk showed his real colors during the rescue operation of the Thai boys in the cave caling the guy who led it ‘pedo guy’ while spinning fantasies of building a sub to rescue them. He’s a moron and a carnival barker propped up by your taxes and make believe carbon credits we all subsidize directly or indirectly. Amazing how many folks fall for this fraud

      • Compared to the credits, subsidies, and bailouts rolled out to all the other large and small businesses out there?!? Here is a current list of the banks and auto companies that took the bailout from 2008/2009. It has been over 13 years and more than a few have quite a list of outstanding debt that they owe the American taxpayer. I didn’t think the American taxpayer was in the financing business. I am still waiting by my mailbox for my cut.

        https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/list

        I hope no one is buying anything from GM or Chrysler. The amount in that red column is pretty astounding. Ooh, look at JP Morgan, BOA, and Wells Fargo…are they not charging enough in fees to compensate Uncle Sam?

        Tesla has received $2.1 billion in federal tax grants and $339 million in state grants. GM (not even including GMAC/Ally Bank) received $50 billion dollars and still owes $11 billion to date! Plus, every car company with an electric car is getting a federal tax credit offered by Uncle Sam (Ford, GM, Volvo, Audi, etc.) for 2021/2022. Should we boycott them all?

        Some of them probably took the PPP loans and Employee Retention Credit, too!

        • Without make beieve “carbon” credits Tesla has NEVER made any money in contrast to the companies you mention. Of course his other looney starship and earth boring ideas haven’t either. Yet this is the first or second richest guy on Earth? He’s never contributed one dollar of value to society and has sucked billions from it. What a JOKE

      • Musk was ASKED by the Taiwanese government to help. He didn’t insert himself into the effort. He was making subs (small man sized and very light) as a backup plan in case the professional divers couldn’t get in the cave as they had no map of the various entrances and exists of the narrow underground passageways, most of which were underwater. “Pedo Guy” was a retired diver. He wasn’t involved in the rescue and certainly never put his money, time, or ass on the line to rescue anyone. For some reason he comes on Musk’s twitter and insults Musk calling his idea stupid. For that, Musk noted he was in some pictures on this infamous Taiwanese beach known for pedophilia and called him Pedo Guy. Now Pedo Guy (whose real name I’m not going to deign to use) DID finally provide a map for the divers that helped them rescue the victims, because YEARS earlier he had dived in that particular cave. Musk’s subs were available as backup. This whole thing would never have happened had PG not been a jerk to a guy who was asked to help and was spending his own time and money to do so. Anyway, PG lost his defamation case against Musk. It’s good that you feel free to bash Musk based on “facts” you pulled out of your ass. And no, PG wasn’t the “Leader” of the rescue effort. He was just old and retired. It was nice he chose to share his knowledge literally almost a week after the divers had been working with Musk on ways to get in.

  9. I, for one, love it! You can use it WHILE you’re driving, right? Because it’ll be a blast driving everywhere in Fantasy Land, maybe with some booze and perhaps a little THC added for enhanced effect.

    I wonder how the cops will look? Maybe angry skeletons in cartoon paddy wagons? Driving will be fucking hilarious!

  10. Oh, man, this is bonkers. Years ago, I used to work on virtual reality and augmented reality at a company which pioneered this stuff, Silicon Graphics (no longer exists). Today’s tech is smaller and lighter, but the problems it solves are exactly the same, so I have some experience to talk here.

    This is never going to work, because people wearing these things in a car are going to barf their brains out from motion sickness. It’s hard enough to keep people from vomiting when they’re standing on the ground in immersive 3D goggles, but it will be impossible in a moving car.

    The reason is that when your whole field of view is blocked by this device, your inner ear and eyes will tell you different things about the motion of the world. It sounds from the press release like Audi is doing augmented reality – meaning you see the actual world through the glasses with virtual reality superimposed upon it. This works a bit better because you still see the world, but all the virtual elements inserted into it will still shake and jiggle relative to the real world because the technology doesn’t yet exist for seamless object localization.

    So, I hope Audi buyers who go for this feature also get the Scotch Gard fabric protection 🙂

    • Even dogs succumb to it. One of the easiest means of keeping your dog from puking in your car is to keep them from lying down. If they sit up and see what’s going on, they most often don’t suffer motion sickness. Or at least not as much.

    • Wow! I remember catching a glimpse of the SGI Reality Engine when I was in college in the mid-late ’90s. Very impressive stuff.

  11. The video looks just like a BIG PHARMA commercial. Can only imagine the disclaimer,

    In fastest non gender specific lawyerly voice.

    ‘Holorider May cause video and auditory hallucinations, strong delusions of believing oneself a starship captain, detachment from reality, myocarditis, sudden fainting spells, gender confusion, nasal, ocular, and anal bleeding. Discontinue use if you show any of theses symptoms.

    Holorider is for vaccinated individuals only, including infants. Holorider INC is not responsible for deep state hacks taking over your Childs mind. Don’t use Holorider near 5-G super towers or while under the influence of any other prescription drugs. Ask your trusted narrative engineer about Holorider today.

  12. NIO, an electric vehicle and battery corporation in China, had a 52 week high of 57 USD. Below 15 USD today. That is 42 dollars per share drop in price, sell. What you call disposition mode. Institutions want out, kind of like a bank run. Not a market for investment, the market just doesn’t care which bull gets gored or bear mauled, just there, win or lose. You place your bet, the market gets it there.

    Getting to be tough row to hoe for NIO. Probably heading back to two dollars.

    Must not be working out in the manufacture of electric cars.

    Abandon the battery business and build a vehicle with an engine that burns fuels derived from hydrocarbons. Better to burn gas than watch a battery burn.

    You’ll learn to never argue with success.

    Two cargo ships transporting automobiles with electric vehicles is not good news down in the Lloyd’s of London sweatshop. Some serious debate on rates for EV transport, find someone else to insure your risk.

    Looks like NIO is between a rock and a hard place.

    See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.

  13. Notice that at the end, the “girl” (of questionable gender-ality) loses the ability to differentiate Holo-deck signal from sense-data signal. Even with the goggles lifted, zhe still “sees” invading spaceships, and gapes in dull euphoria while aimlessly lowering the goggles once again. This is made all the more chilling in light of the earlier shots where zhe is “bopping” little penguin characters, who turn into skeletons as zhe is awarded “points”. Anyone who has read Ender’s Game understands how simulations can be “flipped live” at anytime by those who have designed the simulation. The “user” can then be manipulated into committing any desired atrocity in the belief that it’s “training” or “just a game”. One wonders who those bubbly penguins were “IRL” before being mowed down by the autonomous killdozer that Audis will apparently become for the rising generation of jacked-in post-millennials.

    The Machine is pitting the mob of dumb monkeys against each other in an unwitting Battle Royale where the gushing blood running in the streets looks like glowing liquid gold and the wails of agony sound like orchestral swelling themes of pure joy.

  14. I find myself becoming nauseated whenever I’m in a moving vehicle but not able to look out the window. Devices such as this would certainly cause such nausea in many

  15. Wow… This is getting scary….

    I mean, on the one hand, I get it. So many people exist in the disgusting cities and concrete deserts where orange construction barriers have become a permanent part of the landscape, and where the grand old architecture has been supplanted by ugly geometric shapes and Fedders Specials (Attached brick row-houses where what would have been a front yard is now the requisite double-wide driveway)- so yeah…but if one can afford the to live in these places and drive the Audi and have all the gadgetry….why not just MOVE and live in a nice environment where ya don’t have to avoid reality?

    It all started with DVD players in cars; between that and people giving their kids handheld video games, it has become the norm to stare at a screen rather than look out the window and observe the world around you. When I was a kid, I loved going anywhere by car! To see the various interesting types of vehicles on the road! Scenery! Different people; different buildings; different roads with different vistas! But then again…I guess in today’s soccer-mom culture, all the poor kid ever sees is the same scenery day after day while they’re strapped into their protective egg carton, being shuttled around from “day care” to school to play-date to formally-organized sports activity….. 🙁 Maybe they do need this augmented reality- I guess it’s like an electronic drug. Pity the society that has come to this. Anyone who is capabler of having this could simply opt for a better REAL life….but for reasons I’ll ne3ver understand, they choose not to. I’m a pauper, and I opted for that better life; The only augmented reality I need is my MP3 Player when mowing off 6 or 7 acres of grass for a ‘lawn’.

    • RE: “It all started with DVD players in cars”

      Seems like the small handheld games of the 1980’s were the start.
      A football game, Space Invaders, perhaps a few others?
      Scenery is nice, but in November, after driving 4 hrs. on an Interstate through flat corn fields, just about anybody is going to get a bit bored by it. Thank goodness for comic books.

      • It was that Atari gaming system that came out in 1972. Damn Pac-Man and Donkey Kong! This is all their fault. 😉 Do you know how many quarters I went through playing Pac-Man at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion? I won’t even mention my addiction to Skee Ball. I still can’t pass one without playing.

      • **”after driving 4 hrs. on an Interstate through flat corn fields, just about anybody is going to get a bit bored by it.”**

        That’s when it’s time to THINK [Boredom can be a great thing], or use imagination…or engage in a conversation (‘specially if someone else is present 🙂 )…. I think a lot of the current problems would not exist if people just had the opportunity to be bored sometimes.

        • Is it sick that I actually enjoy driving? Especially in new areas. What is what more exciting than cruising through sites unseen…small little towns, anyplace with a water scene, big cities, mountainous terrain. I don’t mind corn fields, or canyons, or major highways, although backroads are my preferred method. I can’t imagine wanting to sit and watch a movie or visiting the MetaVerse. Throw on a couple of Eagle tunes, open up the sunroof, and hope for a nice day.

          • > Is it sick that I actually enjoy driving?

            With all of the recent unpleasantness around flying (which Brandon extended by yet another month for no good reason), I’ve gotten in more long-distance driving than ever before. Last summer, I took a couple weeks off and hit the road: from Las Vegas to the Florida panhandle, then up the east coast a bit into southwestern Virginia (Lynchburg, the next biggish town east of Roanoke), then up to Ohio, and from there back home. Even on the interstates, it’s still a change of scenery from the everyday usual. Much of the route home (along I-44 and I-40) parallels the old Route 66, so there’s lots of related things to see along the way from St. Louis to Kingman.

            Fun fact: you can avoid tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike by jumping off the road right before the toll booth, drive narrow roads through some random holler, and then get back on on the other side. I didn’t set out to do that, but my satnav was set to “avoid tolls,” and it proceeded to direct me right around two toll booths.

            • We did that drive through West Virginia on the back roads a few years back. Slower than the interstate, but really interesting and picturesque.

        • People who have never been in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa or Oklahoma have some fantasy ideas about it. Yeah, the Interstate is dull. Two-lane through the little towns is a completely different experience. You have farmers waving, interesting road side markers, the best food in little diners. It’s far from boring if you’re willing to invest the effort to take your time and interact with the world.

    • I fondly remember the Burma Shave signs along the road back in the day. This was before the interstate highway system was completed and family vacations were usually camping trips to upstate NY. My favorite, because it’s real now:
      Said farmer Brown
      Who’s bald on top
      Wish I could
      Rotate the crop
      😆

      • > I fondly remember the Burma Shave signs along the road back in the day.

        Route 66 west of Seligman, AZ, still has some of those, or reproductions of them.

      • Yes!
        That, and ads for Mail Pouch chewing tobacco painted on the sides of barns..
        Throughout this world
        Of toil and sin
        Your head grows bald
        But not your chin.
        🙂

  16. Cars? What cars? We don’t need no steee-nkin’ cars!

    Out in California, the wind turbines that don’t work still swing with the wind and the blades do some turning, that’s all they do, they are in virtual mode. Virtually worthless, the reality.

    Well, you can drink and drive with no consequences. You can fall asleep at the wheel and not be in danger, you’ll probably drool then. You’ll be able to virtually drive 200 mph, roll the virtual car 25 times and not have a scratch on you. Some advantages to virtual driving, might as well fly the virtual jet, do some virtual bombing, fly to the edge of virtual stratosphere. Crash land, nosedive, the 550 mph slam into the virtual earth won’t hurt a bit.

    It’ll be like Groundhog Day, the next day, it can all be done all over again, you’ll still be alive.

    Maybe a couple of times of holographic experiences for the feel, but it is not the real deal.

    Won’t last long enough to be a fad, even. It’ll get old fast. It’s over already. Go buy a big screen tv and call it good.

    More fun to go on a ten beer country drive, get lost in woods, float down the river. Feels real because it is real. Works for me.

    Summer will arrive soon enough, then the living gets easy.

    • SUMMER? HA! Don’t be ridiculous! They won’t even let you have that. There’s an idea floating where we basically dump particulates into the upper atmosphere to block out some sun and avert the “Climate Emergency”. I think it’s called geoengineering. Just wait till everyone finds out what happened every other time dust blocked out the sun, once it’s too late of course.

      At that point, Orange Man will somehow still be to blame.

    • I was recently in Palm springs that has a mega wind farm west of town. approx. 1/3 of them had big black oil stains coming down their support columns and obviously weren’t spinning.
      Obvious gear box failure. These gear boxes are under enormous stress.
      Has anyone been screaming that they are polluting the planet yet?
      Of the 2/3rds left, less than half of those were spinning at any given time

  17. The driving experience is getting more and more isolated.

    If you want the ultimate top down driving experience get a super 7, it is also the exact opposite of a nanny state car.

    A super 7 (a 1957 design by Lotus), is the ultimate driving experience, buy or test drive one, it is a completely different experience. The most direct, analog, raw, visceral, unfiltered driving experience, perfect for the hard core driver enthusiasts, this is how a car should be, small, light, agile, fast, no frills, mechanical art made to go fast only, no luxury, no doors or roof, some have no windshield, nothing extra, with a 4 cylinder engine about 1200 lb.

    A Donkervoort a Super 7 clone in 2003, 2004 had the world record lap time for any street legal car on the Nurburgring, (quite a bit faster then the plaid lap time).

    Dutton Super 7 clone with SBC V8 434ci, 1600 lb, steel tube frame, fibreglass body, it has run a best 8.90 sec 1/4 mile, it is quicker then all the hypercars and the tesla plaid.

    A Super 7 is the 2nd most copied car in history, 160 companies made copies, (Cobra was the most copied car), the Super 7 is a close copy of a 1913 Bugatti Type 22, the specs are close, one of the first small light cars (did Lotus copy it?).

    LOUD Caterham Super Seven 620R Driven Fast at Goodwood FOS 2017!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IPePVyq7Y8

  18. Well you painted quite the 1984 vision there Eric. This sounds crazy to me, but then cell phone and text addition seemed crazy once too. I think this is why I and so many others enjoy running and walking out on our nature trails. I crave going out there seeing nature, smelling the flowers and weeds, hearing the birds in the morning and crickets in the hills in the evening. All these indoor emf generating activities drain and tire the body wheareas getting out in the sunshine and seeing natural beauty invigorates the body mind and spirit. Just like mom used to tell us kids to go out and play, nothing has changed. The kids still love the open spaces and outside sports too. Ditto driving a nice car, hearing a great song on the radio and jamming on the accelerator. Taking a drive is fun and so are the conversations about the roadside attractions! Driving is a thrill (if not stuck in traffic). Its just so creepy they want to get us all out of cars, suburbs and into the cities and more immersed in unreality. It’s like they want to go against everything that makes life inherently enjoyable. Im just making it a point to do the opposite of what they’re pushing these days. The more control they try to take away from me the more I am rebelling. It helps keep me sane.

    • Second that RS, fresh air and sunshine is the best remedy out there, probably why the PTB wanted all the serfs locked into their houses so they couldn’t experience it. Also nothing like fresh air and sun to keep you from getting sick in the first place. I try to take a good long walk every day, though some days it’s short to due the freezing weather……how the “climate” changes when it’s winter. 😆

  19. This has nothing to do with the column, but has anyone tried the Brave search engine? Apparently, DuckDuckGo has gone full blown Google so I must move on. I just didn’t want to download it if it sucked.

  20. How long before one gets jaded to the illusion? How long before one’s ever increasing desire for the new and different exceeds the ability of tech to provide it? Has it already? For example, given the modern capability of graphic imaging, I was not especially impressed with what the “Holoride” offered in the video above. What will the public do when tech fails to meet their expectations? Take Fentanyl?

    • They will- social media/virtual reality are the most dangerous drugs foisted off on the human race ever. Like every addictive drug, they require bigger and stronger doses until the inevitable overdose. With fentanyl or heroin, the ultimate symptom is death. With social media the symptom is insanity- physical death is less likely. Though William Gibson postulated virtual worlds where people would jack in and starve to death…

    • I actually just sat down and watched the video in Eric’s column. This is the dumbest shit I have ever seen. Who is their target audience…12 year olds? Is real life that boring? Do we have to escape it that badly? I can imagine some kid sitting in the back making shooting sounds trying to change jaywalking marshmallow men into pedestrian walking skeletons and twisting all over the back seat while their poor parent has to turn around and slap them to get them to shut up and sit still. No good can come from this. The need for instant gratification and the avoidance of any type of boredom is going to be the downfall of the human species.

      • When you consider that the mental maturity level of the average Amerikan adult is about 12 years old – that’s exactly the intended target: tweens and adults with stunted emotional intelligence. Soon, every dork is going to walk around with goggles on, swatting at the air like they just walked through a spider web. It’s comically pathetic. The bigger question is why the sudden need to deny all forms of reality? Is life really this hard?

        • LOL. 🙂 They have already done that, BAC. Don’t you remember the Pokemon craze. I was too busy laughing at the nut cases who were holding their phones looking for fake images behind a prickly bush near the train depot. They were all over town for a while. They finally gave up and run toward the new fad…whatever that is.

          The typical human mind is very much like that of a puppy’s…it is easily swayed. If a squirrel runs by, they chase it. If someone throws a bone, they pursue it. If CNN tells them to panic, they become hysterical. It Facebook says to put on a pair of goggles and pretend that make believe exists, they will. I don’t know if ignorance is bliss or not, but the majority of our species seems to believe it to be true.

          • Three or four films/TeeVee bits come to mind here, reflections of reality. What little I saw & suffered through of, ‘Jackass’… and, ‘Idiocracy’.
            Several Seth Rogen films, ‘SuperBad’ stands out.

            Over the decades I’ve been around plenty of guys who acted just like some of the people in those films, “If a squirrel runs by, they chase it” etc, I doubt they ever completely outgrew it, and, they had kids.

  21. I hope they include the clear vinyl seat covers my grandparents had in their Bonneville’s back seat to protect it from dog accidents. The amount of vommit these things produce will be unbelievable!

    VR is a solution looking for a problem.

    • That’s precisely why Metaverse will be made mandatory, just like Zoom has been made mandatory for huge sectors of society already.
      If one refuses to don the Meta-goggles, and refuses to be ensconced in the cold embrace of the Machine’s searching tendrils, one will simply be left to starve in the Desert of the Real.

      • If that is our fate, great! I for one will not starve or go without in the desert of the real. I will thrive.

        Unfortunately we won’t simply be left to starve- the powers and principalities will have more active plans for the hard headed and self reliant.

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