Pick-a-part is a great place to find brains :)  It helps to know where the ECU is and how to remove it (automotive brain surgeon) otherwise, you'll be paying someone else to extract it and ship it to you and pay someone else at $175/hr to install it.  It rapidly becomes cost-prohibitive to maintain old cars.  A good example in the Nissan Xterra world is a metallurgical defect that exists in transmission coolers from 2005-2009.  Here we are in 2022 and the radiators are failing resulting in mixing antifreeze and ATF which destroys the transmission.  It costs more to rebuild the transmission than the vehicle is worth.  The same problem exists with EV's when the batteries near end-of-life - a replacement battery pack is more than what the car is worth.  And the same will be true with these brain cars.

Another example that directly pertains to computers (to keep it somewhat on-topic).  I needed to run some video editing software on my 9 year old Dell computer.  The video card was unsupported. So now my choice was buy a $1600 video card (remember the chip shortage of 2021?) for a 9 year old computer, or buy a prebuilt Alienware system that included the video card for $600 more.  I chose to refresh the whole system.

Regards,

George Toft

On 12/30/2022 7:48 AM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss wrote:
I assume you do not take part in the automated checkout because it reduces labor?

I do not go that far.  I think we are using too much technology and that is why I avoid the automated checkout.

I'm a programmer and I do not like the tech shift we making.

I do not like chips in cars. As the automakers increasingly put chips in cars I see that automation becoming obsolete far sooner that the car does.  Case in point, my wife drives a 2004 Toyota that only has 110,000 miles on it.  This car will last for 10 or 20 more years.  Think if that car had technology from 2004 - Yikes!!  I drive a 2009 that only has 65,000 miles on it.  It has a "brain" and I can make the car accelerate better than the drive by wire. Both cars were purchased new. I expect to drive my car until I die. What happens 10 years from now if my car needs a new brain?  Will that OLD technology be available.

They are making cars that will last 300k miles and putting technology in them that will be obsolete in 5 years.



On 2022-12-29 22:54, Jason Spatafore via PLUG-discuss wrote:
I'm kinda with George here. I went to a Circle K today that had a self
checkout. It took 3x as long to checkout. I let the attendant there
know that I did not enjoy the experience and won't return.

But, I will use Amazon and delivery services.

So I think the labor market will move away from going out to collect
your food to just having food delivered. The self checkouts will
accelerate that movement toward retail closures and warehouse
openings. So, the "unskilled" labor market will just shift from
assembling a burger to boxing product.

McDonald's has to be careful here. To quote an old McDonald's CFO...

"We are not technically in the food business. We are in the real
estate business. The only reason we sell 15-cent hamburgers is because
they are the greatest producer of revenue, from which our tenants can
pay us our rent."

On 12/29/22 19:43, George Toft via PLUG-discuss wrote:

I'll pass on this for the same reason I don't go to Sonic and I
won't use self-checkout at Albertson's/Walmart/Home Depot.

Regards,

George Toft

On 12/28/2022 7:22 AM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss wrote:

Thought you might find this interesting.



https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/mcdonalds-unveils-first-automated-location-social-media-worried-will-cut-millions-jobs


---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss

Reply via email to