[Nfbc-info] Nfbc-info Digest, Vol 127, Issue 17

Mon Dec 21 08:34:45 UTC 2015

How can I overcome myself? I would honestly say that the 2015 convention of the national federation of the blind of California was better than the 2014 state convention of the national federation of the blind of california. For one we had dancing at this year's con vent ion, which is a must-have for me. I love dancing. This is a new tradition that I would love for us to start is to have a ball on the Friday night as the ball was the number 1 highlight of this year's state convention. My second reason why I feel like this year's state convention was better is because there was a live band there at the Doubletree in the bistro 880 restaurant every evening they had nothing at all at El Segundo inside the restaruant. Last, but not least is why I am writing this email, and and why I feel we should stick to the same Doubletree brand in 2016, and every year from here on out. That is because They graciously donated cookies to the pack plan  table. You know that somebody had to do all of that work for us? I feel we should not take that for granted. I know I am very appreciative of them donating cookies to our cause. May I please ask you what did the embassy suites south in el SEGUNDO donate to our worthy cause, or organization? Zip nada zip  zilch, nothing  

Sent from my iPhone

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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Re: Nfbc-info Digest, Vol 127, Issue 13 (Brian Buhrow)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2015 12:45:56 -0800
> From: Brian Buhrow <buhrow at nfbcal.org>
> To: NFB of California List <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Jordan Mirander <jordanmirander at icloud.com>, buhrow at nfbcal.org
> Subject: Re: [Nfbc-info] Nfbc-info Digest, Vol 127, Issue 13
> Message-ID: <201512192045.tBJKjuon009930 at lothlorien.nfbcal.org>
> 
>    Hello Jordan.  The arguments you site will be the ones folks use
> against us when they argue that the blind should not be allowed to operate
> autonomous vehicles.  However, these arguments are misguided.  You've heard
> the old addage that too many cooks spoil the broth?  The same is true for
> driving a car.  If the car is under computer control and suddenly it needs
> the human to take over, there is no way that control can be transfered from
> computer to human fast enough to be safe.  Right now, Google and other
> companies are testing these vehicles and the drivers are sitting in the
> car, ready to take over instantly if there is a problem.  However, put
> these machines in the main stream, and you can bet that people won't be
> paying enough attention to affect a hand-off in a timely enough manner.  I
> believe Google has already discovered this in their testing, which is why
> they're arguing against driver control of any kind.
> 
>    The second myth is that humans are safe drivers.  The sad truth is
> that 40,000 folks lose their lives in the US every year due to auto
> accidents.  I live in a town of 60,000 people.  That number means that a
> population equivalent to the size of the town I live in is lost every 18
> months.  That number has remained high despite a myriad of safety features
> that have been introduced into vehicles in the past 20 years.  Yet, we, as
> a society, have decided that the benefits of driving out weigh this
> tragically high rate of loss.  (And we're not even talking about injuries
> due to auto accidents.)
> 
>    I believe autonomous vehicles will become a standard feature of our
> society and there's no reason an autonomous vehicle can't safely be operated
> by a blind person.  In order for that to happen, however, we need to step
> up now and do what we can to assure that fear and prejudice don't cause us
> to be legislated out of this revolution.  The technology isn't mature
> enough to allow just any driver to operate these vehicles safely yet, but
> when it is, we should make sure the problems we have to solve in order to
> gain access are technical, not political.  The path to this access won't be
> straightforward or without bumps and setbacks, but if we as a community
> stick by our convictions and demonstrate that the arguments against us are
> fallacious, by degrees, we will prevail.  
> 
>    Finally, Jordan, I want to assure you that your concerns aren't
> entirely unfounded.  Eye sight confer's one with the ability to potentially
> gather information quickly.  That provides an advantage in a variety of
> situations.  Howevr, that advantage does not preclude the blind from
> being able to find alternative ways to gather the required information and
> make their own decisions.  We as a blind community know that we are capable
> of doing what ever we want and we know that safely operating an autonomous
> vehicle is well within our perview as capable members of society.  The
> challenge is to figure out how, exactly, to do it and how to persuade our
> sighted peers that we can.
> 
> -thanks
> -Brian
> 
> 
> 
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> End of Nfbc-info Digest, Vol 127, Issue 17
> ******************************************