

Google Maps Lawsuit: Woman Follows Directions, Gets Run Over - prosa
http://mashable.com/2010/05/30/google-maps-lawsuit/

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epochwolf
It's a bloody shame she didn't end up as a Darwin Award contestant. On street
view there is a walking path 20 feet from the road.

[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/361483/screenshots/streetview_29994....](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/361483/screenshots/streetview_29994.png)

Upvoted just for the irony.

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davidmurphy
Really?> You're saying it's a shame she didn't die?

Come on, that's going too far.

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janj
Is it really going too far? With over-population being the root of most of our
biggest problems, I'm starting to think things in general could be much better
if we had many more people dying, why not start with the stupid?

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pigbucket
For one, there'd be a serious danger of getting caught in a self-referential
paradox

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statenjason
The next lawsuit will be taking Google's directions to Japan.

[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=San...](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=San+Diego,+CA&daddr=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=51.497523,-0.149002&sspn=0.050441,0.132093&ie=UTF8&z=4)

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darius
HaHaHa. I think this is quite funny: "Kayak across the Pacific Ocean." I
wonder if this is humor from google...

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ErrantX
Product of our compensation culture. Honestly, I think this is one of the
growing problem areas for innovation - we are all too scared of being sued
now.

It's going to cripple us as a society at some point.

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benatkin
Eh...walking on a highway isn't a guarantee of getting run over. Nor is
cycling. I biked from University of Utah to Park City once, and rode on the
freeway for a few miles, because there wasn't any other way to get there
without going at least 5 extra miles. It wasn't as scary as walking across the
street at a four-way stop sometimes has been, when inattentive drivers are
involved.

I was on the shoulder of the road, but I have ridden on highways (not
freeways) without a shoulder, on a road bike, before. When I did, I often
picked my bike up and stood on the dirt beside the road and waited for a wave
of vehicles to pass. I've employed similar tactics while walking along
highways. She may not have.

I don't think walking where she walked was necessarily stupid. I think she may
have just been unlucky. Or maybe she wasn't far enough on the shoulder of the
highway. I also think the lawsuit is frivolous, because it hinges on the idea
that she did something really stupid with Google's help.

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aohtsab
Maybe this woman followed the directions exactly so that she could pursue a
frivolous suit against Google. Mostly, I don't want to believe that someone
could look at the situation and not see reality.

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sliverstorm
I hate that our nation seems to be developing the following motto-

Your Own Safety: Not Your Responsibility

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epochwolf
It's not a very nice thing to admit but I wished more people died because of
their own stupidity. (And part of me wonders if that would actually be a net
benefit or loss)

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robryan
It will be interesting how we evolve given that not many people die of their
own stupidity before reproducing in modern society.

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loewenskind
You're making the assumption that "stupidity" comes from our DNA. Do you have
any evidence that even remotely suggests this? Everything I see makes me think
"stupid" is a learned behavior (e.g. stupid parents with brilliant kids,
brilliant parents with stupid kids, etc.).

I'm a little suprised on this site, of all sites, to see people subscribing to
the idea that we are constrained by the intelligence of our parents.

EDIT: Spelling

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maw
Are you smarter than animals with brains a fraction of the size of yours? Why
or why not?

If the answer to the first question is "yes", it shouldn't take much to
extrapolate from there.

Now, how to divvy up that quality which we call intelligence into what is
inherited and what is learned is an open, and difficult, question. I think
it's pretty clear that both are important, and their relative weights probably
vary from individual to individual. Still, is the idea that intelligence comes
in part from our DNA "remotely suggested"? I think it's fair to say so.

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loewenskind
I was talking about among humans. Obviously brain size has a direct relation
with intelligence. Are you suggesting that people like the lady in question
have smaller brains?

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maw
Forget the bit about brain size. It's a distraction from what I was trying to
get at. Sorry.

To rephrase my question: are you smarter than most (and in all likelihood all)
non-human animals?

The answer is yes, and in the case of humans vs animals, I deny that it's
because of culture or upbringing or all the other stuff that gets lumped into
the category of "nurture". If it were just that, well, my cats would by now be
speaking about as well as human five year olds do.

It's clear to me that nature plays a role. How much of a role is unclear, and,
as I said, I suspect it varies.

For historical reasons, we're stuck with both racist pseudoscience and
politically correct pseudoscience to contend with. I bet the truth about these
matters, if ever found, will be somewhere in between. (And, FWIW, closer to
the politically correct side of things.)

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mburney
I don't think she should win this lawsuit but it does make me think google
could add a new feature describing the safety level of a route.

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epochwolf
There is no safety issue here, it's a stupidity issue. She could have used the
walkway I commented about instead she decided to walk on what is obviously a
highway.

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27182818284
At first I thought and typed, "Yeah, exactly. They could add a safety warning
about the health effects of eating the phone or laptop you look at Google Maps
on too, but we don't because there is an assumed level of intelligence. I hope
that she doesn't just lose, but is also penalized for creating a frivolous
suit."

But then I reread the parent's post and now I think what they meant is that a
nice feature would be one that displayed a route's level of safety. For
example, if the route makes you cross a busy highway it might get a red label
while a route that crosses no roads would get a green label.

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epochwolf
I'm torn. I don't know if you saw the stop sign article but the more signage
you put on something, the dumber people act. On the surface it's not a bad
idea but then what happens if it's not accurate? Some of the streets in my
city (Green Bay, WI) are safe most hours of the day and then you need to avoid
them between 4pm and 5pm if you value your life.

It would be a nice feature but it might open them to actual liability for
reporting inaccurate safety information.

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dkokelley
I was thinking that too. The more Google attempts to provide safety, the more
they become vulnerable to civil actions.

Who was it that said there would be no car accidents if we replaced airbags
with spikes?

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philk
On the plus side Lauren Rosenberg's name is out there on the internet marking
her as the person stupid enough to walk down a very busy highway and then sue
others when she gets hit by a car.

This will doubtless come back to haunt her in the future.

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Sheakk
Well ... she is from the USA !

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stretchwithme
if a human being looking at the road cannot tell that a situation is
dangerous, how can a computer be expected to do it?

people need to understand that they're dealing with dumb mapping engines, not
some all-seeing oracle.

if a situation is dangerous, you need to go back the way you came and get
better information. if you plunge forward anyway, you do it at your own risk,
just as you would be if you got directions from a human.

if your mama didn't teach you to walk on the left side of the road facing the
traffic and to look both ways before you cross, it ain't google's fault.

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noonespecial
Ima be rich! Where my kayak at?

[http://geographicjourney.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/google-
goe...](http://geographicjourney.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/google-goes-to-
hawaii-via-kayak/)

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moolave
See, there's technological prowess, and there's common sense. We haven't
reached that stage where we can totally rely on machines to guide our every
move. We'd be robots by then.

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spectre
Maybe I should sue Land Info NZ, I fell off a cliff that wasn't marked on
their map. Wait that was my fault.

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KevBurnsJr
"Man sues Church of Scientology shortly after death."

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eli
Meh. Anybody can sue anyone for any reason.

