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Noema ·Future-gazing

Why We Demand Perfect Machines yet Tolerate Human Carnage

by Jonathan Slotkin

Published 2026-07-14 15:55:48+00:00

Why does a car with no driver feel scarier than a person behind the wheel?

0:00 / 22:48 · Narrator Charon

Context

Jonathan Slotkin is a neurosurgeon who sees the aftermath of human error in the trauma bay every day. Writing on 14 July 2026, he asks why a few stalled robotaxis in a San Francisco blackout cause more public outcry than the hundred Americans who die in crashes with human drivers every twenty-four hours. The gap between being safe and feeling safe is a design problem, not just a data point. By looking at how hospitals build trust with patients, Slotkin suggests that the future of self-driving cars depends on signals humans can actually read.

Show notes

Public trust in self-driving cars remains low despite data showing they are safer than human drivers. Lessons from the healthcare industry suggest that actual safety and the feeling of being safe are separate problems. Bridging this gap requires standardized reporting and transparency to help the public trust machines over human drivers.

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