[HN Gopher] A Cultural Critique of the Tesla Cybertruck ___________________________________________________________________ A Cultural Critique of the Tesla Cybertruck Author : MBCook Score : 35 points Date : 2023-12-09 20:56 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.roadandtrack.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.roadandtrack.com) | dieselgate wrote: | I thought this article had a pleasant historical summary of car | related culture in the US but thought the parts about the | Cybertruck fell kind of flat. | troelsSteegin wrote: | To my read, the author sets up owning a Cybertruck up as the | vehicular equivalent of owning an assault weapon: "A | bulletproof three-and-a-half ton stainless-steel truck equipped | with "Bioweapon Defense Mode" designed to slam through other | cars is the perfect vehicle for a society where over a third of | people are scared to walk around at night." Hard to support | that without hearing from buyers, but I thought that was rather | pointy. | threeseed wrote: | That statement is entirely factual though. | | Musk has continually promoted the car as being bulletproof. | | And we know from regulators and crash tests that it's going | to be a nightmare for pedestrians. To the level where in many | countries it is likely to not be street-legal. Factor in the | sports-car level acceleration and it is going to be an | unprecedentedly dangerous car. | huijzer wrote: | If I have to choose between a "comfortable" car to be hit | by without active safety features and an uncomfortable car | that has active safety features, then I rather choose the | latter. In other words, rather a car that is driven by a | human and might break from itself than a "comfortable" car | driven by only a human. | verve_rat wrote: | That's a total false dichotomy though. No new consumer | vehicles in that price range lack active safety features | like automatic breaking. | | The cybertruck is just unnecessary in its disregard for | other people. | maxerickson wrote: | Didn't they roll down the windows when they shot it? Pretty | sure the standard windows aren't bulletproof (and therefore | the vehicles with the standard windows aren't bulletproof | either). | | So in the end it's mostly just for show. | pa7ch wrote: | We don't know that. I think its likely safer to pedestrians | then an F150 because the hood is significantly lower. The | steel ia irrelevant, trucks don't crumple already for | pedestrians, they crumple for other cars. | Avshalom wrote: | It felt like all lead-in no body. | bbor wrote: | Great article, all very true. Just look at the patent absurdity | of modern American pickup trucks. What this article was missing | (for good reason) is tying this to politics more directly; IMO "I | want a car that will 'win' if I get in an accident" is based in | the same toxic intuitions as "America First" | FirmwareBurner wrote: | _> "I want a car that will 'win' if I get in an accident"_ | | That's not at all an American exclusive. I live in Europe and | everyone parrots the same line when they justify why they're | getting a SUV even though they live in the city and never go | off-roading. | | A work colleagues who just got a baby recently told me he had | to get a SUV even though he wanted a sedan because his wife | pushed for the SUV with the same argument: "I feel safer in | one." What's a guy to do? Do you want to risk for your wife and | child to "feel unsafe" because you're too cheap to buy your | family a SUV? Same with my cousin, she just got a baby and | pushed her husband to get a SUV for the same reason, so I'm | definitely seeing a pattern in my circles as well as on the | streets. | | The estate/station wagon and the mini-van were the traditional | vehicle of the family here but now SUVs and the jacked up | cross-over abominations are flying off the shelves here. Just | look at Volvo's UK line-up[1], it's 8 SUVs and 1 crossover. | WTF?! | | Justified or not, consumers are noticing this arms race, and | manufacturers are more than happy to market and sell you bigger | and taller cars for you to "feel safer" in, if you've got the | cash. | | [1] https://www.volvocars.com/uk/ | 01100011 wrote: | IME it is often the female pushing for the bigger vehicle. My | ex-wife kept pushing to upgrade our Subaru Outback to | something bigger and we only had 2 dogs and no kids in the | suburbs. Similarly, my wife hated my Chevy Bolt because of | its size. I think folks stereotype big vehicle purchasers as | males looking to compensate for feelings of inferiority, but | from what I've seen(beyond just the examples given) is that | this isn't really true. I'm sure it sounds good to folks | looking to denigrate people with vehicles that are deemed | excessive but is trite and silly. | nervousvarun wrote: | We seem to be conflating different vehicles/demos in these | comments. SUVs and pickups. | | Large SUVs for sure are appealing to women. | | The negative stereotypes of male compensation etc though | are associated with large pickup trucks not SUVs no? | | When we think "large SUV" we think soccer mom. | | When we think "large Pickup" we think male ego | compensation/etc. | orwin wrote: | In my experience, people in huge vehicles are either bad | drivers or drivers who lack confidence (or both). | | I'm pretty sure females in general have less confidence | than males. At least in my family. | jakderrida wrote: | I don't think it's just about superiority or safety in the | event of a crash. I almost always buy Coupes for my | personal vehicles, but was hired to drive an F150 pickup | truck to transport materials throughout the city. It had | two advantages. One was being able to see what's behind me | and estimate with high accuracy the distance from me things | were, but that's less relevant. The other major advantage | was that my head was higher than almost everyone else on | the road, allowing me a much better 360 view of what's | around me. However, I was also obstructing the view of | every other driver, which is why only a complete douchebag | gets one for a personal vehicle. | FredPret wrote: | People want the wrong things damnit! They should want to be | in a bus or on a scooter so that everything can be easier to | plan. Instead they want to be happy, safe, and comfortable! | george-in-sd wrote: | Note they have no cultural problems with a $150k gas guzzling | SUV: | https://www.roadandtrack.com/reviews/a44600208/2023-cadillac... | | Follow the money here folks. | Avshalom wrote: | Aside from that being a complete different byline: | | Tesla is worth more than GM and Musk is one of the wealthiest | people on the planet. | | he is "the money" | efnx wrote: | Different money though. | mrtksn wrote: | It's a fascinating phenomenon, the "People's billionaire" | thing. Reminds of the movie "Don't look up" where they phrase | it as "The working class, the cool rich and them". | HPsquared wrote: | It's the classic "high-and-low vs middle" dynamic. | Barrin92 wrote: | All the correct criticism about what the car represents | culturally aside, the article also hints at what is for me the | biggest aesthetic issue: | | _" He [Musk] has called the Cybertruck "what Bladerunner would | have driven"_ | | The car reminds me of what Mark Fisher called the "spectre of a | lost future". Instead of imagining genuine futures the most "sci- | fi" car imaginable is something that looks like it could come out | of a 40 year old movie set. It's the same kind of design | sentiment you see with skyscrapers in the Emirates were you can | almost guess they were demanded by people who grew up on 80s | science fiction with a 30 year delay. | Avshalom wrote: | Yeah, it's extremely galling to see lines like "the future | looks like the future" or "it looks like it was designed by | aliens from the future" in reference to a car that is | constantly being compared (by the same guy) to 30-50 year | design languages. | | (I also want to emphasize that the car everyone remembers from | bladerunner is the police spinner, which looks absolutely | nothing like a swollen Lotus Esprit) | chasd00 wrote: | The ironic thing about the cybertruck being some prepper vehicle | for the apocalypse is when the lights got out so does the | cybertruck. | PartiallyTyped wrote: | During apocalypse, you'd be able to recharge a cybertruck | through solar panels.. Batteries are also a thing.. | | I am not sure you'd be able to find working refineries, | gasoline that hasn't evaporated, or oil... | ceejayoz wrote: | During an apocalypse, neither type of vehicle is likely to be | particularly useful versus a horse or donkey. | | Fuel everywhere, making new ones is easy, and a bonus | emergency food source. | PartiallyTyped wrote: | I concur, I am just saying in the context of the original | comment, an EV is likely a better vehicle than an oil- | chugging ice vehicle. | ceejayoz wrote: | Maybe, I'm just saying that's a "what's the tastiest | poop?" sort of question. | PartiallyTyped wrote: | I ... don't disagree.. Thanks for the laugh :) | RandomLensman wrote: | Maybe you can swap it for a course of antibiotics or | something else of actual value. | kipchak wrote: | Like a lot of products I think part of it's appeal is a feeling | of security which doesn't necessarily equal practical security, | in the same way a 4x4 might appeal to someone wanting to feel | "rugged" even if it never leaves asphalt. I think to some | extent Tesla employed a similar strategy with it's other models | and green appeal. | wrycoder wrote: | This article has a very narrow view of the Cybertruck phenomenon, | as seen through a prism of lefty emotionalism. It is more a view | of the general sociological scene of the early 21st century | United States, than about its motor vehicle component. The author | wanted to be a cultural critic, but is writing for Road and Track | as a fallback. In addition, she left rural Idaho and moved to | Seattle, which is telling. | | "Musk's bulletproof wedge-shaped machine is the physical | manifestation of America's fear, and whether it is good or bad, | we deserve it. " | rsingel wrote: | We had a test run for the apocalypse in 2020, and the vehicle of | choice was a bike. | | The cybertruck isn't built for the apocalypse, it's built for the | I got mine class. | | SUVs are mobile gated subdivisions. The cybertruck is a mobile | safe room. | mrtksn wrote: | It's not just the first not-ugly Tesla, but it is culturally | appropriate product. I don't know if it will be a successful | product but this thing will be in museums. | | You know the Apple's famous ad: | | "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The | troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who | see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have | no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with | them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do | is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human | race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we | see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they | can change the world, are the ones who do." | | Musk fits that perfectly. With all his faults, he has some | answers(some good, some not so) but more importantly he has risen | some questions and this particular vehicle is a question on | design. | | The world is changing, mostly for the worse and its time to ask | questions so we can have answer on how to have a new normal that | is better than the one before everything started crumbling. | noitpmeder wrote: | Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'd say the Tesla | Roadster is pretty not-ugly to me! | | I don't think the cybertruck is "pushing the human race | forward" in any capacity. It's a unique looking truck, big | whoop. The only museum it'll be in is Elon's mausoleum. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-12-09 23:00 UTC)