Kicker: Fear of machines

NICK EICHER, HOST: Now, this kind of thing has been going on since the Industrial Revolution. But increasingly, machines are displacing flesh-and-blood workers these days.

And that’s a powerful fear among people.

Just how powerful?

Well, a tech company testing out new machines in Chandler, Arizona, found out the hard way.

By year’s end, local police reported 21 instances of people intentionally damaging the machines.

One man even pulled a gun!

The machines I’m talking about here are Google’s self-driving cars.

Now, I looked at the video and it sure seems as though the Google driver didn’t even bat an electronic eye at the guy with the gun.

Only thing that’s going to stop Google is a lawyer.

REICHARD: Ha! Got that right!

EICHER: It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Associated Press, Tony Avelar)

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