The 2014 Luddite Award Winners - the states of Arizona, Michigan, Texas, and NJ (see here for the post) for blocking Tesla's attempts to sell directly to its customers. The award essentially calls out those who are opposed to new technologies.
The NRA took second place for their opposition to smart guns.
In both cases this is a matter of continuing the status quo. I have another musing on Tesla that very briefly explores both sides, here.
I will probably tackle the NRA issue in a later musing or blog post. Some research needs to be done on what the arguments are for the NRA's stance, but some questions that people, including myself, are asking include:
- how many school/public shootings need to occur before we do anything?
- what does the rest of the world think when they hear about these stories?
- what is it going to take to for change to happen?
- if smart guns (and diligent background checks) aren't part of the answer, then what is?
- is it possible to design a system that prevents the tragedies from ever occurring...without smart guns and background checks?