As someone with kids... What if there is? The presence of dried Semen on a seat on which my kids sit will have zero negative impact on them. At all.

Is it Yuck? Yes of course. But it also seems extremely unlikely. And it's a lot less Yuck than thinking about what's in the sand in public playgrounds that all kids visit constantly. And while I have a reasonable chance of preventing them from licking the seats, I have no chance of preventing them from eating some sand.

This is just a bizarre irrational worry...

> This is just a bizarre irrational worry...

Do you and your kids take public transport regularly? In a failing city/society, that is.

Because if the answer is "yes, I do take public transport in a city that struggles to pay its bills and I still don't care that the chairs have weird organic substances on them" then fair-play to you, but for me personally at some point I had to purchase a personal car (when I was already approaching my mid-30s) because I just couldn't convince myself anymore that it is ok to not want to sit down inside of a train ("better stand up by the window, that seat is too dirty").

And these robo-taxis will be worse than public transport, for the main reason that there's no-one "standing guard" inside of them (and, no, Big Brother cameras placed inside of them, which should be a dedicated topic all by itself, btw, really won't change a thing in that respect).

I also shake strangers hands and eat food made by teenagers and use public bathrooms and pet cats and sleep in hotel rooms. My children (if/when they occur) will attend daycare and school with other sacks of disease and share the spoils with me, as is tradition. Our society is dirty.

Do you avoid handrails and sanitize the doorknobs and gas pumps you interact with? Those are going to be far worse than subway chairs. It's probably not a bad idea, but it's a bit beyond what I suspect most people consider normal. I had a friend who lived like that, and he ended up being diagnosed with OCD.

> And these robo-taxis will be worse than public transport

If you soil a waymo taxi, they can ban you from ever booking another one, the same cannot be said for public transport

While I consider this somewhat dystopian, I do think it's pretty clear that they will be much cleaner than public transport for that reason

Just so we're clear: You're agreeing right? You're irrational about this and as a result it's damaged your life.

You reached a situation where everyday things are "too dirty" and rather than realising that's a mental health problem and you might need to fix that, you... found an expensive and elaborate coping strategy which necessitates further crazy beliefs.

Nothing like being psychoanalized by some tech people who have most probably not taken public transport in a long time.

Is that not just a general issue in public? Park bench? Back of the bus? There could be human semen everywhere! It's why I always insist on wrapping my kids in plastic before letting them leave the house.

Well, how will taxi-sex enjoyers make sure that no toddler vomited on the seat they intend to frolic on?

Waymos have been far cleaner than the Ubers I've ridden in. I think they are cleaned daily?

I wonder how this affects the price. Is the price you're paying now the real price, or a subsidised price?

Surely they have cameras? I’d trust that a lot more than a taxi driver keeping their cab clean.

When has that stopped anyone?

It may not stop someone the first time, but it's not hard to block the reserving account and prevent a second time from occurring. For most people the threat of being placed on the "no-fly" list is sufficient to ensure prosocial behavior.

Do you think that Waymo doesn't have cameras inside the car?