Saul pointed out how replacing materials with information could play out with autonomous cars. Most cars doubled in weight from 1960 to 2010. We made them safer by adding crumple zones and airbags and all sorts of clever features useful in accidents. We did not make spectacular gains in fuel economy even though engines became more efficient, because most cars got fatter—larger and heavier. “What would happen,” he asked, “if we made cars so smart, and so automated, that they never hit each other? This is biology’s approach to safety. Jump out of the way or avoid the collision altogether. If we
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