These reactions generated by the latest EV announcement always remind me of the old joke about new prisoner Dutch’s first day in the exercise yard. As the prisoners mill around, periodically one will yell out a seemingly random number, followed by laughter from others. On inquiry, it is explained to newbie Dutch that everyone has been “in” so long, all have memorized everyone else’s jokes, so to shorten things up, they have assigned each joke a number.
If we’re really serious about reducing our carbon footprint through bit transmission reduction, perhaps this could be applied to the limited and well-worn number of reactions to EV’s? “They laughed at Orville & Wilber” could be #4, “Physics preclude batteries ever matching petroleum’s energy density” #7, etc.
Oh, if by some strange quirk of fate you never heard the prisoner joke, Dutch memorizes some jokes and decides to join in, shouting “Thirteen”, one of the jokes he feels is funniest. No one laughs. Later, his cellmate explains “Well, Dutch, some people just can’t tell a joke.”