Reply To: Elon Musk’s Shabbos Car

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#1772623
akuperma
Participant

If you hold that turning electricity on and off is the equivalent of burning (since the wires and machinery heat up, and eventually are consumed), then the answer is clearly “not allowed” (that being the case, you probably don’t use a “Shabbos elevator” and are not thrilled with modern refrigerators or ovens that increase their level of function in response to what users do).

If you hold that electricity is not equivalent of burning, then the only object is “shvus”, you comfortably use a Shabbos elevator, you will probably allow use of an e-book (at least for learning and davening), and you’ll have no problems of using electric devices such as self-driving cars, and perhaps many more robotic appliances that don’t exist yet. You probably would be able to tell your self-driving car “take me out to ballgame” and drop me off by the main gate, and pay for entrance with an electronic device that doesn’t involve writing (e-tickets already exist),

The use of Shabbos elevators, and appliances that react to use, is the beginning of a “slippery slop” and that there will eventually be a divide between those that allow electric devices, including self-driving cars and ebooks, and those that don’t.