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by nwallin 2175 days ago
The differences are not pedantic at all. The differences are extremely significant.

The VW engineers designed the car to do different thing while being tested vs used by consumers. While being tested, the emissions system was on. While being used by consumers, the emission system was entirely disabled.

The water heater engineers designed the water heater to do the same thing while being tested vs used by consumers.

If the water heater engineers designed the water heater to never turn on and keep the water at room temperature while being tested, ("works good boss, water heater efficiency is infinity percent") then yes, it would be reasonable to claim they did essentially the same thing.
1 comments
esrauch 2175 days ago
> If the water heater engineers designed the water heater to never turn on and keep the water at room temperature while being tested

I think the difference between what they did and this is only a difference in degree and not kind though, right?

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titzer 2175 days ago
It is a difference in kind: VW dynamically detected and adapted behavior to the test. It would never operate in that way under normal conditions. The water heater example was completely static: it always behaved the same way, under test or not.
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esrauch 2174 days ago
People obviously disagree since I was downvoted but I don't really see the black-and-white difference between the two.

In both cases there was an intentional design change to deliberately changed mislead a measurement, and the final product does not match the intended thing. Both adversarially directly cause the consumer's purchase to not be the intended item; no one gets a car that has emissions measured and no one gets a heater that has the efficiency measured.

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