End of the World - Part 3

So, we're awaiting our chick's return to the roost and through the miracle of technology we're able to follow the flight as it powers across the pond.

Technology, sheer bliss, no?

In spite of an inordinate love for old pencils, I am a totally wired individual. I LOVE my iTouch.

bless me father, for i have sinned.

I'm growing fond of the iPad. I recently added a Kindle. (jury's still out.)

When we last confronted the End of the World, Jimmy Buffett and I were trying to convince an inattentive community that --

I don't want other people thinking for me.

Once the new washer was in place, I discovered I still had to hack the god forsaken thing to get it to do what I wanted. According to the instruction book -- "to protect your fabrics, not all settings are available for every cycle."

I don't want other people thinking for me.

Is this such a radical concept?

I certainly don't want my appliances trying to care for me as if I'm the retarded step child.

I'm not using my brain to hold up my hair.

In spite of being a long-time Mac fan, the features on the Kindle that became unassailable due to Amazon help desk being overrun with customers who couldn't quite make it work -- no, really, the help desk had to help so many people, it became too expensive. Best not to let the little dears through that door -- almost vexed me into a jailbreak, but not quite. Applied my own hack that allowed me to be less vexed. :P

Now, through the wonders of a television commercial, I see a car with a "Intelligent Crash Response System."

"In the event of an airbag deployment, the ICRS steps in and turns off the fuel pump, turns on the hazard lights, and unlocks all the doors."

Because a human being can't be trusted to behave well in an emergency.

Fuel pump is off, car isn't going to move, right? Wrong. Depends on what hit it and where it lands. A driver may also get hit hard enough to deploy the system and still want to be able to control the car. Sorry. For your safety, you are now riding a sled.

Fuel pump is off, car isn't going to explode, right? Wrong. Gas leaks. Metal sparks. Boom.

So, if anything, this offers a false sense of security to the driver. At worst, may add to the cascade of failures that make a bad situation worse.

I've responded to enough car wrecks to have heard I saw it coming and couldn't do anything - more than once, so it's not like I don't get it. I understand the intention.

And to where have good intentions paved the road?

I had my own car wreck and afterwards took an Advanced Driving class to recover my nerve. I learned the best outcome results when the driver controls the car for as long as possible. Not when the car thinks for itself.

Passive restraints were the first step in this evolution. What's next, I wonder?

Maybe we'll all be carried around on fluffy cushions to destinations preselected, work on computers where we do what we're allowed, choose healthy food from restaurants that don't cook with the bad oil, and never fear for our fabrics as the washer knows what is best.