So, hey, transportation is on my mind today. That and insanity...
Transportation, because I saw this story about automobiles of the future. And, insanity, because when I tried to suss out the story on the old internet, I could find nothing about it. So, I apologize now because I wasn't able to find anything to link to today's entry. If anyone can find anything, I would love if you would pass it along.
It seems that in Washington, they were demonstrating a new type of bus that didn't require a driver. This bus drove along special routes in which magnets were laid into the streets. I suppose that you could call it a Smart bus. As well, they showed cars that were equipped with a special sensor that would detect when a car was travelling too fast towards a red light and would thus stop the car in it's tracks before it could move into the intersection. Interesting, don't you think?
After putting a little more thought into though, I can begin to see more negatives than positives to systems like this. First of all, all people would have to drive them because if they were manual, I can see it making for more interesting accidents when there would be no warning to other drivers when the system went into effect. And as far as the buses are concerned, why in the hell would you need buses that ran on roads without a driver. Isn't that what subways and light rail are for? Well, I suppose it would be cheaper that building track lines for the systems.
As well, the buses had seats for a driver, so I suppose that they would be there to monitor the system. As they would be freed up from the mundane task of driving, they would have more time to argue with passengers that didn't pay the correct fares or for wrestling unruly passengers off the moving vehicles. I don't know. What would all of the out of work bus drivers do?
This just makes me think more about how technology is robbing people of their usefulness and any meaning in their lives. Once people are considered redundant, they lose any meaning in their lives. No wonder people are so depressed nowadays.
Perhaps we need to stop handing out the antidepressants so much nowadays and give people their livelihoods back.
Transportation, because I saw this story about automobiles of the future. And, insanity, because when I tried to suss out the story on the old internet, I could find nothing about it. So, I apologize now because I wasn't able to find anything to link to today's entry. If anyone can find anything, I would love if you would pass it along.
It seems that in Washington, they were demonstrating a new type of bus that didn't require a driver. This bus drove along special routes in which magnets were laid into the streets. I suppose that you could call it a Smart bus. As well, they showed cars that were equipped with a special sensor that would detect when a car was travelling too fast towards a red light and would thus stop the car in it's tracks before it could move into the intersection. Interesting, don't you think?
After putting a little more thought into though, I can begin to see more negatives than positives to systems like this. First of all, all people would have to drive them because if they were manual, I can see it making for more interesting accidents when there would be no warning to other drivers when the system went into effect. And as far as the buses are concerned, why in the hell would you need buses that ran on roads without a driver. Isn't that what subways and light rail are for? Well, I suppose it would be cheaper that building track lines for the systems.
As well, the buses had seats for a driver, so I suppose that they would be there to monitor the system. As they would be freed up from the mundane task of driving, they would have more time to argue with passengers that didn't pay the correct fares or for wrestling unruly passengers off the moving vehicles. I don't know. What would all of the out of work bus drivers do?
This just makes me think more about how technology is robbing people of their usefulness and any meaning in their lives. Once people are considered redundant, they lose any meaning in their lives. No wonder people are so depressed nowadays.
Perhaps we need to stop handing out the antidepressants so much nowadays and give people their livelihoods back.
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