"Don’t make change too complicated. Just begin.” Anonymous
For the first time since the pandemic, I’m finally free enough to roam about the country as I had hoped to before it began – by car. As I’ve said before, I don’t care for air travel. I’m not afraid of flying; it IS nice being able to take a trip that would have taken months or years by covered wagon down to a matter of just a few hours in conditions we may complain about, but about which our ancestors would consider an absolute marvel, bordering on the magical.
But today’s flying experience leaves a lot to be desired. While air travel may be quicker and less expensive than moving about by automobile, I prefer to keep my feet on the ground and my rump cradled in a seat designed to conform to my form. I like being able to change my destination with a turn of a steering wheel, taking a road less traveled or discovering vistas I’d have missed if flying overhead at 30,000 feet and 500 knots in a titanium tube.
Besides, I enjoy driving. Cruise control makes it very easy, and GPS has come a long way since the early days of NAVMAN. I remember driving down California’s central valley to Paso Robles. My electronic navigator had a slight malfunction and was convinced I was about fifty yards off the highway. “Please return to the road,” she suggested. I ignored her, for I was already firmly cruising down the blacktop. “Please return to the road,” she said a second time. I ignored her. No tin-plated Dalek was going to be the boss of me. And then, I swear, the voice turned cold and icy, and through clenched jaw, bared teeth, and curled lips she snarled, “Puhleaze … re … turn … to … the … road!” So I turned her off, concerned she might have a phaser hiding amongst her assorted accessories.
Today’s GPS units are much more accurate and helpful. Not only do they know where you are and where you’re headed, they can suggest alternate routes when there are accidents; they alert drivers to “speed traps” (a feature I don’t approve of – just obey the legal limits, folks). They know where one can gas up, put on the feed bag, find a place to hole up when needing sleep, and so much more. They really are a useful bit of technology.
What they can’t do, though, is carry on a decent conversation. I know AI (Artificial Intelligence) is making great strides – significant enough to worry teachers and philosophers alike. There’s certainly reason for concern. Yes, kids (of all ages) may short-circuit the learning process and have computers do their homework. They may produce reports and essays that don’t reflect original thought, research, or understanding the processes involved in communicating what’s going on between their ears. What’s new?
New technology always creates uncertainties. People often find creative ways to utilize that which is novel in a manner that could be used for ill, as well as good. Pagers connecting doctors to hospitals also connected pimps and pushers to their clients; the film that can capture an Ansel Adams masterpiece can also capture lewd and disgusting images; computers that send essays and reports around the world via the world wide web also enable terrorists (both foreign and domestic) to coordinate countless acts of evil amongst like-minded nihilists.
Viruses and malware infect so many devices, too. What’s worse, though, is how those same devices have become their own viruses. Traveling across the expanse that is America, I couldn’t help but note how many eyes are downcast, not out of sadness, but wrapped up in videos or posts streaming through their mobiles. The only people I could chat with were the motel desk clerks and restaurant servers (who were all very nice, by the way). We are prisoners confined by the bars on our cells.
I am guilty of this, too, of course, but this trip is helping me break that addiction. I don’t text and drive; I don’t browse the web while on the road; I have looked up and noticed the roses are blooming. All I need to do is stop to smell them. Change is as simple as that here in this, our valley. Thank goodness!
Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)
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