In essence, road rage comes from someone outside of the vehicle breaking into the illusion of entitlement. I used to think that it was mere laziness; how much effort does it take to see a pedestrian or to move the foot a few inches to the left and apply the brakes? Infinitely much, according to some observations. Yet, if there is the entitlement sense, it may very well be some unbounded energy providing huge inertia.
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Aside (see Zen, below): this post could have been titled "Message to Google" (but wasn't). You see, I'm going to celebrate the computer-driven car and offer Google some advice (yes, this from an old hacker with insights that may be way beyond what they might have considered -- let's put it this way, I've not seen evidence of wisdom on their parts -- how long did it take to lose the "don't cause harm" (however it was said, written) rule due to the fact that bucks started to become abundantly present?).
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So, let's start with Zen of Computing as the framework and branch from there. A few little pointers can be the inception point.
- -- Please, Google, train your thing to respect the rights of pedestrians. We'll go into this at large (today, two close calls due to my encountering entitled idiots - yes, we know, idiots can drive). Google claiming their 300K+ hours of accident free driving means not much without some tests (next bullet) that we can use for graduated assessment (as in progressive).
- -- Know, too, that having autonomous objects communication is a nice idea (birds within a flock are a wonderful example), but the mode of communication must not be constrained to known (as in, defined by our monkeying with the spectrum) levels (protocols, if you would, based upon e-m at large). Too, we need your thing able to handle visible objects whose behavior may very well be in realms outside of your limits (and not talking, by necessity, black swans).
- -- Turing-test analog. Yes! There are several things that we could propose. Right now, we could think of a race, perhaps, NASCAR like or similar. It would be controlled, as in, rules defined and followed (no bumper cars - though some like to allow this). For mayhem, perhaps we could use the demolition derby type of thing. In short, there are issues to consider (hint: see the note on the blogs menu about computability).
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'entitlement' may be mis-used, as there is nothing in the laws that would suggest such. We know that driving is a privilege not a right. One needs to know the laws, pass a test, and keep on the right side of the law. So, why does this sense (seemingly close to feeling entitled - at least, that appears to be the case from observing the behavior) emerge? Is it a type of mania?
Do we not see the same thing with phones? In the early days of the mobile thing, people were not so apt (or so rude) to just talk in public as if they were ranting in a public park while standing on a soapbox talking some nonsense (any large city has this daily). In fact, most adults, at the time, turned to the voice in order to relate (respond); then, they found some vacuous face, eyes staring into the distance, of a person involved with something (someone) in another space-time locale, far removed from the present.
Do we not see the same thing with phones? In the early days of the mobile thing, people were not so apt (or so rude) to just talk in public as if they were ranting in a public park while standing on a soapbox talking some nonsense (any large city has this daily). In fact, most adults, at the time, turned to the voice in order to relate (respond); then, they found some vacuous face, eyes staring into the distance, of a person involved with something (someone) in another space-time locale, far removed from the present.
Ah, back to Zen, does the present pertain to the moment or the location? You see, we all can multitask, in many cases bridging far-flung spaces in a manner unique to humans. In fact, we have done this for a very long time; those, who were more adept, made the most use of the faculty. For many, the whole thing was too ephemeral. Yet, the existence of connected servers spread across the globe which are interlinked offers an analog for that which was there before.
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Aside: many times, we have seen better devices approach some type of threshold (close enough) so as to become the new reality. The energy behind the older phenomenon dissipates. Is that progress? Well, that is for us to discuss. From one view, the progress in commonly grasped mathematics is one overlaying (not overarching) blanket damping out all sorts of talents (which are very much needed -- hence, again, innumeracy is not idiocy -- no, no, no -- we'll make that clear --- the flip side, though, is true - numeracy can approach idiocy (mis-use, exploitation, and much more); we'll have to go into that as an aspect of near zero).
Remarks:
10/02/2012 --
Modified: 10/02/2012
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